One of the last people I spoke to before heading South from Strathcarron after a week of mountaineering in the NW Highlands was Joy Moran. Joy is the wife of the Guide Martin Moran. I has stayed in their accommodation during my week.
We chatted about many things including the turning of the years and perhaps their ambitions to reduce Moran Mountaineering to a UK only business with occasional treks in the European Alps.
Martin is 64, and perhaps worthy of a rest after his 30+ years of guiding.
As I drove South I stopped (as always) in Glencoe for this last view of the ‘big’ hills. My phone beeped with twitter updates from British and Indian mountaineering sources.
Martin Moran and (possibly) 7 clients have been avalanched on Peak 6447m in the Nanda Devi East area of the Indian Himalaya. They are all missing presumed dead.