A huge search for a young couple who went missing while climbing on Ben Nevis has been called off amid treacherous conditions.
An avalanche and 90mph gusts forced rescuers to halt the hunt for 24-year-old Rachel Slater and 27-year-old Tim Newton.
The couple’s car and tent have been found, but there has been no sighting of them since Valentine’s Day.
With weather conditions forecast to worsen overnight, Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) said it was unlikely the search would be resumed today.
Ms Slater and Mr Newton, who both studied at Manchester University and live in the Bradford area, have been described as very experienced climbers.
A total of 36 people from Lochaber MRT, the RAF MRT, and the Search and Rescue Dog Association were involved in a five-hour hunt for them yesterday.
But the search of the Coire na Ciste and South Trident Buttress area was suspended after two mountain rescuers were caught in an avalanche themselves.
John Stevenson, leader of Lochaber MRT, “We are all back now. We’ve had to pull everyone in because the conditions were so bad on the hill, it was getting unsafe.
“I believe there was a couple of guys who had an incident and there are a few others who have had close calls. They are all fine though.
“We decided there and then to pull the pin on it. We did as much as we could in that area.”
Mr Stevenson doubted the search could be resumed today.
He said: “The weather forecast is getting even worse tonight. I can’t see us going back out tomorrow because of the weather, but we will review it. Searching in these conditions is very difficult.
“We’re always hopeful, but after a certain amount of time…
“We are still struggling to find the route that they were on. We’re looking for a clue of any kind.”
The alarm was raised on Monday afternoon when the couple were reported overdue.
It is believed they had been camping in a green tent behind the Charles Inglis Clark (CIC) memorial hut on the north side of the mountain.
Climbers from across the country joined forces to gather details of potential sightings.
Tony Walker, who said he was the uncle of Ms Slater, posted online: “The missing persons are Rachel Slater and her partner Tim Newton.
“Both very experienced climbers.”
Ms Slater described her climbing experience in her own blog.
She wrote: “I’ve been around rocks my whole life as my parents are very keen climbers – most of my childhood was spent scrambling around at the bottom of the cliff with the occasional easy top rope.
“In 2005 my family moved to Calgary, Canada, and in 2007 I joined a youth climbing team at my local wall and in 2008 progressed to the competitive youth team.
“We trained three times a week at 6am and competed locally and nationally throughout the winter. In the summer and school holidays I sport climbed with my family in the Rockies and western states of America.”
She left Canada in 2009 to study at Manchester University, from where she graduated with a BSc (Hons) in environmental science.
In September 2013, she completed a six-month contract with an environmental consultancy in Glasgow, and is currently employed as an environmental consultant near Bradford.
Her firm, the Mineral Planning Group, has not commented on the search.
Mr Newton, originally from Leicester, also lives in Bradford and has studied physics at the universities of Manchester and Leeds, according to his social media profile.
On a climbing forum, Patrick Roman said he saw the pair at the weekend.
Writing on the forum, he said: “I was outside the CIC on Saturday morning. There were two people matching the image in the photo. He was wearing a red jacket and she a green and turquoise jacket.”
Last month two climbers – including a rescue team member – died in Glencoe.
Joe Smith, 23, who lived at Kinlochleven, died along with experienced mountain skills instructor Simon Davidson, 34, who lived in Fort William.
And a climber had a “lucky” escape on Creag Meagaidh earlier this month after plunging nearly 1,000ft in an avalanche.