The 2009 Buachaille Etive Mòr avalanche happened on

Buachaille Etive Mòr Buachaille Etive Mòr (), gd, Buachaille Èite Mòr, 'great herdsman of Etive'), also known simply as 'The Buachaille', is a mountain at the head of Glen Etive in the Highlands of Scotland. Its pyramidal shape, as seen from the northeast, ...

Glen Coe Glen Coe ( gd, Gleann Comhann ) is a glen of volcanic origins, in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the north of the county of Argyll, close to the border with the historic province of Lochaber, within the modern council area of Highland ...

in the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...

, UK, on 24 January 2009. Three mountain climbers were killed and one sustained a serious shoulder injury. Two of the dead were from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

and the other was from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Nine people from at least three countries in at least two parties were involved in the incident on a mountain that is well recognised by tourists to Scotland. While avalanches are not uncommon in the area, very few deaths are reported—this incident has been described as "one of the worst disasters in the Scottish mountains for decades".

Geography

The avalanche occurred in the Coire na Tulaich area of the mountain. Coire na Tulaich affords a relatively easy (but steep) ascent of the mountain in summer conditions and is also the main ascent route for hill walkers. This corrie has a history of previous avalanches. The last fatal avalanche before this incident occurred in February 1995, resulting in the deaths of three people. Buachaille Etive Mòr (which means "the great herdsman of Etive") is a popular destination for hill walkers and climbers. There are two

Munro A Munro () is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nev ...

s on the ridge of Buachaille Etive Mòr. Stob Dearg is the highest peak on the ridge and is the one seen from the A82 road, the other Munro summit being Stob na Bròige.

Climbers

According to John Grieve, the leader of Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team, the nine caught in the avalanche appeared to consist of two parties, one made up of seven friends, both Scottish and English, and a pair of climbers. One of the men suffered a serious shoulder injury.

Search and rescue effort

Following the avalanche at 12:00 UTC, a major search and rescue operation was carried out in blizzard conditions. Rescue helicopters were involved alongside members of Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team who were aided by

detection dog A detection dog or sniffer dog is a dog that is trained to use its senses to detect substances such as explosives, illegal drugs, wildlife scat, currency, blood, and contraband electronics such as illicit mobile phones. The sense most used by ...

s. First to arrive at the scene was the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

rescue helicopter, Rescue 137, which had been diverted from an exercise in the area. A second helicopter, Rescue 177, was then scrambled from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

station at HMS ''Gannet'' near

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, an ...

. Upon their discovery at 15:00 UTC, the three climbers were airlifted off the mountain and taken to the Belford Hospital in Fort William by ambulance where they were pronounced dead at 17:00 UTC. A fourth person airlifted to hospital sustained a shoulder injury, and the remaining five people found on the mountain were described as "uninjured". The rest of the climbers were left on the mountain for a period as weather conditions prevented the helicopters from re-engaging in their search efforts.

Cause

John Grieve said the avalanche was initiated by a climber who dislodged a huge sheet of snow, sending it down on the nine other climbers who were swept downhill. The climber avoided being swept away by digging into the mountain with his ice axe before he composed himself to alert the emergency services. The surviving climbers had begun to unearth their friends' bodies from the snow with their ice axes by the time the rescue team had arrived. Fifty-year-old Jim Coyne from Lindsayfield,

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

, said he and 53-year-old David Barr from Paisley, were on the mountain when a slab of snow came away from the peak. Barr sustained the shoulder injury. Coyne told of how they were just below the summit when the avalanche occurred, describing it as "massive" and saying they were

... engulfed and I managed to dig my way out. As I tried to get my bearings I saw an arm sticking out of the snow. It was Davie. I dug for 10 minutes using just my hands to get him free.

54-year-old Tom Richardson, an experienced climber from

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, also had a narrow escape and subsequently alerted the emergency services. The three casualties were named as Eamonn Murphy, 61, John Murphy, 63 and Brian Murray. File:Buachaille Etive Mor (Stob Dearg) - geograph.org.uk - 177605.jpg, The incident occurred in the Coire na Tulaich area of popular

''(pictured above)''. File:Coire na Tulaich, Buachaille Etive Mor - geograph.org.uk - 86415.jpg, Coire na Tulaich on

. File:Coire na Tulaich.jpg, Looking north towards the A82 road in

from upper Coire na Tulaich on

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Buachaille Etive Mor avalanche 2009 disasters in the United Kingdom Buachaille Etive Mor avalanche Buachaille Etive Mor avalanche Natural disasters in Scotland Buach January 2009 events in Europe Avalanches in the United Kingdom Glen Coe