A Near Thing

I first met Ollie at Boroughmuir High School, Edinburgh in 1977 when I had moved there from Cape Town. At first, we bumped heads due to me being ragged as the ‘new boy’; however, our mutual love for the outdoors and climbing soon made good chums of us, sharing many adventures.

One memorable exploit goes back to the late seventies in the Cairngorms. We had set out to ice climb in Coire an t-Sneachda, taking the normal approach path from the car park.

However, on arrival in the Coire, we found the conditions unsuitable and our new plan required us climbing up onto the Fiachill Ridge. As I recall, the weather was reasonable and apart from missing our initial objective, we were enjoying ourselves.

We just reached a rocky outcrop about halfway up when there was a tremendous bang followed by a roar. The slope on our right had broken away into a huge avalanche, presumably triggered by a group who had ascended ahead of us.

We stood frozen to the spot as the mass of snow roared downhill, the Coire below disappearing into a turbulent whiteout. The sight and sound were frightening; no doubt, it would have been a spectacular sight to witness had we not been on the edge of the break and not knowing if the spot we were standing was going to follow.

The air cleared and after exchanging looks, we decided this was ‘not the best of places to be’, and promptly beat a retreat, fearful of triggering a second slide. I remember mumbling a prayer to two as we delicately tiptoed down the steps we had made on our ascent.

I think there was a bit of nervous bravado as we left the danger zone, and headed hastily back to the car park whilst keeping a beady eye on the slopes to our right.

Several pints were enjoyed that evening as we recollected the day’s drama and considered the lessons learnt!

Next day, we were back out.

L to R. Chris, Oliver and Pierre. Circa 1977, near Edinburgh.