RESCUERS were battling appalling weather conditions last night to try to find three climbers stranded in two separate incidents in the Highlands.
The blizzards were so ferocious that an RAF Lossiemouth helicopter crew had to abort their attempt to reach a mountaineer who had fallen in the Glencoe area of Lochaber.
The Sea King was then directed to a second emergency on Ben Nevis following a call from two experienced climbers who had become stuck near the top of Britain’s highest peak.
But again, the Rescue 137 helicopter was beaten back by the conditions and had to leave police and mountain rescue team members to help the pair, who were stranded close to the 4,406ft summit.
A spokesman for the Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) at Kinloss said they had received the first call for assistance just before 4.50pm.
He said: “Rescue 137 from RAF Lossiemouth was scrambled to the Glencoe area to a fallen climber, who had phoned in the call himself.
“When they reached the area, they were unable to do anything because the weather came in and the pilot decided it was not safe to proceed.
“They couldn’t even fly the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team members halfway up the hill because of the weather – so they had to leave the police and mountain rescue team to deal with it themselves on foot.”
The spokesman added that the helicopter crew were returning to base when they received a call to assist with another rescue in the Fort William area.
He said: “They got a call to two experienced climbers who were stuck on the top of Ben Nevis.
“Again, they were unable to help due to the weather and had to leave the police and Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team to deal with it.”
Lochaber MRT leader John Stevenson said the pair on Ben Nevis had called 999 to say they were stuck on the top of the mountain, but their exact location had not been clear. “We know they are up there, but we don’t know where,” he said.
Mr Stevenson said they were trying to get in touch with the climbers again by mobile phone to get their location and talk them off the summit by a safe route.
If that failed, plans were being laid to send a rescue party up Ben Nevis on foot.
Mr Stevenson added that, while trying to contact the pair, he could hear heavy rain falling on the roof of the MRT base and knew it would be falling as heavy snow on the hill.
He added: “The conditions are going to be horrendous up there.
“There’s no point putting the team out on the hill until we know where they are.”
The SportScotland Avalanche Information Service said yesterday the avalanche risk in Lochaber was high.
In the other four mountain areas, it classed the avalanche threat as “considerable”.