A woman was taken to hospital after falling while taking part in a shoot on the day the grouse season opened in a remote area of Ross-shire.
The 55-year-old was airlifted to Raigmore in Inverness with a suspected broken leg after the accident near Inverchoran in Strathconon yesterday.
Police, ambulance crews and members of Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team were sent to the scene after the alarm was raised by another member of her party just after 12.30pm.
She was eventually taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness by the RAF Lossiemouth rescue helicopter after a mercy operation made more challenging by low cloud, sitting at about 1,500ft above sea level.
The helicopter airlifted members of the mountain rescue team to the cloud line before they carried the casualty further down the moorland at Strathconon Estate.
She arrived at the hospital shortly before 4pm, nearly three-and-a-half hours after the accident.
Initial attempts to land the helicopter at the site where the woman had fallen were thwarted by the conditions.
Mick Holmes, team leader for Dundonnell MRT, said: “It was unfortunately a case of the not so Glorious Twelfth for this woman.
“The plan was for the helicopter to go straight to her but the cloud was too low and instead they shuttled members of the team close to the scene.
“That helps speed things up, especially when the casualty is in pain.”
A police spokesman said: “We were called to give assistance after a report of a 55-year-old in difficulty in Strathconon.
“We were told that she had broken her leg after a fall on the hill and provided support to the ambulance service, the mountain rescue team and the RAF search and rescue team.
“The casualty had fallen at around 1,500ft and the mountain rescue team needed to go up to bring her down to below the cloud level in order for the team from RAF Lossiemouth Rescue 137 to access the area.”
Inverchoran is a small hamlet in the upper reaches of the Strathconon area.
It is only accessible by hill tracks and is regularly used by walkers to provide access to the various hill walks around the scenic glen.