TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to the two brothers from Northern Ireland who died with another man in an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands.
John Murphy (63), Portrush, and Eamonn Murphy (61), Carrickfergus, both Co Antrim, and Brian Murray (46) Monifeith, Tayside, Scotland, were caught up in the avalanche in blizzard conditions on Buachaille Etive Mor, near Glencoe, about noon on Saturday.
Experienced climbers, they were among nine people in at least two groups who were struck by the avalanche, local police said. Prayers were said for both men and their families at Masses yesterday in Portrush and Carrickfergus.
In a statement last night issued through Scotland’s Northern Constabulary, the Murphy family said the brothers were very experienced climbers. “Eamonn and John were both very experienced and lived for the outdoors. They were regular visitors to Scotland and this was a Burns weekend trip which they did every year.
“They went out walking whenever they could, both near and far. They walked close to home around Cave Hill, the Mournes, in Italy and beyond, and it was something they enjoyed with a passion.
“We are obviously deeply upset by what has happened and now want to be left alone as a family to make the arrangements for the funerals, and would request that the media respect our privacy at this time.”
The statement added that the brothers would not have taken “unnecessary risks and were on an approved trail as part of an organised group when this accident happened”. The emergency services said the group “had done everything right”, it said.
The family thanked the group who tried to get them out of the snow, and expressed sympathy to the family of Mr Murray.
Relatives thanked all of the emergency teams who assisted in the rescue efforts.
Eamonn, a former teacher, was a well-known local artist, and a spokeswoman for the Arts Society of Ulster said that “in his paintings Eamonn loved colour and life and expression, and that was reflected in his personality. He was always the enthusiast, cheerful, with time for everybody. He had an enormous zest for life, he brightened any room he walked into.”
Two of the men were taken off the mountain by an RAF rescue helicopter which flew them to Fort William’s Belford Hospital.
One was pronounced dead on arrival, and the second died later. The body of the third person was later discovered buried in the snow. Another person with a shoulder injury was taken off the mountain and received treatment at Belford Hospital. The five uninjured people were rescued from the mountain.
Dawson Stelfox, the first Irishman to climb Mount Everest, did not know either of the two Northern Irish men, but said “they’ve been described as part of a Scottish-based club, An Teallach Mountaineering Club”.
Mr Stelfox said the Scottish Highlands were very popular with Irish climbers, and “every week and most weekends” people would travel to Buachaille Etive Mor, particularly for the snow. “It’s the snow and ice that attracts people and brings the mountain alive.”
The two men and the other climbers were on the standard walking route on the mountain, an area known as a place where avalanches occur. Mr Stelfox said there were also a variety of climbing routes on the mountain. He said that “relatively few avalanches occur spontaneously”, and it appeared that this event was triggered by “another person or party above them”.
The walking route follows a valley and a slope with a “saddle” of snow, which is where the avalanche occurred.
