Mountain rescuers in the Highlands have been praised at Westminster for helping to save the lives of a couple who spent a night stranded in Arctic conditions.
North MP, Drew Hendry, has tabled a motion in the Commons, hailing the “invaluable work” of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team.
It follows the rescue of Cathy and Bob Elmer last month, after the Leicestershire couple and their collie Meg were forced to huddle down in bivvy bags to ride out a storm, following a New Year’s Day walk.
The snow was up to their waists on the slopes of Cairn Gorm as temperatures dipped as low as 7C – with a windchill factor making it feel considerably colder.
A total of 26 MPs have signed the motion, which “commends the role of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue team and its team leader, Willie Anderson, for its hard work” on the range.
It also “notes particularly the selfless actions of volunteers who recently helped, in white-out conditions, to rescue Robert and Cathy Elmer, who were trapped on the mountain overnight with zero visibility, and recognises the invaluable contribution made by mountain rescue volunteer teams across the nations and thanks those teams for their on-going work”.
Last night, team leader Mr Anderson said: “It’s nice that the team gets recognised for all the work they do.
“It’s all voluntary and it does have a big impact on family life and work life. Getting a wee bit of recognition from Westminster is really quite a nice gesture.
“Just in that period, there was the Elmers and another chap the next day. It was a busy period for us at New Year.
“The guys put in a good effort because without getting them off the mountain, they probably would have perished.”
The day after the Elmers were rescued, two young mountaineers were praised as “heroes” for carrying a hypothermic walker to safety from Ben Macdui – Scotland’s second highest peak.
Rescuers said the two mountaineers – a young man and woman who are a couple – found the walker “in a bad way”.
They subsequently “half-carried” him for two to three kilometres, supporting him to walk until he could no longer bear his own weight.
Then, after transporting the walker far enough to get a phone signal, they called mountain rescuers.
