The previous day, on the Sunday, Beattie's group had great difficulty getting out of the hut because of the deep snow and in arduous conditions they were scarcely able to descend from the plateau. After dark at 16:30 they reached Rothiemurchus Hut where they were able to telephone Lagganlia and they met their transport vehicle at 17:30. The children were returned to Lagganlia while Beattie and Paisley drove to the ski centre where they were unable to learn any news. They then went to Glenmore Lodge and then Aviemore police station where at 19:00 they reported Davidson's party missing. Three pairs of rescuers were immediately dispatched from Glenmore Lodge into the blizzard and the night and the Cairngorm, RAF Kinloss, Braemar and Aberdeen MRTs were called out. The mountain rescue teams made their preparations so they could start off hours before first light on Monday.