North mountain rescue teams battled some of the most extreme conditions they have ever experienced to reach stranded climbers at the weekend.
Lochaber Mountain Rescue team members were themselves hit by an avalanche and fell through huge cornices of overhanging snow during a 10-hour rescue on Saturday.
The Lochaber team was called out at 12.30pm by a solo climber who escaped injury after falling around 130ft through a cornice at Beinn Eibhinn beside Aonach Beag. Team leader John Stevenson said: “The conditions were very bad.
“It was a total whiteout with a lot of deep, heavy snow.
“The team was having real problems. A couple went through the cornice and one guy was avalanched. They were fine because they were roped up.
“You get a wee scare when it happens but they just kept going until they eventually located the man.
“They pulled him up to the top and it took a while to navigate off the hill.
“The conditions in the mountains this year are some of the most extreme we have ever experienced. Virtually every rescue has had a very high element of risk involved – and this is not just in Lochaber but for all teams operating in the Highlands.”
On the same day, Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team had its third call-out in a week to rescue three climbers who were unable to navigate down from Coire an t-Sneachda in high winds and poor visibility.
The men climbed into their survival bags and took shelter behind a cairn until their rescuers arrived.
Senior member of the mountain rescue team, Ian Cornfoot, said: “The guys were saying up there was the worst conditions they have had to go out in in terms of winds.
“They were really struggling and a couple of our guys got blown off their feet.
“They had to rope the climbers up for some of the sections to get them down what is usually a pretty easy descent.”
The rescue party arrived back around 12.30am. The rescued climbers did not require medical treatment.
The latest Cairngorms rescue follows a call-out on Thursday to locate two climbers who survived being stranded overnight by climbing into their sole survival bag.
Earlier in the week, the team was called out to a man who escaped injury after falling off a cornice at Coire an t-Sneachda.