Body of walker is found on hill
Rescue team battled in snowstorm
The body of a tragic hillwalker who got lost on a farm near Menstrie during last week’s severe snowstorm has been identified.
Alison Fox, 51, died after she got lost whilst walking in the Ochil Hills during the blizzard conditions brought on by the storm, dubbed the Beast from the East.
Ms Fox, from Alloa, was reported missing after she went walking in the hills above Menstrie on Thursday (March 1) afternoon,
It’s believed she got lost in heavy snow and was unable to find her way back to safety.
Police initiated a search around Dumyat and the surrounding area, with the help of volunteers from the Ochils Mountain Rescue Team and crews from Dunblane Fire Station and the Coastguard.
Search parties began searching at around 3pm on Thursday.
Members of the mountain rescue team scoured the area on foot and on skis until the early hours of Friday when the search was temporarily stood down due to the weather conditions.
Rescuers reported 10-foot snow drifts in places.
The coastguard helicopter from Prestwick, Ayrshire, was also dispatched to assist and firefighters joined the operation using an allterrain vehicle.
Searchers continued their task on Friday and Ms Fox, a keen hillwalker, was discovered at around 2.15pm near Dumyat Farm.
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: ”There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding this death and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.”
Around 12 volunteers from Ochils Mountain Rescue Team took part in the hunt for Ms Fox.
Kevin Mitchell, from Ochils MRT, said: “The conditions were so bad that it was difficult to see anything.
“You could literally have walked past her and not seen her.
“It’s very difficult and conditions can change very quickly.”
Ms Fox had links with Clackmannanshire Hillwalking Club.
Club chairman Iain Thomson said: “Alison was a long standing and enthusiastic member of Clackmannanshire Hillwalking Club, having attended nearly 200 walks and events since the club was founded. She was a regular walk organiser, who kept people amused with her hillwalking tales from a lifetime spent in the hills.
“She was a seasoned walker with decades of experience; she loved the hills and when not organising club events she would travel far and wide to climb hills in Scotland and England despite not being able to drive.
“Her loss has come as a terrible shock to her friends in the club, and we’re all saddened at her passing. She would have been touched by the many messages I’ve received from far and wide in the past few days, and our thoughts are with her family.” It proved to be an exceptionally busy 24 hours for volunteers of Ochils Mountain Rescue Team.
Fourteen members of the Fishcross–based team were called out to assist stranded drivers in the M80 throughout the night from last Wednesday in to the early hours of Thursday morning.
Exhausted teams moved from car to car to check on the welfare of motorists, many of whom had been stranded on the gridlocked motorway for up to twelve hours.
Teams distributed supplies of water and food to drivers and passengers.
The team was stood down at around 9am on Thursday morning.
Just hours later the team was called out again to assist in the search for missing hillwalker Alison Fox in the Ochil Hills near Menstrie.
Crews walked and skied their way around the hills in a bid to locate the missing Alloa woman.