Woman ‘lucky to be alive’ after blizzard in Cairngorms
A FEMALE climber was “very lucky” to be alive after being caught in a blizzard nearly 4,000ft up in the Cairngorms.
Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team said it would not have gone to her aid unless the weather had abated.
As the winds dropped, 17 members of the team reached the woman in the boulder field of Coire an t-sneachda.
She had raised the alarm by mobile phone around 5.30pm on Saturday.
“She was very cold and suffering from exhaustion. The conditions she had encountered were horrendous,” said team leader Iain Cornfoot.
“In fact they were so bad – 80mph winds and heavy snow – we would not have gone out at that time.
“It was just too dangerous. She was lucky the conditions improved.
“Fortunately the wind dropped and that allowed us to reach her. It was just as well because I don’t think she would have survived the night.
“She had become separated from the other two members of her party. They had finished their climb but then got separated in the terrible conditions at about 1,200m (3,937ft).
“She was unable to walk due to exhaustion after being battered by the wind and encountering the heavy snow, but she raised the alarm. She was suffering from mild hypothermia when we found her. We then had to carry her by stretcher about a mile to one of our track vehicles. She needed some rewarming and we packaged her into our stretcher using blizzard blankets and heat pads and carried her out to our vehicles that were waiting in Coire Cas.”
The operation was completed at 10.30pm and the woman needed no further medical treatment. The winds in Cairngorm are usually the strongest in Britain and they can catch people out.”