Italian woman rescued after struggling with ‘most difficult part’ of Ben Nevis climb

A “terrified” woman was rescued in darkness on the UK’s highest mountain after a dramatic eight-and-a-half hour operation.

The Italian was with a climbing partner nearly 4,000ft up on Ben Nevis when she felt unable to carry on.

The pair were on Tower Ridge, but after calling for help they spent the night huddled on a ledge.

The Inverness-based coastguard search and rescue helicopter was unable to reach them because of the flying conditions, but took four members of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team to the Half Way Lochan.

They then trekked to the summit and then climbed down to the stranded pair.

“The woman was terrified and cold, but the team managed to rope her and get her back up to the top. Where she had stopped was the most difficult part of the climb,” said Donald Paterson, leader of Lochaber MRT.

“Fortunately she was OK – other than being very panicky. She and her friend had to sit on a ledge for several hours.”

The team managed to finish the operation around 4.30am on Saturday.

The team were called to a couple who had become cragfast near the top of the Long Leachas ridge on Ben Alder last night. This classic scramble is in one of the most remote corners of our patch so it was a late finish for all involved with the were team back home at 0200. 😴💪 pic.twitter.com/M7eRdIelv5

— Cairngorm MRT (@cairngorm_mrt) August 9, 2022

Ben Alder call-out

Meanwhile a pair of stuck hillwalkers were rescued in darkness from another Scottish mountain last night.

Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team were called out to the cragfast man and woman near the top of the Long Leachas ridge on 3,766ft high Ben Alder last night.

Leader Ian Cornfoot said: “This classic scramble is in one of the most remote corners of our patch so it was a late finish for all involved with the were team back home at 2am.

“The couple were going to camp on Ben Alder, but the weather deteriorated, the visibility closed in and they got crag fast on the ridge – they knew where they were but could not go any where. They were taken down by the team and were otherwise fine.”