Product Description

In 'Cairngorm John: A Life in Mountain Rescue' (his call sign when in contact with search and rescue helicopters) John Allen recalls the challenges of mountain rescue and the many changes he has both witnessed and been a party to. His book is filled with exciting accounts of real-life rescues, discussions of mountain rescue topics such as hypothermia, first aid, and the use of helicopters and search and rescue dogs. Peopled with interesting characters his accounts are at all times humane and the book is laced with humour. SHORT LISTED: The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature 2009

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17076 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-15
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Review
Filled with anecdotes and compassion this book takes the reader deeply into the world of mountain rescue, more deeply into the hills themselves than many more direct appreciations. Cairngorm John: A Life in Mountain Rescue is by turns exciting, funny, informative and wise, an indispensable addition to the literature of the mountains. --Sir Chris Bonington in his Introduction.

'I had to put on several layers just to read this book. It makes Touching the Void seem like a pretty routine day on the hill.' --Iain Macwhirter in the Sunday Herald

Reflects on decades of service saving lives in the mountains . . . measured . . . a hilarious example of how things have changed [from] the tough, self-reliant world John Allen grew up in . . . if you want an in-depth look at the challenges facing mountain rescue, and the immense contribution it makes, then Allen's book is an invaluable source. --Ed Douglas in Climber Magazine

'I had to put on several layers just to read this book. It makes Touching the Void seem like a pretty routine day on the hill.' --Iain Macwhirter in the Sunday Herald

Reflects on decades of service saving lives in the mountains . . . measured . . . a hilarious example of how things have changed [from] the tough, self-reliant world John Allen grew up in . . . if you want an in-depth look at the challenges facing mountain rescue, and the immense contribution it makes, then Allen's book is an invaluable source. --Ed Douglas in Climber Magazine

About the Author
For over thirty years John Allen was an active member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team and for most of them acted as Team Leader.

Customer Reviews

Fleshing out those press reports
Coming home from the Scottish hills in winter, perhaps after a storm had brewed up, friends and I would often wonder if people had got caught out in the Cairngorms. Sometimes we would read the next day in the papers of missing or dead people. A number of incidents stick in mind: the tragic death of a child out for a walk with her father and brother; the bizzare case of a woman who managed to elude the rescue services for several days, and on being found claimed to have recieved visions preventing her from walking over cornices.

So it was with great interest I read Cairngorm John. These incidents, and more, are brought to life by the man who was at the centre of mountain rescue in the Cairngorms for years. Not all are tragedies: there are the hilarious stories of the yeti hunters, the incredible cheerfulness and resilience of a climber who broke several bones and was stuck upside down in a waterfall for several hours, and a touching story of a man and his son bonding in the hills. We get the inside story on these, and on the team's relationship with police and RAF, and the challenges and responses of professionalism on the amateur volunteers.

Above all, John is a team player, which shines through in the slower-paced stories. I couldn't do what the likes of John did, but I'm grateful that folks like him and his volunteers are ready to come out in all weathers to help walkers and climbers in distress. As an inside look in the work of a mountain rescue team - and, by example, of what to do to improve your odds of coming home in one piece - this is going to be on the shelves of everyone who heads regularly for the Scottish hills.

What an insight - what a book!
I came across this book merely by accident because, unlike most mountain books that stack my shelf or I'm waiting in anticipation for release, I had no idea that this one existed. However, I accidentally came across it on Amazon after searching on "Cairngorm".

The book is a valuable insight into the Mountain Rescue services and one particular team (the Cairngorm MRT) that faces the dangers of both summer and winter seasons on a yearly basis. The book explains how the Cairngorm MRT was developed, which is very interesting, but also how one or two key rescues changed the MRT SOPs and attitudes towards other services and the public themselves. The book does describe the less known aspects of the MRTs outside the general public knowledge and that is one of recovering bodies on the mountain and this dark side to the role is yet another aspect that we take for granted by the MRT in Scotland, England and Wales.

As someone that holds the ML and has also faced a savage winter experience in the Cairngorms, that resulted in our little group heading desparately for Shelter Stone in a total white out and with a member showing signs of fatique and hyperthermia, I can only take my hat off to the lads in the MRT that do what I did (i.e. bring the group to safety) on what is sometimes a day to day basis. On that particular occasion, two of out three of us had winter or survival training and therefore we managed to walk back down to the Ski Centre the next day but it is certainly reassuring that in different circumstances a team as professional as the Cairngorm MRT would have been on standby to help if necessary.

Anyone who wonders why the UK MRTs are not full paid professionals (they are professionals in their own right) should read this book and learn the opinions of one particular leader and the general opinions of those that do this without pay but certainly with a great deal of well deserved pride.

Cairngorm John - Food for Thought
Cairngorm John is more than a book about mountain rescue. It is an enjoyable, informative and thought provoking read that has clearly been written by a lover of the wildness of the Scottish mountains - and someone with a great sense of humanity.
Despite being a hillwalker for more than 40 years,I still learned a great deal from reading Cairngorm John and welcome the accounts of so many incidents not only as compelling tales but also as a stimulus to polish up my own mountain skills.
I would highly recommend this to anyone who ventures out in the Scottish hills.