A young climber has died after falling almost 1000ft from Ben Nevis, and two others are in hospital as they sustained injuries while attempting to save him, after getting into difficulty on Scotland’s highest mountain.
Two coastguard helicopters from Prestwick and Inverness as well as a mountain rescue team were called to the horrific scene in the Scottish Highlands shortly after 2pm on Tuesday.
Police have confirmed that an unnamed 28-year-old man has died and two others, aged 29 and 37, were taken to hospital for their injuries but are not believed to be in a serious or critical condition.
Seventeen people in total became trapped in the icy conditions, including 12 members of the army from Edinburgh.
The eight-hour rescue mission, which saw a total of 40 rescuers sent to the mountain resulted in many of those in difficulty airlifted to safety, while others were walked off of the mountain.
It is understood that the climber was not with the army group, however one member of the military broke his ankle and another suffered mild abrasions while attempting to save him.
Members of Lochaber and Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team, along with a police mountain rescue team, were sent to the scene of the incident after the alarm was raised at 2.15pm on Tuesday, March 8.
Reportedly, the climber fell around 984ft from the west side of the mountain at Red Burn, while he and his party were descending the mountain after reaching the summit.There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death and police have said that a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.
Donald Paterson, deputy team leader of Lochaber MRT said: “The conditions were classic Alpine conditions - springlike in the glen but above the snow line everything is solid and an ice axe and crampons are essential and knowing how to use them.
“As the night wore the conditions got worse.
“Members of the party could have been better prepared for the conditions.
“We would like to express our condolences to the deceased's family and friends.”
Brian Bathurst, deputy team leader of Glencoe MRT, said: “The snow fields are glazed over with ice and are quite lethal,' he said. 'One slip and you will go a long way.
“The conditions last night were very difficult - as well as the ice there were very strong winds and rain. The helicopters did an amazing job.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 2.15pm on Tuesday, 8 March, police were made aware of concerns for a number of people in difficulty on Ben Nevis.
“Emergency services and mountain rescue colleagues attended to assist 17 people off the mountain.
"We can confirm that a 28-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, whilst a further two men, aged 29 and 27, were treated for minor injuries in hospital.
“There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death and a full report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”
The young man’s death is the third in the Highlands since Saturday, a spokesman for the mountain rescue team said.
In a social media post Lochaber MRT wrote: “The past 5 days has been especially busy for the team. Since Saturday we’ve had 12 callouts and recovered 26 casualties. Unfortunately three of these shouts resulted in fatalities and we’d like to extend our heartfelt condolence to the friends and family of those involved at this difficult time.
“It would be remiss if we didn’t stress just how important it is to be adequately prepared for winter in the hills. Having the ability to competently navigate with map and compass as well as having and being able to use crampons and axe are vital skills to have if you’re venturing into the hills.”
A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "At approx. 2.30pm today and at the request of Police Scotland, HM Coastguard sent the search and rescue helicopter from Inverness to assist Police Scotland following a report of an incident involving a casualty requiring medical attention at Ben Nevis, Scotland.
"While on scene, the Inverness helicopter requested further support, leading to the coastguard helicopter from Prestwick also being sent to assist along with Mountain Rescue Teams who are helping in this ongoing multi-agency response."
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 here