A Scottish mountain rescue team has broken with tradition and delivered 'a rant' against the actions of two climbers who 'knew better.'
Mountain rescue teams very rarely criticise climbers who get into trouble, but Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team has made an exception for those just rescued on Ben Nevis.
The team posted its comments on its Facebook page:
"Everyone involved last night put in a major effort in horrendous conditions to assist casualties who did not make our job any easier. Conditions made navigation very difficult and communications were very poor. We had located the casualties using a phone app. We knew that one had fallen but the others could hear his shouts so we knew once we had located the others we would be able to get to the one who had fallen.
"One decided to try and walk out and by a stroke of luck was found wandering over the summit plateau by a mountain guide.... In the meantime the two guys at the point we had located with the phone app decided to move down towards their mate who was still shouting. We told them again to stay where they were but they obviously knew better and carried on which resulted in both of them falling down over the crags at the head of Coire Eoghainn.
"They both fell 200 metres plus past their mate who was stuck on some steep nasty ground. Luckily they both escaped with minor injuries - probably due to the amount of snow cushioning their landings over the steep ground."
As the rescue team could not find the two at the location we thought they were at, a lot of time was lost trying as was the team's equipment:
"Lots of gear abandoned on the abseils plus 300 metres of rope trashed."
The post says that the only perk the volunteers got was breakfast at 4am before going to their work. Along with the helicopter crew they " were putting their lives on the line for frankly some very inexperienced hill walkers who were not equipped for a winter mountaineering expedition."
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