A climber with a suspected broken ankle was plucked to safety in the Cairngorms after rescuers used a 296ft winch line to reach him.
The rescue by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency happened yesterday after the Inverness-based search and rescue helicopter Rescue 951 diverted from a training exercise to aid the stricken individual.
Coastguard operatives were first informed of the incident shortly before 4pm on Wednesday afternoon by Police Scotland.
Rescue 951 immediately diverted from its training operation and was on scene within 10 minutes to assist the casualty. The crew of the search and rescue helicopter immediately sprang into action as poor weather enclosed on the famed mountain range.
In total the time taken for the winchman to reach and recover the injured climber took two minutes and 55 seconds.
The decision was made to utilise the helicopter’s winch due to the extreme turbulent conditions that would have ensued if the casualty was airlifted from the hilltop.
The casualty was taken on to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness with a second climber, the injured man’s accompanying climber, assisted down the mountain by the Cairngorms Mountain Rescue Team.
Speaking after the rescue, the Inverness Coastguard helicopter crew said: “Trying to land a helicopter in these conditions is just not going to happen. Getting any closer to the mountain and we would have risked causing an avalanche.
“It must have seemed like a long time for us to reach the climber but this was the safest thing we could do under these treacherous conditions. This was a great team effort between us and the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, who we think are real heroes for bearing the conditions so well and taking the second casualty off the mountain.”