A 25-year-old walker who disappeared off a cliff edge in blizzard conditions would “most certainly” have died if he had not been found by mountain rescuers.
The fact that the man survived the fall itself in the Cairngorms on Sunday afternoon was “surprising” according to rescuers who searched through darkness and high winds and faced the risk of avalanches to find him.
Police received a 999 call at 3.10pm from the site of the accident at Coire Sputan Dearg on the south side of Britain’s second highest mountain Ben Macdui.
The man had been walking on snow which was hanging over the cliff when it gave way and he tumbled more than 800ft.
His two walking companions alerted the emergency services and he managed to get into his sleeping bag while waiting for the emergency services.
A large rescue operation was launched by mountain rescue teams from Police Scotland, Braemar and Aberdeen which was co-ordinated by Chief Inspector Andrew Todd.
He explained that the walker was using an established navigation technique called hand-railing which is when a geographical feature such as a cliff edge is used as a guide through terrain.
He said: “The man was falling, tumbling and sliding down a significant distance and in all honesty he could easily have died from that and in all probability that’s what you would expect from that fall.
“It’s great news that he didn’t die but very surprising.”
An RAF helicopter made three journeys to take mountain rescue teams and one search and rescue dog as close as possible to the man.
The pilot traversed the glen before each team was winched down to the mountain which was then in darkness.
After a flare was set off by the first rescue team the injured walker shouted to guide them to him, which took about an hour.
When he was found he was showing signs of hypothermia and was in a “considerable amount of pain”.
A stretcher was used to carry him out before he was airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Chief Inspector Todd said: “To know that he had survived that fall was a huge motivation in those challenging conditions, knowing that time was limited and without assistance he would most certainly die.”
The man had been walking with two other people, all from England, and had intended to spend a couple of days in the mountains.