Bothies are nearly always welcoming places of refuge, shelters to escape the wet and cold weather of the Highlands for a few hours or a night. However, for one young hiker and his friend, the bothy they picked to sleep in provided them with the most terrifying night of their young lives.
In the winter of 1973, 18-year-old Phil Macneill and his friend Jimmy Dunn set out on what they assumed would be an exciting adventure hiking in the remote Lochaber hills and mountains around Ben Nevis.
When the light began to fade, they decided to seek shelter in the nearby Luibeilt Lodge, a former deer stalking lodge, where the pair were told people were said to have been living but were happy to welcome strangers and hikers in need.
