A climber who was injured in an avalanche in the west Highlands spent more than two hours alone in freezing conditions before rescuers could reach him, it has emerged.
The 47-year-old man had been climbing in the Liathach area of Glen Torridon when the avalanche occurred and the incident was reported to police just before 2.30pm yesterday.
He has not been named, but is understood to be local to the Wester Ross area.
A police spokesman said: “Police coordinated a mountain rescue with support from Torridon Mountain Rescue Team (MRT), HM Coastguard helicopter Rescue 100 and Royal Air Force helicopter Rescue 137.
“Just after 6.30pm, the injured man was found and, after initial treatment by members of the Torridon MRT, he was taken to Raigmore Hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries.”
Mountain rescue team leader Arjan Hendriks said the man had been able to raise the alarm himself.
He said: “We received a report that a lone climber had gone up a gully in the north corries of Liathach and got avalanched near the ridge.
“We were told he had been thrown out of the gully at the bottom and got injured on the way down.
“Luckily, he managed to get a phone signal and was able to give us an exact position as to where he was.”
He said team members were dropped off at the scene by Rescue 100.
They provided first aid, put the climber on a stretcher and wrapped and immobilised him.
Mr Hendriks said: “It was very cold, but there wasn’t too much wind on the north side, which made a difference because he was by himself for more than two hours before we got to him.”
An RAF search and rescue spokesman said the Coastguard helicopter from Stornoway flew four members of the mountain rescue team up to the avalanche site.
He said: “When the light was failing, and because Rescue 100 is not yet equipped with night vision goggles (NVG), they asked the crew from Lossiemouth to take over.”
He explained that the crew of Rescue 137 had been operating with NVG for some time.
Rescue 100 then returned to base and Rescue 137 rescued the casualty and flew him to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, arriving at around 7.30pm. The RAF helicopter also flew the rescue team personnel back to their base.
The spokesman added that Rescue 100 was capable of operating at night, but said NVG gave crews “more capability”.
However, he stressed that the Coastguard helicopter was not required to be equipped with NVG under the current search and rescue contract.