Climber rode avalanche on Highland mountain to safety

The climbers were on Creag Meagaidh when the avalanche hit

On the 3,701ft Creag Meagaidh in Lochaber, 20 members of the Lochaber mountain rescue team sprung to action after the avalanche was triggered. The team spent over five hours battling the elements to reach the pair - who had been separated during the slide.

The two men, who are thought to be in their 30s, had reached the base of Staghorn Gully when the avalanche was triggered.

It carried one of the men down to an area known as The Window, whilst the other managed to avoid the snow slide.

John Stevenson, leader of the rescue time, told The Times: “It was low cloud on part of the mountain but the injured man was below it so the coastguard rescue helicopter from Inverness could reach him.

Tributes paid to climbers killed while climbing Glencoe

“He had slid quite a way and was a very lucky chap. They had not even started climbing the serious part of the climb but they triggered an avalanche.

“He managed to stay on top of it and just ended up with cuts and bruises. He was lucky he slid the way he did.”

After the injured climber was recovered and airlifted to hospital, the rescue team worked on getting to the lead climber.

“The other climber was above the cloud base so we walked him own to where our all-terrain vehicles were and took him back to base.

“He was very scared- he had seen what had happened to his mate and was starting to panic a bit. But after we gave him a cup of tea and warmed him up, he was okay.”

This comes after two men were killed on Glencoe less than a month ago, who are also thought to have been caught up in an avalanche.

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