THE ''tremendous will to live'' of climber Jacqueline Greaves combined

with her equipment and experience kept her alive throughout two nights

of Siberian weather when a fall left her stranded without a map or ice

axe in the Cairngorms.

Exhausted rescuers were jubilant yesterday when, with hope fading,

Willie Fraser and his alsatian Solo spotted the 53-year-old school

secretary from Warrington walking down the mountain around two miles

from where she was last seen. ''You need days like this to keep you

going,'' said one.

Among the first things Mrs Greaves said to rescuers was that she

wanted a pint of Guinness.

Throughout Monday as 70 men battled against blizzards to find her she

had been wandering around the Cairngorms hallucinating because of the

cold.

One rescuer said: ''She told us she had seen roads with cars and

motorbikes but when she shut her eyes for a few seconds they

disappeared.''

Mr Fraser, relaxing at home with Solo last night said: ''I thought I

noticed some movement about one kilometre in front of us in one of the

gullies or burns. We dismissed it because the others had not seen it.

Then we actually saw someone moving. We didn't expect to find this lady

moving around the hill after two days . . . she was waving to us and the

dogs just picked up her scent.

''She was very, very cold and very pleased to see us.''

Mr Fraser described her as a ''very courageous lady'' and said she was

cracking jokes with the rescue crews on the way down. ''She was in

really good spirits . . . It's such a relief to have a happy ending for

a change.''

He said Solo, who was among the first to reach Mrs Greaves, was last

night ''mooching around the dinner table looking for something to eat''.

Mrs Greaves's rescuers wrapped her in a duvet jacket and warmed her

with hot drinks for 35 minutes until an RAF helicopter arrived to take

her to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

Corporal Alan Sylvester, a member of the RAF Kinloss mountain rescue

team, was in the party who found her. He said: ''It is fantastic. It is

nice to find one alive. She was walking down although she didn't realise

she was walking to safety.

''When we got to Jacqueline the first thing she said to us was that

she was looking forward to a pint of Guinness. But before that she

stopped walking, sat down and there were tears of pure relief and

emotion.

''Every member of the team sees Jacqueline as a very courageous woman

who had one helluva will to live. But today was undoubtedly crucial. If

she had not been found, I do not think she could have survived another

night up there.''

Mrs Greaves and companions, Mr Bruce Nutter, 49, and Mr David Cawley,

29, both of Lancashire, were descending Coire an Lochan Uaine on 3500ft

Derry Cairngorm on Sunday when they fell through a cornice.

Mr Cawley fell about 200ft and Mr Nutter about 50ft and became

separated. Mr Cawley walked down Glen Derry and raised the alarm.

Mountain rescue teams found Mr Nutter at the Linn of Dee, disoriented

five hours after the fall.

Mrs Greaves told her rescuers that the two men had fallen past her

when the cornice gave way. She had regained her footing and climbed back

up to the plateau and had stood blowing her whistle for almost an hour

in the hope of locating them.

''She had lost her ice axe and map and beause the snow was so hard she

was unable to dig a snow hole and was forced to spend the night in a

lull in the snow out of the wind in her orange bivvy bag,'' said

Corporal Sylvester.

It was not clear where she had spent her second night although it

appeared she had once again lain in a ''snow grave'' to escape the

perilous wind.

''In the morning when the visibility improved she started to make her

way downwards,'' he said. ''She did not know where she was, only that

she was descending and she would have felt the wind conditions improving

as she got lower.

''When we found her there were some tears but her first concern was

for her friends. We reassured her and tried to warm her up by wrapping

her in a duvet jacket and creating a wind break.

''She was very hungry and she had a touch of frost nip which will take

a few weeks to clear. She was confused but she was in good condition.

She is a very strong lass with a tremendous will to live. It was that

will combined with her equipment and experience which saved her.''

He said the rescuers were also exhausted. ''We have only had about two

hours' sleep. But it is superb. A great result. You need days like today

to keep you going.''

On arrival at Raigmore, Mrs Greaves told how she had fallen into the

gully and had sheltered the first night by wedging herself against a

rock.

She ate snow to fight off dehydration as she awaited rescue. Mrs

Greaves said that she had seen rescuers at about four on Monday morning

but they hadn't spotted her. She had subsequently spent the time

whistling to attract attention.

Mrs Greaves was examined by accident surgeon Mark Janssens who said

afterwards: ''She is fit and well apart from suffering some early

frostbite and being rather shaken by her ordeal. She has asked me to

express how grateful she is to everyone involved in the emergency

services and for the attention she has received.

''She really is in remarkably good condition. She was well equipped,

she knew what to do and she had the courage to do it. That really is the

reason she survived. Her frostbite is not established. It will be

sometime before we know how troublesome that is going to be. She is a

remarkably fit lady.''

After being examined Mrs Greaves received offers from several national

newspapers for exclusive rights to her story and she finally accepted

one from the Sun believed to be around #40,000.

The rescue operation which saved her life is thought to have cost

#50,000 involving, at different times, 70 volunteers, five mountain

rescue teams, and a Sea King helicopter from RAF Kinloss.

Mrs Greaves's husband Roy, 52, spoke of his feelings yesterday at the

couple's home in Lowton, Greater Manchester. ''I never gave up hope. I

suppose if nothing had been found today alarm buttons would probably

have been sounding, but this was the day of reckoning. I was quite

confident because she is very fit and she knows what she is doing.''

Guinness last night promised to fund a new tracker dog in recognition

of Mrs Greaves's rescue. ''It will, of course, be a black and white

collie, called Guinness,'' said a company spokesman.