Glencoe climbers killed

[miller 1]

I knew Eamonn Murphy.

Very sad.

 

Quote:

Three men killed in an avalanche on one of Scotland's most dangerous mountains were named last night as warnings were given to climbers that the risk of further slides will remain high over the next few days.

 

Eamonn Murphy, 61, from Carrick­fergus, Co Antrim, and his brother John Murphy, 63, from Portrush, Co Antrim, died along with Brian Murray, 46, from Monifieth, Tayside, when they were engulfed by thousands of tonnes of snow on Buachaille Etive Mor, near Glencoe.

 

Eamonn Murphy was a well-known ­artist and former teacher who had exhibited his work at shows in Northern ­Ireland, including at the Royal Ulster Academy. He was married with children and grandchildren.

 

The men were among several separate groups of experienced climbers who were taking the "easy" way up Coire na Tulaich, a gully about 10 metres wide by 20 metres deep, when the avalanche struck at about midday on Saturday. The snow could have been moving at up to 75mph.

 

John Grieve, Glencoe Mountain Rescue's team leader, said a climber who had just reached the top of a ridge dislodged a slab of snow which brought down another nine people coming up behind him, ­ carrying them about 200 metres down the mountain. The climber who inadvertently caused the avalanche managed to avoid being swept away by digging in with his ice axe and used his mobile phone to call 999.

 

A climber, Tom Richardson, 54, from Sheffield, said: "As I got to the top of the pass, the edge of the slope – it wasn't corniced – broke away and we were taken down an avalanche. Some of us rode out the top of it and others got buried."

[Go Native 70]

Mountaineering has always been one of those sports where no matter how skilled, experienced and fit you are there's always an element of chance that can take your life. It's one of things that makes it such a challenging and exciting sport and one of main things that produces tradgedies like this. Definitely a sad day in Scotland.

[Hornster 0]

Living in the UK, I have been mountaineering in Scotland and the European Alps (as well as bigger mountain ranges around the world) for quite a few years now and have enjoyed many adventurous and sometimes downright "sketchy" routes. Ask any mountaineer why they climb and you are more than likely to get variations of the same reasons:

 

1) Love of the remote mountain regions

2) Feeling of achievement and self satisfaction after taking on a route or mountain that presents a particular challenge for them.

3) That feeling of being exposed in what is often a hostile environment where your skills and ability (or lack of) are being constantly tested with no certain outcome. That fear of the unknown and therefore an unknown outcome. It does get really very addictive after a while!

4) That rush of adrenaline that is ever present whenever your mind starts to waiver and you doubt your ability to make that next move - FEAR! Fear is always there but an experienced mountaineer can often harness that fear and use it to their advantage.

5) Getting genuine pleasure out of constantly challenging yourself and testing yourself against what are often personal "fears" and barriers preventing you from taking on a route or an environment that has been "haunting" you.

 

But at the end of the day it is often the passion and genuine love for the mountains, regardless of level of ability, that keeps mountaineers returning to the mountains time and again. Every mountaineer is well aware of the risks involved and have therefore made a conscious decision to accept those risks. Some more than others. I believe that mountaineers really do have a life wish and not a death wish as many people seem to think. Being 4000m up a sheer vertical ice and rock face will make anyone feel alive - believe me!!

 

Every mountaineer who has been climbing for any length of time will undoubtedly have either lost a friend or know of someone who has lost a friend in the mountains and it is never an experience that anyone wants to go through, but at the end of the day at least they died doing what they were truly passionate about which is why they accepted the risks in the first place.

 

To a certain extent surely you can throw extreme backcountry and big mountain skiing/boarding into a similar category, can't you? There have been many extreme skiers and boards around the world who have perished whilst takling some of the worlds big mountains whilst pursuing their passion for what they love doing. Don't they accept the very real risks just as much as mountaineers?

 

Like most other people, my condolences go out to their respective families and friends.

[shin-gaikokujin 0]

Where abouts do you live Hornster, you near the mountains?

[Hornster 0]

Unfortunately not - I wish! I live in the South East of England which very flat. However, I can get over to the French Alps (Chamonix) within about 4hrs and to the Scottish Highlands in about 4hrs which is convenient enough.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Out of interest, whats the best way to get up to Scotland from there?

[motioneye 0]

Beautiful part of the world is Scotland and Glencoe is a great area. Been up there myself.

 

Sad to hear things like this.

[Go Native 70]

I remember many years ago going to see a slide show by Chris Bonnington on his mountaineering career. It was amazing the amount of people he'd climbed with who had died. Certainly if you make it to an old age after a life of mountaineering you've got to consider yourself pretty damn lucky. Fantastic sport and I've climbed a couple of 6000m+ peaks myself (when I was a lot younger and fitter) but with a kid on the way not sure how much I'd be wanting to push the boundaries anymore. Although I do still have a dream of climbing the highest peak in Mongolia in the next couple of years for a ski mountaineering trip....

[Hotaka Scott 0]

 

"We all have to remember, regardless if our friends die in the mountains or on the street or in the hospital or whatever, that being dead isn't necessarily bad."

- interview with ski mountaineer Ptor Spricenieks from Feb/March '08 issue of Backcountry Magazine

[Hornster 0]

From the South East where I live I just jump on a plane from Gatwick Airport to Glasgow Airport, pick up a hired car and can be in Glencoe or Fort William within about 2hrs drive. Flight takes just under two hours.

[pie-eater 207]

So about the same as going down to Europe perhaps?

[Hornster 0]

Yes, pretty much but only if you are flying. Driving to the northern highlands from the south east can take up to 12hrs.

[thursday 1]

I've done that in 7 in a Sierra. Rental car so. London-Edinburgh and there was snow waiting for us up there.

[thursday 1]

Sorry that's lowlands, not highlands.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Sorry to hear that news miller. Been a bad week or two for slides in Europe :-(

[Hornster 0]

A ski resort in Bulgaria, Bansko, where I have spent a bit of time over the years skiing suffered a tragic avalanche earlier this week. A group of snowboarders and skiers were all caught in what I am told was a massive slab avalanche the day after very heavy snowfalls. Most of them were only partially buried but one snowboarder was not so lucky and was found until the following day.

 

What amazed me was that the resort had put up warning notices everywhere warning people that the avalanche danger that day was extrememly high and that all backcountry skiing/boarding should be avoided. I suppose that the lure of fresh powder after a long period of no powder proved too much for them to refuse.