Rise in deaths on hills saddens rescue teams despite heroic efforts

safety first: Ten people die but experts say vast majority stay safe

Deaths on Scotland’s hills spiked in 2018 as 10 people died in some of the harshest conditions seen in years, official figures have recorded.

Scottish Mountain Rescue (SMR) said it was “very saddened” by the recent fatalities of hill-goers and paid tribute to the efforts of rescue teams.

SMR said the vast majority of hillgoers enjoyed Scotland’s hills and mountains in “total safety”.

Mountaineering Scotland said thousands of people had been drawn to the hills dues to extensive snow cover.

The previous winter was considered poor in terms of snow cover and the weather was often mild.

SMR represents almost 30 mountain rescue organisations. Lochaber, Glencoe, Cairngorm and Tayside mountain rescue teams left the body in 2016.

Kevin Mitchell, SMR’S vicechairman, said: “Scottish Mountain Rescue is very saddened by the recent fatalities of hill-goers throughout Scotland over the winter period and our condolences go to their families.

“The historical statistics do not show any significant pattern in the numbers of fatalities possibly due to the variable nature of the conditions over a number of years and how that affects hill activity.

“The vast majority of hill-goers enjoy our fantastic, remote places in total safety and incidents are thankfully rare, given the numbers participating in hill activities.”

He added: “We would like to pay tribute to more than one thousand volunteer members of Scottish Mountain Rescue teams who are available 24/7 to assist hill-goers in all parts of Scotland.”

Mr Mitchell said SMR’S advice to hill-goers who found themselves in need of assistance in remote areas was to dial 999 and ask for police then mountain rescue.

He said: “We would encourage people to be fully aware of weather forecasts, avalanche conditions if applicable and have the skills to navigate and operate in all and any weather conditions.”

There were also 222 avalanches recorded by the Scottish Avalanche Information Service this winter – compared to just 90 last season.

Getty. Scottish Mountain Rescue encourage people to be fully aware of weather forecasts.