RESCUERS have warned against trying to copy the feats of Scots stunt cyclist Danny MacAskill after it was believed a mountain biker injured herself in Skye's mountains while trying to emulate the daredevil.

The 30-year-old woman from Switzerland was airlfited to hospital after breaking a leg in a fall at Coire Lagan, which is 609.6m (2,000ft) up in the Cuillin hills.

Skye-born MacAskill's back flips and death-defying stunts made him a worldwide sensation after first finding international fame through films of his spectacular and often dangerous cycle exploits posted online.

His 2014 short film The Ridge in the Cuillin, featured stunts high in the range. The video received an amazing 10 million views within its first five days.

Skye Mountain Rescue Team urged people not to replicate MacAskill's stunts, indicating that they were aware of a copycat mountain bikers emerging after the footage of Mr MacAskill's exploits went viral.

Skye Mountain Rescue Team leader Gerry Akroyd said: "Danny did a few stunts up there. But he's a stunt man, please don't try to copy him. It's not Joe Bloggs. "I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you really really really know your onions. But even Danny gets injured. He has had a few busted bones in his lifetime of doing this sort of thing.

"There's quite a few trails opened up now for mountain biking and hopefully people will use their common sense and realise it is not what you see on TV or YouTube or whatever."

Rescuers said the woman was kitted out with knee pads, arm pads and helmets and appeared dressed for stunt riding.

However, she fell a few feet close to a loch at Coire Lagan, an ice age geological feature high in the Cuillin.

It is surrounded by the rocky peaks of Sgurr Alisdair, Sgurr Mhich Chonnich and the Inaccessible Pinnacle, also known as the In Pinn.

MacAskill took a bike to the top of the In Pinn, a challenging rock formation, for the making of The Ridge.

Just last month, the rider posted a video tackling the Red Cuillins across Glen Sligachan, gaining 17,000 views in thee hours.

Mr Akroyd said the alarm for the injured Swiss mountain biker was raised by a walker arriving back at the Glenbrittle campsite.

After being traced, the woman who was in the area with a friend, was winched to safety by the Stornoway coastguard helicopter. The woman had treatment for a break in her lower leg at the MacKinnon Memorial Hospital in Broadford, and last weekend flew home to Switzerland to continue her recovery.

Another rescue team member said: "We have been coming across people on bikes in places they shouldn't really be.

"Once they do get to these places they soon realise that in reality it is a very different prospect from what they thought it would be like.

"Our message is please don't try and be like Danny MacAskill."

The parents of Skye-born MacAskill are said to have feared that he might kill himself with the 7.5-mile ride over the jagged Black Cuillin his film.

The biker quit his job as a mechanic and became a full-time rider, filming each of his stunts and posting them online.

But he has had his fair share of injuries.

Four years ago he admitted his injuries left him struggling to walk and unable to ride his beloved bike for nearly two years.

In 2009, he broke his collarbone three times in six months, once after tripping on a kerb in Edinburgh.

His video series, Imaginate, shows him trying to cope with a serious back injury that has blighted his career.

Doctors warned him his ability on the bike would be limited for the rest of his life if he did not have surgery.