A WINTER hill walker has had "a lucky escape" after sliding more than 600 feet off a mountain ridge - only to be saved by the depth of snow that cushioned his fall.

The man was with a female companion when he went through a wind-blown cornice near the summit of 4012ft-high Carn Mor Dearg.

The Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, police and a Stornoway Coastguard search and rescue helicopter were all alerted just before noon yesterday.

John Stevenson, leader of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team, said the man was lucky to have escaped injury.

"He had a lucky escape. The snow saved him."