Last Friday 10am I get a call from a young lady wanting to book a taxi from the Ben Lawers Hotel to the carpark up at Ben Lawers. Pick up time was to be 6pm. Walkers I presumed and Ashleigh confirmed this, saying they were doing 7 Munros. At the time I thought they must already be on the hill as 10am seemed a little late to be setting out on such an arduous hike. Good on them I thought, obviously experienced walkers banging out 7 in a day.

So the day went on as normal transporting various passengers around the area. A busy Friday it was, with walkers and tourists in abundance, I was really enjoying my day.

Later I got a text message from Ashleigh asking if I could push back their pick up time until 7pm, not a problem. We always try to be flexible with walkers. At about 6.30pm I got a call from Ashleigh, they were running later and could we do 8pm, yes we’ll be there was my response. When she contacted again to ask for a 8.30pm pick up I was a little concerned, she said they were  behind their estimated return time. I was getting a little worried now as it would be pretty much dark by then. I told her I had other Hires but would be there about 9ish.

When I arrived out to pick them up a little before 9 there was no sign of them. I rang half a dozen times and her phone was switched off, I checked in the hotel, no walkers had been seen. I was now thinking at what point do I call Mountain Rescue, or had they got a lift from someone and didn’t require the taxi anymore. At this point the landlord came out and I explained my concerns. We then spotted torches on the lower slopes of the hills about 30 mins away. What a relief, my phone then rang and it was Ashleigh apologising for being late and saying they’d be down soon. I told her that was fine  and I’d wait for them. 

One can of Diet Coke later and the 2 girls arrived, Great! Although they looked a little worse for wear they were fine. I did notice however they didn’t look well prepared for hillwalking, but that didn’t matter now they were safely down. I could now get this hire done,  get home, and possibly even eat.(a luxury for a busy taxi driver) As I talked to the girls it became apparent that there was a third girl. Alarm bells immediately rang, “where is she I asked” ” She’s still up there, she was lagging behind on the 5th of the 7 Munros we were doing, so we decided to go ahead, meet you and then collect our car from the walkers carpark, we would then come back to the hotel to wait for Rosie to come down” That was enough for me to know there could be a serious problem here. “phone her” i said. 

I explained to them that depending on where she was we might need mountain rescue. I think at this point it suddenly dawned on the girls they’d made a mistake in leaving their friend and I could see worry on their faces. So Ashleigh phoned Rosie and we got some worrying information. She was on the back side of Meall Greigh the last of the 7,but she could not go on any further, as she felt lost and unsure of where she should be heading, her only light was from her phone, and she was also getting cold and had now sat down. Right, that was enough for me, I rang 999. It took a good 5 mins to explain the situation to the emergency call handler, but after giving all the relevant info I was told we should drive to their start point at Ben Lawers Car Park and await the police to arrive.

This we did and on the journey I was asking a few questions of the girls,

“Have you done many Munros?” 

“No, we’ve only done one before” 

“Did you bring a map and compass with you?” 

“No we’re using a phn app for directions” 

“Do you have whistles and emergency blankets?” 

“No” 

“Waterproofs?” 

“No” 

I think this questioning made them start to realise how silly they’d been, and with Mountain Recue now on the way to try to find their friend they were getting a little upset, the severity of the situation was hitting home. We got to the carpark and they got out of the taxi and into their own car, at this point my phone rang and the police asked me to stay with the girls and make sure they stayed put and were not tempted to go out and look for their friend. They didn’t want a second rescue needing carried out. 

I’d already decided I wasn’t leaving them, they were upset, and worried for their friend and a bit of moral support was what they needed. 

At this point in time a called Coomball, who was able to advise me that Killin Mountain Rescue had not been called out so it would be Tayside rescue team that would be attending. This unfortunately led to a longer wait for the now cold, but calm Rosie stuck up on the hill. We decided not to tell her of the longer wait but instead Lauren and Ashleigh cracked jokes with her and encouraged her to do a bit of jogging on the spot and toe wriggling to generate a bit of warmth. This she did and to her credit she stayed in good spirits. 

The night progressed with telephone calls to Rosie, and Mountain rescue contacting her to advise of their position and reassure her they would not be long. At about 2am the call finally came from Rosie, the team had reached her and were bringing her down. The relief in her voice and on Ashleigh and Lauren’s faces was fantastic. 

All safe, and sound.