A hiker plunged more than 300 feet to his death after deciding to quit his attempt to reach the summit of an iconic Scottish mountain, rescuers revealed yesterday.
In a momentous recovery operation, the rescuers abseiled several times over a seven hour period to extract, and then get the walker’s body off the mountain in Glen Coe.
The man in his 20s was among a group of four walkers from the Edinburgh area who were attempting to scale the 3090 feet high Am Bodach.
Members of Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team searched four four hours in darkness until 3.30am on Thursday before seven members resumed the hunt at 8am.
In an 11-hour operation the team found the man’s body in a steep gully and then recovered it.
Team leader Brian Bathurst said it appeared the hiker had been unlucky after making the decision to turn back because he felt he could not go on.
“He was three companions and nearing the summit when he decided to turn back because he was feeling tired,” he said.
“The visibility was coming and going and he may have lost his way. The ground was also exceptionally slippery.
“We located him at the bed of the steep gully. He could have fallen around 100 metres (328 ft). He had suffered a substantial fall.
“To recover him required a huge physical effort and was a technical exercise with multiple abseils. It was a huge effort from the guys. It was quite difficult terrain too.”
Mr Bathurst added:”Our thoughts are also with the casualty’s family.”
The Inverness-based Coastguard search and rescue helicopter also joined the hunt in the early hours with the Prestwick-based chopper crew continuing in the morning.
Police Scotland said efforts were being made to trace the victim’s next of kin.
A spokeswoman said there were no apparent suspicious circumstances but the death was currently “unexplained.”
During the search the mountain rescue team also went to the aid of a woman walker who suffered a broken leg in Glen Coe.