A tragedy in the Torridon Mountains

There have been a number of tragedies in the Torridon mountains. These often involve climbing incidents but once incident in March 1951 involved a plane crash on the Triple Buttress of Corie Mhic Fhearchair. In the early hours of the morning a Lancaster bomber on a navigation exercise from RAF Kinloss flew into it at an altitude of around 900m during atrocious and freezing weather conditions. The crew of eight did not survive and due to the terrible winter weather it took days before anyone could reach the site- it was months before all the bodies were recovered.

Several changes to mountain rescue in the area were made after this tragedy. It was as a result of this incident that the modern RAF Mountain Rescue Teams were formed. The use of local keepers and ghillies to assist in the removal of bodies prompted the formation of the local Torridon Mountain Rescue Team.

Debris can still be found around the base of the buttress and in one of the gullies has been named ‘Fuselage Gully.’

More information on visiting the area can be found here.