It was a cherished possession that he assumed had disappeared down a 1,500ft drop in the Cairngorms, never to be seen again.
But William Cameron’s ice axe, lost on a climb, is now back in his possession – from the depths of a coal bunker.
Mr Cameron, a teacher in Fort William, got the surprise of his life when he heard it had been found and was even more surprised when he was asked if he could collect it from a coal bunker 100 miles away.
Earlier this month, Mr Cameron, 43, and a Lochaber High School colleague, Neil Adams, 57, both keen climbers, decided to scale Creag Meagaidh, a 3,710 feet high Munro in the Cairngorms National Park between Laggan and Spean Bridge.
Kitted out in full winter gear, including crampons and ice axes, the pair headed off up the mountain to photograph some stunning snow cornices on the cliffs above Coire Ardair.
As darkness fell, Mr Cameron asked Mr Adams to check if his ice axe was still looped on to his rucksack as he couldn’t reach for it over his shoulder. But it had gone – vanished down a 1,500 foot ‘snow chute’ on the mountainside.
The 50 year-old Glasgow-made hickory shafted axe had a red lanyard and was a gift from another teacher. It had accompanied Mr Cameron on many climbing expeditions but, in view of the conditions, he thought the chances of finding it were extremely remote. As the days passed, he gave up hope of ever seeing it again.
But this week he received a message from Neil telling him to check out the Scottish Hills Facebook page. Someone had posted that he had found a distinctive ice axe halfway down the snow-covered slopes of Creag Meagaidh.
Mr Cameron quickly replied, giving a full description, and it turned out to be his. The old ice axe had been found by a fellow climber from London who, by this time, had journeyed further north and was staying in a holiday cottage in Lochcarron.
As he was returning to the capital shortly, he offered to leave the axe in the coal bunker for Mr Cameron to collect.
He said: “I can’t get over how quickly someone found the ice axe in such a remote area, especially as it had been swept away down a snow slope.
“It just goes to show the honesty of the climbing and hill walking fraternity on the Scottish mountains and, of course, the value of social media in reuniting me with this old and treasured axe.”
The London climber wouldn’t accept any payment so, as a thank you, Mr Cameron sent a cheque to the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team.
But the ice axe hasn’t had much time to recover as it is presently accompanying Mr Cameron on his latest climbing expedition – in Iceland.