Friday, February 21, 2014

Mount Keen: perhaps 'beautiful hill', 'hill of meetings', or 'hill of difficulties'!
Beautiful, meetings, difficulties........
Sunday 16th saw mountain rescue teams from Aberdeen and Braemar out on Mount Keen, at the head of Glen Tanar, looking for 2 females stranded on the hill.
It was freezing cold, with a clear sky and full moon rising before they were found later that evening.
The call had come in just before 5pm, and after a brief scan of Mt Keen by the Ranger- good view of the shoulder, ridge, and summit from above Etnach- teams headed onto the hill. Trudging, using flares, and with tracked vehicle back up, a systematic search was mounted.
After several hours, with good collaboration between the two teams, the ladies were brought down off the hill.
Some doubt about location, and poor use of map and compass, seemed to be contributory factors leading to the call out. There's a good path up Mount Keen from the south: but in winter, like now, it's covered in snow, so good navigation skills are essential.
Thanks to the action of the Aberdeen MRT and Braemar MRT, all ended well. Later this year- June 7th- AMRT will be running a sponsored walk in Glen Tanar. Come and help raise funds: next time, it could be you we are looking for!  http://www.amrt.org.uk/walks.html