A young woman had to be stretchered down the UK’s highest mountain after suffering a back injury in a late afternoon climb.
The Lochaber Mountain Rescue team received a call that a woman had fallen and injured herself going up Ben Nevis at around 4pm on Friday.
The rescue team is all voluntary, therefore team leader John Stevenson had to issue a call-out for voluntary members to come and assist in the rescue.
The woman had fallen close to the summit and so her companion, believed to be her father, helped her up to the shelter at the peak of the mountain.
Meanwhile, the rescue team had packed their kits ready to climb the mountain. Unfortunately due to low cloud coverage, the rescue helicopter was unable to assist.
This meant that 14 of the 18 voluntary personnel had to make the journey up Ben Nevis with their full kits needed for rescue and provide medical assistance.
Other members were there to operate the Polaris Bikes which are used to carry heavy equipment up difficult terrain.
The mountain rescue team arrived at around 8 pm and proceeded to stretcher the young woman down the mountain. She was then transported to Belford Hospital in Fort William.
Leader of the Lochaber Mountain rescue team, Mr Stevenson, said: “Because of cloud level the helicopter couldn’t get in to assist.
“So the team had to start from the bottom, carrying the stretcher and the usual first aid kits to the summit of Ben Nevis and stretcher the woman back down the mountain.
“Taking the kit up the mountain takes time and we started around the back of 4 pm and we were finished just after midnight.
“It can also be very hard work taking a stretcher down from the summit of Ben Nevis. It took eight guys to bring the young woman down on the stretcher.”