Climbers are being warned to beware the cornices which have formed in Scotland's mountains by recent strong winds and heavy snowfalls.
Cornices are ledges of snow which form on the edges of cliffs and steep ground furthest from the wind. From the side or below they can be beautiful curls of snow and ice and might extend for several metres over thin air.
But for people walking on the top of the mountain there can be little or no sign that they are there, making it all too easy to walk out on a fragile shelf of snow which collapses under your weight.
Heather Morning, Mountain Safety Advisor for the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, said: "It's a very real hazard. Last winter there were 18 recorded incidents of people falling through cornices. They can be especially hard to detect if visibility is poor, in cloud or in falling snow.
"So if you are at all unsure of your ability to navigate, then turn around if the visibility becomes poor. The mountain will always be there another day. If the forecast is for poor visibility, then plan ahead and choose a lower mountain or a walk in the glen. "
She said those who were confident in their navigational skills should be able to anticipate where cornices would have formed by studying the prevailing few days' weather pattern.
"Always err on the side of caution and navigate away from corniced edges", she said
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article