Frustration at ill-equipped hillwalkers resulted in a mountain rescue team taking the unusual step of criticising a group for putting lives at risk earlier this year.
Four men from Manchester were described as “lucky to be alive” after an overnight ordeal on the UK’s highest peak.
A 26-strong crew from Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team took almost 12 hours to get the foolhardy party to safety after three of them plunged hundreds of feet over a cliff on the summit of Ben Nevis.
The incident in February provoked angry words from team secretary Miller Harris and leader John Stevenson.
Mr Miller said: “Everyone on the hill and flying helicopters were putting their lives at risk for some frankly very inexperienced hillwalkers who were not equipped for a winter mountaineering expedition.
“We do not normally criticise casualties as 99.9% of the rescues we do are for well-equipped, experienced walkers and climbers who have an unfortunate incident outside of their control.”
One of the four fell 650ft after straying too close to a cliff edge and suffered a serious leg injury.
His companions called for help, but before rescuers arrived, two more fell even further down the same cliff. They escaped with minor injuries thanks to the soft snow.
Mr Stevenson said he had given the group a dressing down and added: “They were on the summit of Ben Nevis where at that time of year there are no paths, nothing, it is featureless.
“It is just snow everywhere. You really need to be able to navigate to get yourself down.
“If you don’t know what you are doing, you shouldn’t be up there. This group certainly didn’t know how to navigate off the top, that’s why they got lost.
“Their equipment wasn’t very good. As far as I could tell they didn’t appear to have a map. One did have a compass but I don’t think it was working.”