Climber lucky to be alive after 100ft Cairngorms fall
A climber has survived a horror fall in the Cairngorms after plunging 100ft and hitting the rock face on the way down.
The woman was with a male companion on Coire an t-Sneachda, about 3300ft up on the Highlands mountain range, when she fell.
Climbers on an adjacent route rushed to help before 20 members of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team went to her aid when the alarm was raised at about 2pm on Friday.
Team leader Iain Cornfoot said three rescuers managed to climbb up from below and reach the woman, who had suffered lower leg and rib injuries.uries.
He said: “She was roped with the other climber and must havee hit the rock face when she fell.
“She was winter climbing and it is pretty steep there.
“With help, she was loweredred on to a ledge and the team providedided medical care on the crag. Att first the coastguard search and rescue helicopter from Inverness could not get in because of the cloud but a break allowed it to winch the climber to safety and evacuate her to hospital.
“She had a lucky escape. It could have been a lot worse.”
In February 2017 Owen Griffiths, 25, from Evesham, Worcestershire, died after plunging 250ft at the same site.
The woman was taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness where her exact condition was unknown last night. In DecembeDecember two climbers were rescued from waist-deep snow on Coire an t-S Sneachda after setting off a flare t to signal they were in trouble, wwhile rescuers found another two stranded men on the way to look for them. Days before that, two clim climbers were saved from an avalancavalanche on the peak.