Paraglider opts for fast route down Ben Nevis

Ahillwalker fasttracked his way back down Ben Nevis after a gruelling climb to the top – by paragliding off the summit.

The mystery daredevil was filmed jumping off the 4,413ft mountain and bypassing queues of walkers to get back down to sea level last Saturday.

Amazing video shows the man standing on top of the rocky peak as the sun shines and he anticipates his next move.

The man, wearing a green helmet, is strapped to a large green and blue paraglide through a harness and wrestles with the equipment to get organised.

He then waits momentarily for a gust of wind before beginning to scamper over the jaggy surface to pick up speed.

The thrill-seeker then runs towards the mountain edge before taking a leap into the sky where a gust of wind swoops him up into the air.

Shocked onlooker Hayley Quinn captured the video and shared it on Facebook, writing: “On top of Ben Nevis on Saturday this brave guy was paragliding off it.”

The clip has attracted hundreds of likes and comments from viewers who praised the man for his ingenious way of dodging the downward trek.

One said: “I bet his knees were better than mine by the bottom.”

Another wrote: “What a fabulous idea. I really disliked the walk down, this could be for me.”

A third said: “Wowsers, I bet that was heavy getting all that kit up.”

A fourth said: “The man’s mad! Top respect.”

A fifth commented: “We could have done with this when we climbed it.”

Yesterday Hayley, from Dunfermline, said: “I was shocked as I hadn’t seen anyone paraglide off a huge mountain before.

“He was waiting on the wind picking his parachute up, then he started running and he took off the side of Ben Nevis.

“He was laughing because I was filming it and said ‘this is when things go wrong’.

“It was amazing getting to see someone do that. I thought he was mad as I would never do that.”

Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom and the British Isles.

It attracts around 150,000 hikers each year.

UP, UP AND AWAY: The moment captured on film when the mystery daredevil launched himself off the summit of Ben Nevis to make his descent.

Happy landing for paraglider who took the express route.