Avalanche deaths on Buchaille Etive Mor and Climber injured on Ben Nevis

Just over a year after an avalanche on Buchaille Etive Mor killed three climbers, two from Ireland and one Scot, there has been another avalanche on the mountain today (24th February).

We understand that the incident is a major one with a large number of walkers known to have been on the mountain and the rescue services scrambled to the area of the Curved Ridge just before 5.00pm this afternoon. This is on the NE face of this famous mountain guardian of the approaches to Glencoe.

This comes after a male climber was seriously injured to the head, leg and arm, after falling near the Organ Pipes on Ben Nevis this morning. He was found on Coire Na Ciste, where he was let warm by other walkers.

When the rescue services reached him, he needed medical attention on the spot. He was then flown to Belford Hospital in Fort William and on to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow.

20.00 Update on Buchaille Etive Mor incident: It is now known that there are two serious casualties amongst those caught up in this evening’s avalanche on the mountain. Police fear there may be more.

22.00 Update on Buchaille Etive Mor: The Police have said that the two casualties found earlier on the mountain have, sadly, now died. They had been swept around 1,500 feet down the mountain. Both are men and neither has been named. A third member of their party escaped the avalanche.

Update 16.00 1st March: The two men who died have now been named. They were 29 year-old mountain guide, Christopher Walker, from Cumbria and 37 year-old Robert Pritchard from South West London.

Warning: Conditions at the moment are putting the avalanche risk in Scotland at its highest ever standing. Walkers, climbers and off-piste skiers are advised to seek advice and information on any specific area before they go there from the Scottish Avalanche Information Service.

The photographs at the top show:

• left, a view from the summit of the Devil’s Staircase looking south over the east end of Glen Coe,  towards Buchaille Etive Mòr with Creise and Meall a’ Bhuiridh beyond – by Colin Souze and reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.
• right, in  different season, the NE face of Buchaille Etive Mor, showing the Curved Ridge – by Grinner and reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.