Mountain heroes battled “brutal” weather last night in a double rescue in the Cairngorms in which one couple feared they would not survive.
It took eight hours to rescue the couple from their snow-buried tent in an operation that only concluded at 1.30am today.
Twenty four members of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team were called out to two simultaneous rescues in sub-zero conditions, serious avalanche risk and waist-deep snow.
CMRT were called out to two simultaneous rescues last night. The first was for a climber who had sustained a deep cut to their lower leg after catching it with their crampon. The climber was located on the West side of spot height 1141. pic.twitter.com/zXCkBTBgC3
— Cairngorm MRT (@cairngorm_mrt) January 7, 2025
The first call out at 5.30pm was for a climber, in his 20s, who had sustained a deep cut to his lower leg after catching it with his crampon.
“He was with a university group from England and was with another climber when the accident happened at 1100 metres (3608 feet) between Coire an t-Sneachda – where they had been – and the mountain ski area,” said Cairngorm MRT leader Iain Cornfoot.
“After some rewarming and treatment of the wound the casualty was helped back to the ski area through deep snow and in poor visibility.”
But the other call out was more serious after a man, in his 20s, and a woman, in her 30s, feared they would die.
“They had intended to camp near the Saddle at 800 metres (2624ft) but in deteriorating conditions they had raised an SOS message from their phone,” said Mr Cornfoot.
“Their tent had collapsed under the snow and they said they would not survive the night.
“The wind chill was minus 20C. We had to reach them through waist-deep snow with potentially treacherous conditions underfoot with a serious avalanche risk. The coastguard helicopter from Inverness could not get in because of the conditions which were brutal.
“The couple were inexperienced. It was their second night out, but their equipment, including footwear, was not up to the job. It is a timely reminder to have the right experience and gear for the conditions.
“They did not think they would survive and if they had they would have been in a pretty poor state. The team did a fantastic job because they decided on taking a more dangerous route to reach them given the avalanche risk.
“After locating the couple and some rewarming they were walked out to safety through some arduous underfoot conditions. Everybody was safe and back at base 1.30am.”
Mr Cornfoot added that the couple who were saved from their snow-buried tent were walked up to near the 4081 ft summit of Cairn Gorm and then to the team’s all-terrain vehicle.
The Northern Cairngorms was showing a “considerable” avalanche risk today according to the Scottish Avalanche Information Service which monitors six mountain areas. Torridon was also showing the same level.
There have already been 11 avalanches recorded this winter. There were 172 last season.