UKH

Ed: On Sunday 29th December site user Peter Corrigan and his walking partner Sue fell through a cornice on Beinn a' Chaorainn in poor visibility. Large cornices often build up on the steep east flank above Coire na h-Uamha, and due to the incut corrie edge a safe line between any of the hill's three summits requires a dogleg rather than a straight line. It's a well known spot for tricky navigation, and for accidents, but though Peter's guidebook mentioned the cornice it was silent on the dogleg needed to avoid it. Peter first posted this account in the Lost and Found forum, but we think his experience deserves a wider audience since it could prove useful for anyone heading up the Munro in thick weather.

Here's the article: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/page.php?id=6047

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I fell through the cornice and into Coire-na-h-Uamha on Sunday 29th December.

Ended up with a dislocated and broken shoulder. Couldn't get my sack back on an left it in the corrie before climbing out of one of the ridges.

Reported lost with local Police so that if it is seen the local Rescue Team don't waste time looking for me.

Lost Kit
Lowe Alpine Alpine Attack 45ltr
Exped bag, (small)
Petal Head Torch
Blue Wallet
Money
Credit Cards
Driving Licence
Olympus Compact camera
.75ltr steel flask
DMM 'Deadman'
2 x Leki Walking Poles, (non-matching)
Nalgene bottle

In reply to peter.corrigan:
Glad you're okay - quite an ordeal and you're not the first to have experienced it at that spot.

I wouldn't encourage anyone to go searching for the sack until the snow has stabilised a bit - that whole area is avalanche-prone in current conditions.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Good effort sticking with the tradition of self rescue - that sounds like a painful injury!

Fingers crossed for a quick and full recovery.

Calski

In reply to peter.corrigan:
Good to hear your 'ok ' Peter, with all the id inside there will be no probs getting your gear back
( assuming it's found by someone honest)

Sounds like a bit of a day , are you up to sharing any more the details? like , was there any warning, how far you fell, how you managed to get out, ( assume you ice axe was helpful) , what first aid equipment you had/ needed, were you on your own etc.

There was a ' Lost ' lessons thread recently, where various people posted helpful experiences, this one sounds like it could also be / inspire an interesting thread,
( IF you were feeling up to sharing more details. )

(N.b Roughly long will your/a broken shoulder take to mend by the way ?)

In reply to Jim C:

The detail is that I was traversing a wide ridge on Beinn a Chaorain between the southern 2 tops in a completed whiteout. When we got to the plateau I calculated we, (ie me and partner) were nearer the cliffs than I wanted to be, so we walked on a bearing roughly NNW to give use some 'wriggle room' with the cliffs. We paced 100m, rechecked were we were and set off again.

The guidebook and the map didn't indicate that there was a big dogleg between the two southerly tops.

Because I couldn't see it I fell through the cornice and into the corrie below. This came as a surprised as I was walking away from the cliffs.

I was airborne for a long time and bounced a few times before being buried in snow unable to move. The plateau is at 1040 metres and the corrie's floor is 900 metres which means I fell 140 metres or 450 feet in old money.

Luckily my face was not buried although the rest of me was. Sue fell too and also survived and although she had busted 4 ribs and broken her shoulder was able to dig herself out and then dig me out.

We were then both injured at the bottom of a cliff on the wrong side of the mountain an hour before dark, in bad weather and no phone signal to call for help.....not ideal.

My first inclination was to go down, however, the maps said there were cliffs and I'd fall end down one already, not a good option.

I did think about staying put, but 16 hours on the dark and cold wasn't appealing, and we'd still have to get ourselves out. I've dug a snow hole with an ice axe before...hard work, not a good option.

That left climbing out of the corrie, I wasn't keen on that either as I was hurt and exhausted and I wasn't sure that we wouldn't set off an avalanch. However I thought it was the best of the bad options.

We climbed out of the corrie by climbing up the snow on the south wing of the corrie by kicking steps and then up the ridge to the south summit. We got a phone signal and did debate calling the Mountain Rescue, but as we were mobile decided to walk out.

It took us about 3 hours to get to the corrie, but 5 hours to walk back to the road, arriving about 21:00.

We went back to our appartment as I couldn't face sitting in A&E for 4 or 5 hours. We went to hospital the day after, ie Monday, and got patched up as a day case.

I'm back in Yorkshire now and am going to the fracture clinic tomorrow to find out how damaged I am.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Bloody well done to you two for getting yourselves out of this. I have had the misfortune to have been in a cornice-related accident, and unfortunately we did end up needing the MRT, which was thankfully called by someone else who saw the fall.

To keep your composure, and remain so sanguine about it all is a credit to you both.

Hats off!

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Well done getting getting yourselves out of that.

In reply to peter.corrigan:


Bad luck, Peter. You're not the first. Beinn a'Chaorainn is a bit notorious for this sort of thing.

Best wishes for a full recovery. Got your pack back yet?

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Well done - Max. respect - Glad you're both ok, hope you get your gear back

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Well played, sir. I hope you get your pack back.

jcm

In reply to peter.corrigan:

You wound up in the region of 387848 I assume? If it's any consolation, you were most definitely not the first.

The cliff comes in there rather more than the map suggests. If you look closely at the map (I assume you were using the OS 1:50k), the 1010 and 1020 contours are omitted on the east side of the ridge. It looks like the plateaux is flat from the 1000 contour, but it definitely isn't. The cliff comes about 25m higher and a fair bit further in than that.

I mention it because, as I said, it's a fairly common place to fall, especially as it's often corniced by the prevailing west wind. I was specifically warned about it a few years ago an it will do no harm to draw the attention of other readers to it.

Well done on the self rescue, though I don't think I would have left it overnight before going into A&E myself. Good luck getting your kit back, I doubt anyone will come across it by accident in that corrie, hopefully a kind local will find it.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Well done re the self-evac, and hope the injuries heal up OK for both of you (and you get all your stuff back). As others have said, it's a notorious spot for such things - there was a day about 20 years ago when two otherwise unconnected walkers and a dog (also unconnected, I believe) went through in pretty quick succession and found themselves together at the bottom of the slope, not badly injured I believe. It's an odd hill generally, with the similar-height tops and the change in / confusion about summit location not helping matters.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

A first class performance.

Hats off to you!

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Wow, Well done.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Hope you make a good recovery.
There but for the grace of God...

and sent with good wishes
youtube.com/watch?v=XG63OtsKC7k&

In reply to peter.corrigan:
Thanks for putting up the details Peter, I'm glad you're both okay and that you managed to make the best out of a bad situation - your self reliance is also good to see.

As mentioned above this hill has form for this very scenario. I have read (in an instructional book?) the scenario used as an example of navigational technique, I seem to remember it involved deploying a rope across the line of travel with knots tied into the rope so the person on the eastern side would have his fall slowed/retarded if they fell through the cornice. I may have got the details wrong but maybe one of the guides who read this will remember the book/details better.

I was on the North Top of this hill last year and couldn't see a thing in a whiteout and being aware of the drop to the east did the only thing I could do on my own - retreat westwards.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

The three-in-quick-succession incident happened on 3 April 1994 - I've dug out the reports in the 1995 SMC Journal. Along with various other cornice incidents that year, it prompted the late John Hinde, keeper of the accident stats, to write quite a lengthy note on the subject - see p728 in the 1995 journal if you have a copy.

Re the 3 April events, at 12.30pm a 30-year-old man named Nicholas Hinchcliffe fell through at NN385847 and ended up, as with the recent incident, 140m further down. He was uninjured, and "dug a snowhole to await improved conditions" (it had been "misty" and "windy" up top). At 1pm Paul Margison, aged 40, also fell through "and landed close to Hinchcliffe". He was likewise uninjured, and had a companion named Sheridan up top who hadn't fallen. "Conferring," Hinde wrote, "they [Hinchcliffe and Margison] decided to stay put, knowing that Sheridan would seek help."

Then, at 1.30pm, a border collie - lost by two walkers who then met Sheridan - also fell through - "it turned up, also uninjured, beside Hinchcliffe and Margison." The two men and the dog were all in due course retrieved by the Leeming and Lochaber MRTs.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Mightily impressed by that. Sounds like the sort of person I'd like by my side when the S**T hits the fan. A survivor. A very slight mistake but as previous posters have pointed out it's a tricky little hill & you're most certainly not the first.

Best of luck with the healing.

In reply to llechwedd:

This really did make me laugh out loud .

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Thanks Dave,

This all makes me feel a lot better.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Love this story, well done and hope you get your stuff back.

E

In reply to drmarten:

I've not worded my post very well. The middle paragraph 'scenario' refers to Beinn a'Chaorainn and the technique was mentioned alongside it in the book - I'm certainly not offering up any advice!
Annoyingly I can't find the book it was in.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

well done in getting yourself safe without involving the authorities. And uber-respect for waiting until a work day before going to A&E

In reply to Jack B:




I also wonder if the cairn on the south top is actually nearer the centre of the 1040 contour ring than the 1049m spot height on the 1:50k map, which would compound the problem as you are starting the leg 50+ metres NE of where you think you are.

In reply to Mark Bull:

All this is clear now...a little late for me.

Is there a website for 'Munro's that Bite'?

In reply to peter.corrigan:


There possibly should be, but I reckon in winter they all do!

In reply to peter.corrigan:

I visited Beinn a' Chaorainn last April. Knowing about this notorious black spot I got as close to the cornice as was safe to do so for a look over the lip in a morbid fascination kinda way. It gave me the heebie jeebies and made me shudder. Top marks for a top team and well done for digging yourselves out, dusting yourselves down and climbing your way out of a very bad situation indeed. Hope both your injuries heal quick and you are reunited with your lost belongings soon. With a bit of luck your tale will go a long way in preventing any further such incidents. Aw the best Peter.

In reply to Joak:

Great that you are Ok.
It pleases me so much that people still make the effort. Not just the climb out (bloody good that) but then the decision to walk out.
Thanks goodness we have some people out there to balance those who phone for help a few hundred feet up Tryfan because its a bit steep.
You should be on the telly as an example except that would just pander to the whims of the press. Keep it low profile.
Again bloody well done.

In reply to peter:

Bloody good effort on getting yourselves out of that Peter, Chapeaux Sir!! )


Best wishes to you and Sue.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Thanks for taking the time to write this article and get it posted.

Maybe if we were all a little less proud and shared stories like this - in such an unglorified, matter of fact manner - then everyone on the forum would benefit from a little hindsight.

It would be nice to have a "war story" section on UKC, or at least a category in the forum.

In reply to mattsccm:

Well thank you, I think you've perhaps got your wires x'd, I was replying to the OP.

In reply to Joak:


Last time I was there, with my pal Mike Adam on a fine day in early May 2008, my notes tell of "large cornices along ridge, big linear cracks in them in places". We went over all three tops, south to north, via the big detour to skirt the notorious bit (easy to see in the conditions although still more substantial than felt natural). The overall snow distribution overall was odd: "ridge itself clear apart from summit of N Top which was curiously still all under snow, such that there was no sign of a cairn and it was hard to be sure which was the natural highpoint - I went higher than Mike and felt I was on top as near as could be ascertained". Pretty sure that what appeared to be the highest point of the N Top on the day was a substantial snow dome - even as late as May and on a middling-high hill - and was offset towards the cliff-edge from where the summer cairn would be. It's an odd, counter-intuitive sort of hill.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Anyone Point to photo Links to this notorious Spot for illustration Purposes?

In reply to Choss:

This one of mine should I think?

http://prog99.com/Hillwalking%20in%20Scotland/2008/Beinn%20Teallach%20-%20J...

In reply to Choss:

This isn't brilliant but it gives some idea:
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/48926
The bit where people fall through is part of the indent you can see, but it cuts in further than is visible here.

In reply to peter.corrigan:


Like the understatement!

It appears the OS map is inaccurate (I see what Jack B says about contours missing). I'd also have thought NNW from the south top to the col would have been OK.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Well done on the self rescue and glad the outcome wasn't any worse. Glenmore Lodge use exactly this route in their Winter Nav lecture to illustrate the dangers of navigation near Coire rims in poor vis and some safe travel options.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Can you still lift a pint with your good arm?


Mark

In reply to ERB:

Sounds like he's earnt one!

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Sounds a bit hairy. Glad you're both ok (ish), and a huge huge well done for showing the skill and mindset to deal with the situation and extract yourselves.

This skill and mindset are two things which are getting sadly rarer nowadays... cf the pair I saw call in a chopper at 8pm from near the top of Tower Ridge at the w/e. They'd started on the ridge at noon, pitched the whole thing (bar a tiny bit of moving together near the bottom) and had apparently phoned the rescue saying they were "exhausted and had had enough". Bet you felt a wee bit more than "exhausted and had enough" at various points in your wee escapade.

In reply to ERB:
Eh-up Mr,

My broken wing is my non-drinking arm.

It's part of the therapy.

PS Is your picture from Skye?

In reply to Simon Yearsley:

The walk out was torture and took forever....

I was too tired to go to hospital.

In reply to peter.corrigan:
My Dad once fell through a cornice on Devil's Ridge in a white out, and injured his knee.

Hope you have a speedy return to full fitness for the hills.

In reply to peter.corrigan:Good effort getting yourself out. Everyone will get themselves into difficulties in the mountains at some time if they spend enough time in them. Its how you get out of it that counts.

In reply to AlH:


I'm going to stop looking through my books now, I went to a Winter Nav lecture at Glenmore Lodge - it was probably there that I was given the info.

In reply to hwackerhage:


I have such a device, ( prompted by family) and I found if I planned for the worst , and uploaded / plotted a safe route prior to the outing, then if it does white out, and the inaccuracy of map and compass becomes an issue, you can just switch it on it will show your position relative to your safe route, and you can get on it quickly, and then follow it keeping moving, and safe. However, this incident seems to be related to an issue with the OS map, so the GPS may not have helped.

In reply to hwackerhage:

Yep got a mapping GPS. Tells me where I am to a few metres. I think that the manufacturers would be surprised to hear however that it helps you avoid cornices! It most certainly does not. A few metres can put you off or through a cornice GPS or no. Nothing beats accurate navigation.....probably as taught by Glenmore.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

AAAh, I thought this was going to spoil your other hobby/adiction.


Yes the profile photo is abbing off the Inn Pinn.

Well done for getting your selves out and get your self patched up for the next epic.

Mark.

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Best wishes to you both for a speedy recovery.

Andy

In reply to Andy Hudson:

wow! great story and outcome

In reply to Jim C:


Assuming you're referring to my comment, I don't think the OS map is wrong per se, just that it is hard to interpret.

The practice of omitting contours on steep sections is common, it just so happens that in this case, it has lead to some uncertainty about where the edge is. I'm sure the contours accurately indicate the altitude of the terrain at that point, it's just that that's not the main thing a walker is looking for up there.
The other thing that might be a problem here (not sure) is that spot heights are the height at the spot, nothing more. There is no guarantee that they mark the highest point (though they usually do) and no guarantee that they mark a cairn (though they often do). So we should all be very careful about using them for navigation - if .1049 is in fact 50m west of a cairn, that could cause problems. Useful tip: on a 1:25k, spot heights are different colours: brown ones almost always pick out a peak or feature; black ones generally don't.

In reply to peter.corrigan:
Peter,

I've just read the article, which caught my eye as I was on the east ridge of Beinn a' Chaorainn on Saturday (4th January) and for a brief moment I thought you may have been one of the pair ahead of us on the ridge!

I'd stumbled across a description of the route here (www.scottishwinterroutes.com/chaorainn.htm) and originally I'd presumed you were returning as part of the round towards the Bealach a Bharnish.

We were fortunate to have great weather and returned to the road by heading SE from the 1049m spot height following a discrete shoulder and then south to the road.

I wonder if a direct route west into the Alt a' Chaorainn may be a preferable escape route in bad weather? Obvisoulsy subject to the wind direction on the day, but it does allow escape in the prevailing wind direction and allows you to head south to the A82.

Just a thought.

Glad that you're both safe and sound and still able to enjoy a pint!

Cheers,
Craig.

In reply to BUZZ1984:

We were doing the 'classic' SMC Munro bagging round, anticlockwise the week before on 29th Dec.

Our retreat plan was to retrace our steps.

I've just been to the fracture clinic back home in Yorkshire and thankfully the prognosis is as good as it could be. No operation needed, just a bit of TCL and behaving myself for 3 weeks or so.

Big thanks to Mr Sedgewick and Staff Nurse Donald Patterson at Belford Hospital A&E in Fort William who took the role of, 'All the Kings Horses and All the Kings Men', as they managed to put me back together again.

Apologies to all the other Doctors and nurses who worked on me as I can't remember your names.

In reply to Jack B:
"Useful tip: on a 1:25k, spot heights are different colours: brown ones almost always pick out a peak or feature; black ones generally don't."

Not necessarily. Black spot heights have been measured by ground survey; brown ones are spot heights measured from air / satellite survey. That doesn't mean there is a definite 'thing' there at a brown spot height.

In reply to peter.corrigan: Sorry to hear about your accident.

I did hear, although it might be a tall tale that someone has fallen through the cornice there not once but twice!

In reply to Welsh Kate:



You are correct of course, the colour corresponds to the survey method.
Black ones are at points where a field team set up, often they are placed near something else that the field team wanted to measure accurately (houses, boundaries etc) and couldn't get enough information from the air survey. They are often on roads, as that's an easy place to set up.
Brown ones are, as you say, from the air survey. They are on the map though because someone thought they would be useful. Using the air survey data, they could put spot heights more or less anywhere, but someone has chosen to put one there. Thus they almost always (and I did say almost) correspond to something identifiable.

[source: Q&A session with a cartographer, done by the BMC]

In reply to BUZZ1984:


We were also there on Saturday, so I think that might have been us you saw (I think we were the first group up the East Ridge). We were following the www.scottishwinterroutes.com/chaorainn.htm description, and managed to give the cornices a sufficiently wide berth; they looked nasty. We dropped down to Bealach a Bharnish, and the trudge through the knee deep snow in Coire na h-Uamha was really knackering!
It was a stunning day, although my wife scratched a cornea as we were figthing through the trees in the plantation to get to the A82 - Beinn a'Chaorainn is clearly in a bad mood this winter!

Wishing a speedy recovery to Peter and Sue.

In reply to CathS:

Hi Cath,
I get accused of that a lot...mostly because it's true.
As I remember we shared a ride to Feshie Bridge and did a of Munro Bagging.
Thanks for the pics.
Peter

In reply to peter.corrigan:

I've briefly read your account of your mishap and I salute you. Well done. That said I think you would have been full justified in calling for assistance. Can't think that anyone would have condemned you. I'm sure the MRT get called out for less. Hope you get your kit back and are soon back on the hills.

peter, good effort, glad you are on the mend.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

if thats true they fell down the west side as that grid ref is the west side of the ridge !
I suspect that should be NN386847
(385 covers the plateau - I have Digimap open at 1:25K with 12 fig refs)

In reply to lithos:


NN385847 is definitely what was given in the accident report - admittedly in the days before online mapping and suchlike. Mind you, looking at the printed maps and using a ruler (!), the right-hand edge of the 385 easting, just where it switches to 386, is at the very edge of the crag. On Explorer 401, the 1:25k sheet, the cliff edge isn't really shown as being indented at all - it's just drawn as a standard curve with a slight indent but nothing untoward. Given that there's long been discussion about the map not being quite right here, all it would take is for there to be an additional slight indent - and those excellent pics posted by Cath S upthread appear to support that - and NN385847 could well be correct. Must be right on the boundary between NN385847 and NN386847, anyway.

Incidentally, I was out yesterday with a pal on Beinn a'Ghlo in the most pure-whiteout, can't-see-the-ground conditions I've experienced for a good few years. It wasn't snowing, but for ten minutes or more on the upper part of the middle Munro it was so blank-white in the cloud and the total snow cover that we were only really able to progress by constantly looking sideways to where there was a hint of brightness at the steeper edges. What was in front was completely white - no rocks showing through at all, and no way of telling whether the ground was rising or dipping. It's always eerie and rather disconcerting when it's like that.

In reply to Alan Breck:

I think what I would say is, if you put in points or a route in to the GPS anticipation of bad weather, with an allowance for the accuracy of your GPS, then even if it is a few metres out, you will not be near a conice.

I have not seen any studies of map and compass navigation versus GPS for following a pre planned route, but my feeling gut is, that the average map and compass navigator and the average GPS user/Navigator would be similar, but I would find it hard to agree with your assertion that "Nothing beats accurate navigation" there are some atmospheric conditions that can be very decieving to the human eye and senses, and I would trust a GPS more (in those circumstances.)

So what I'm saying is, any navigator should not be leaving just a few metres of safe groundin a dangerous area , just in case the weather deteriorates, as that is beyond either the Map and compass user in bad weather or, as you point out, a GPS' accuracy.

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

There is a tiny indent visible on the 1:25k map right at the westernmost extent of the cliff edge. This is evident in Google Maps imagery, as it casts a slight shadow, and the two seem to match in position to less than 10m, which suggests the 1:25k map is essentially correct.

The cairn on the south top is also visible on Google Maps, and also appears to match the 1049m spot height on the 1:25k map to within 10m. The 1049m spot height on the 1:50k map is about 30m to the SSW of the spot height on the 1:25k.

The combined effect of the misplaced spot height and the omitted contours is that a bearing from the south summit to the apparent centre of the col on the 1:50k map will take you uncomfortably close (within 20-30m) to the cliff edge.

It could also be that the highest point on the col is very close to edge, so that the correct bearing feels too far left in terms of how the ground is sloping.

In reply to Mark Bull:

according to digimap (centring the mouse on the spot height)

the spot height on the 1:25K is at NN 38633, 84514
the spot height on the 1:50K is at NN 38626, 84490

Ive no idea where the cairn is - can you get accurate grid ref from Google ?

In reply to Dave Hewitt:

Hi dave not doubting anything just pointing out really that adding a few words to the
report (like 'east into the corrie') would disambiguate it...

Anyhow i've zoomed in and if you pick up the very edge of the indent it's at .........

wait for it ......

NN 38595, 84799 so just scrapes in :0)

sound both wonderful and a bit nervy being in such conditions

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Quality effort.

I was reading the account the other day and it reminded me of this http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP19/climbing-life

In reply to lithos:
Google gives the cairn at +56°55'25.44", -4°39'9.96" (WGS84) which converts to NN 38637 84514

In reply to Mark Bull:
so as you suggest - on the spot height on 1:25K, not quite on the 1:50K

all a bit academic but interesting !

In reply to Jim C:

In bad weather nothing beats the good old snowball trick.....Even with the use of a good GPS or indeed accurate Navigation. I speak from experience on Ben Alder in pre GPS days. There but for the grace of God......

In reply to Alan Breck:

What's the snowball trick?

In reply to peter.corrigan:

Hi Peter, glad to hear your ok and well done on getting yourselves out. I climbed the East Ridge today and had a good view into the bottom of the corrie. I couldnt see anything that resembled a rucsac, there is lots of wet avalanche debris in there now and the snowpack is very deep in places. On the way back out i came across some footprints that looked as if they were traversing the base of the corries, possibly the local gilley, there were also fresh argo truck tracks on the way up through the forest.Maybe worth contacting the local estate as well. Good luck, hope you find your bag.

In reply to CathS:

Well it consists of throwing snowballs on the basis that you can't tell up from down. I.e. A real whiteout. If the snowball when thrown appears to stick in mid air then the way ahead is up etc etc. The problem arises when the snowball disappears. That's usually the way down....quickly!

In reply to lithos:

Interesting re the precise grid refs, ta.


It was - it's eerie when it's as white as that and you can't see the ground, angle of slope etc. I've never tried the snowballs thing (but have read of it being done on the Devil's Ridge). Last time I was out in that kind of pure whiteout was a few years ago on Ben Chonzie, but that had the safety margin of no particularly steep ground plus I knew that in due course the plateau fence would be reached.

On Wednesday on Beinn a'Ghlo there wasn't a safety backup like that. We ended up coming down thinking (well, me anyway) that we didn't get quite to the top of the second Munro. Reached what I'm pretty sure was the cairn a wee bit short of the actual top, and despite pressing on a little we couldn't then find another cairn (and felt like we were starting to head steadily downhill, although we couldn't really tell). Subsequent crosschecking with timing notes from earlier ascents indicates that we probably didn't quite go far enough - and a clear-weather revisit is now in order sometime soon to see what was what. All good fun and valuable experience, anyway, even if my Munro tally for the year does presently stand at a rather frustrating 1.99...

In reply to peter.corrigan:

CMC's finest. Top effort in making good your escape.
Hope you and Sue are on the mend.
All the best
Andy.