Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Climber injured in Highland avalanche as thousands take to the hills

Business was booming at The Lecht from December right through to March
Business was booming at The Lecht from December right through to March

A climber was injured in an avalanche this afternoon as near perfect winter conditions attracted thousands of outdoor enthusiasts to the hills.

A land and air search was launched after the man in his 40s was hurt in the Liathach area of Glen Torridon in the west Highlands at around 2.30pm.

Torridon Mountain Rescue Team, the Stornoway Coastguard helicopter and an RAF Lossiemouth helicopter were called out to pluck the mountaineer to safety.

An RAF search and rescue spokesman said: “Stornoway Coastguard helicopter flew members of the mountain rescue team to the scene.

“Then because of failing light they asked if Rescue 137 from RAF Lossiemouth could take over.

“If an extraction by helicopter is required, that will be done by Rescue 137.”

Elsewhere, more than 5,000 people turned out to make the most of the alpine conditions at four of Scotland’s five wintersport resorts.

Bright sunshine, plenty of snow and a sharp frost created perfect skiing terrain at CairnGorm Mountain, the Lecht, Glencoe Mountain Resort and Nevis Range.

Car parks filled rapidly at all four venues with long queues forming at ticket offices and for lifts.

CairnGorm Mountain was so busy that it reached capacity and stopped selling ski passes and tickets for the funicular railway as early as 9.30am.

Bosses are hoping for another busy day tomorrow.

Ross Coulter of CairnGorm Mountain said the funicular and three lifts were open and about 1,300 people were out on the slopes.

“We have been very, very busy and had to stop selling tickets at about 9.30am,” he said.

“This was due to us reaching a safe capacity for the terrain we had open.”

James McIntosh, operations director at the Lecht, Strathdon, said there were more than 2,000 people on the hill.

He said: “We had sunshine, frost and light winds – perfect conditions.

“The car parks were full from about 2pm, but we didn’t have to turn anyone away.

“Everyone has had a great time and we’re expecting much the same on Tuesday.”

Angela Dingwall, resort manager at Glencoe Mountain Resort in Lochaber, said there were more than 850 skiers and almost 300 more people using the chairlift.

She said: “It has been a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine.

“All the lower and middle slopes were open and we’ve got good cover. At the top, we only had the main basin and the spring run as the rest had been wind scoured.”

Heather Negus, of Nevis Range, near Fort William, said about 1,300 people were out on the hill, including about 700 skiers.

She said: “We’ve had a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies, and we had six lifts open, including the gondola.

“The main skiing has been on the upper mountain and we’re looking forward to more snow.”

The Glenshee Ski Centre at Cairnwell was not open for skiing yesterday, but a spokeswoman said about 200 people were out sledging.