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Storm Bound Couple, December 2015, Beinn Eighe

12.01.2015 by Torridon MRT // Leave a Comment

Beinn Eighe rescue

Around 15:30 we recieved the call from the police about 2 walkers crag bound at the top of the gully on Sail Mor on Beinn Eighe, Arjan asked forchopper which was due at 17:00, and myself and Seamus to be on standby in the glen with Arjan in the Landy. Weather was good at the time and cloud nice and high so we anticipated chopper extraction and we even booked a table for 6pm at the Kinlichewe hotel.
Chopper on scene decided they needed us to be lifted to get the casualties. Due to the high turbulence on the ridge, we headed back to base for technical kit and ropes. Arjan called out more team.

Once on board we had quite a bumpy flight up Arjan up front with crew planning the rescue. Myself and Seamus were cattle class up the back. Soon in to the flight it was rather bumpy with bad turbulence, Seamus got out a sick bag. They could not drop us on Sail Mor so instead dropped us and the 500ft rope on Coineach Mhor. Not ideal as winds were about 80mph giving a very interesting winch down which was captured on the GoPro. We also we had the “Bad Step” to contend with in the dark. Chopper departed for fuel so we proceeded to the “Bad Step”. This time the wind was gusting 90- 100mph. We could hardly move, thrown across the hill a few times so then Arjan decided to pull the pin and get off the hill and do rescue in the morning. A call was put in to retrieve us by helicopter. Fair play to crew they did try but the thing was howling and screaming above us and being thrown all over the place. After our interesting journey and winch out we were all a wee bit concerned about our next flight. Moments later 951 got out quick and headed home as uplift was impossible. Their parting words were, “we can’t get you, hunker down for the night and good luck”.

Andrew informed casualties they were not going to be rescued that night. It would have been madness for us to stay up there. We crawled on our hands and knees along the ridge and on our fronts at times till it was safe to descend in to Corrie Dubh. We then hit the screen shoot and headed down. Tom was in the glen with the van and lights going which was a great help. Boy were we glad to see him and head back to base for some rest and round 2 the next day.
Once back at base 951 winch operator called me to see we were alive and OK. He told me that his captain was pulling full torque and the thing was screaming when they tried to get us and they were worried they would
blow something perhaps in the engine. I’m no expert but one would say that doesn’t sound good.

All in all an interesting evening! A top decision made to pull out and go the next day. We are all safe and so are the casualties. Big massive effort put in by Torridon MRT, RAF MRT and R951 and R948.

Ryan MacLean

On the Tuesday night, we arranged for R951 to be at Torridon base at 08:15 and also asked for RAF back up in case we needed help with a stretcher evacuation. The team were asked to muster at Torridon YH at 07:30. We had asked the casualties only to turn on their phone at pre arranged times (09:15, 0000, 03 00, 06 00 ) so that they we could talk to them but they would save battery. From our conversations with them, we knew they were OK but very scared. We impressed on them the importance of staying where they were. The female casualty wanted to try to make it out of the top of the gully. It is my belief that they were in the best possible place to see out the storm and that if they had tried to move the would have died.

On Wednesday morning the road at Garve was blocked by a landslide so the first job was to get information to the RAF team (travelling from Kyle) about Gordy’s back route bypassing the blockage. I asked the police to do this.
 At Torridon YH: Mark, Arjan, Ryan, Andrew, Rod, Graham, Gordy, Alasdair, Tom, John. The 17 RAF MRT arrived at about 08:30. R951 flew over Sail Mhor to make an assessment but weather conditions prevented them completing the operation. They arrived at the YH at about 09:15. First team dropped below Coire Mhic Fhearcair: Gordy, Mark, Rod, Graham. Second team: Andrew, Alasdair, Tom, John + 2 RAF. R951 then returned to Inverness as conditions made flying too dangerous. R951 and 952 were later tasked to a kayaking incident in Ballater so were unavailable for the rest of the day.
 The grid ref we had put the casualties at the top of the big gully you see approaching Sail Mhor. Gordy’s team approached from a gully on the leftmy team approached from directly underneath. We made considerable efforts to maintain communications between both teams, which was a bit of a faff but important. Mark and Gordy spotted the casualties and made their way to them,with Rod and Graham following. Tom and John approached from directly underneath, scoping out the descent possibilities of the gully our team were in. I took up position about half way up the gully with two RAF MRT and Alasdair. We took care to position ourselves out of the line of inevitable falling rocks. The gully was extremely loose and it would have been a mistake to have too may people too high up around the casualties. Encouragingly, when we did dislodge television sized blocks, the gully was easy angled enough so that they didn’t fall too far and there were plenty of mobile small rocks to absorb the impact.
The casualties were mobile. They were fitted with harnesses and helmets and we used a mixture of short roping and rope hand rails on steeper sections to bring them down and out of the gully. It took about 2 hours from when we got them moving to exiting the gully.

Below, Ryan was with the remainder of RAF personnel. He had worries about river levels at the stepping stones so Tom , Ryan, an RAF team member and I went ahead to check, but things were OK. R948 was able to evacuate the casualties (by this time, moving very slowly) from near the junction with the Coire Mhic Nobuill path. I think everyone was off the hill by 16:30. 
So, that’s it. Two young people still around to have a Happy New Year because of Torridon MRT, the RAF and the coastguard helicopters.

Andrew Johnston

Congratulations to all involved in the rescue.
 Conditions must have been atrocious up there on Coinneach Mhor on Tuesday afternoon.
 Thank goodness all safe including the victims. Can only imagine what a
miserable night they endured.
 Best wishes for New Year

Martin Moran

Categories // Call out

Training, May 2015, Bealach na Ba, Applecross

05.01.2015 by Torridon MRT // Leave a Comment

Crag snatch

May 2015 Bealach na Ba

11 hardy souls from the team ventured out, to be welcomed by a spirited May wind and rain.

Half way up the Bealach road, in the shadow of the famous Sword of Gideon, we parked and kitted up for the days training. Jim asked us to set up 2 sets of belays for practicing a Crag Snatch, to ensure that in the future we are able to extract an injured climber and package him in the stretcher and lower them safely to the awaiting team.

Firstly we all familiarised ourselves in the use of the Petzl iD to abseil down the face and to use the device for ascending the climb.

After a quick bite to eat, the stretcher was assembled with Tom bravely volunteering to be the casualty on the steep rock face.

Team Leader Arjan and foot soldier Gregor were lowered over the edge as barrow boys with the stretcher, to find themselves slightly to one side of the casualty. This is a difficult manoeuvre in good conditions never mind on a steep wet rock face, with 50 mph winds & driving rain. It meant that they had to manoeuvre themselves closer to the casualty which was made increasingly difficult by the weather and the fact that comms were replaced with hand signals.

Once Tom was lifted onto the stretcher and secured, he was lowered to a slim ledge where some of the team assisted to bring the stretcher to safety. We then dismantled all the rigging and headed back to the vehicles where we were all awarded some of Jim’s Turkish delights!!

A great days training in challenging conditions.

Categories // Training

Winter Rigging Course, March 2015, Cairngorms

03.01.2015 by Torridon MRT // Leave a Comment

WinterRiggingCourse

Our Mountain Rescue Scotland winter rigging course started with myself, Ron and John getting picked up at TISO in Inverness by Jim and Em but instead of going to Carrbridge we went for a bit of sustenance in the form of a BK, probably as part of Emily’s nutritional training for the Celtman. We then headed to Carrbridge and were allocated our rooms. John and Em were given rooms with other MRT team members and Ron and I shared. At this point I realised I hadn’t packed my wet suit!

After a quick beer, the intro started, with Stuart; Bill, Andy and Jim explaining the plans for the weekend. Stuart gave a power point presentation on various types of snow anchors e.g. bollards, deadmen, stakes and also their strengths and load capabilities. From here we were split into 3 teams and given a rescue scenario where we had to work out the best way to evacuate a casualty with only a limited amount of gear, which was really interesting especially when afterwards we were told the scenarios were from real rescues. After this we were then forced into the bar to socialise.

Got up on the Saturday morning very tired due to Ron’s teeth grinding all night and beer intake but still glad my feet were dry, so every cloud…and after a good fry up we were taken to Coire na Ciste and like our last training day, were shown how to build snow bollards, place dead men and build bucket seats as well as hauling techniques at various stations across the hill-side.
Back at the hotel that night after dinner we were then shown by Andy ways to fit a bridal to a stretcher and Bill showed in great detail the uses and good tips about the Petzl ID. Then it was Guinness time.

Sunday morning, again quite tired due to the strong winds, this time from outside the hotel room and after another hearty breakfast we all went to Coire an Laoigh Mor to practice our lowering techniques. After a 45 min walk in we split into 2 teams and made our way up into shoulder of the corrie and practiced a single person lower then a single person lower with the stretcher, haul back up using a walking haul which wasn’t that great, then an arm over arm haul which worked much better. To finish we then conducted a multi pitch lower, which involved 2 change-overs. At this point the wind got really up and sent spindrift every-where but not enough to drown out Em’s infectious laughter. This involved 4 anchor points rigged into a BFK then an I.D was used with prussics to lower the stretcher to the next pitch and so on to level ground. The 1st pitch was quite slow in getting set up but each pitch thereafter got quicker and quicker as everyone got familiar with the set-up and threw themselves into it especially as Bill was hurrying us along. When this was finished we had a wee debrief with where Bill mentioned mostly good points but the odd bad point (note to self, never leave your ice axe at the pitch when you go to do a walking haul). We then had a nice walk back to the car park then back to the Cairngorm base to drop off their kit.

All in all this was a great course with very good instructors and brilliant company, Thanks Guys.

Graham Wilson

Categories // Training

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Torridon Mountain Rescue Team is at Morvich.

4 days ago

Torridon Mountain Rescue Team
CALLOUTOn Monday the team was called to assist Kintail Mountain Rescue Team with a multi agency search for Richard Dawson, who had been reported missing in the Five Sisters area.Along with Skye Mountain Rescue Team SARDA Scotland Police Scotland and Glenelg MRT, we were deployed onto the hill to search parts of the range.Tragically, his body was discovered and subsequently recovered from high on the mountain on Monday afternoon.The team would like to extend their deepest condolences to Richard's family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.Torridon MRT is made up entirely of volunteers who are on call 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24hrs a day to help anyone in need in the mountains. We rely almost entirely on public donations to fund our work. Please consider donating by visiting the JustGiving page linked in our bio.Scottish Mountain Rescue #mountainrescue ... See MoreSee Less

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