A climber has died while ascending Britain’s highest mountain.
The accident happened yesterday while the man was scaling Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis.
A Coastguard helicopter managed to remove his body from a “difficult location”.
“We are sad to report that a call out yesterday was to a climber who suffered fatal injuries sustained in a fall while climbing Tower Ridge. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends,” said a spokesman for Lochaber Mountain Rescue.
“A big thank you to R951 (the Inverness-based Coastguard search and rescue helicopter) who did a fantastic job to make the recovery from a very difficult location and all the climbers who assisted and brought down the climber’s friend. A sad day.”
Tower Ridge is one of several ridges protruding north east from the summit plateau of Ben Nevis.
The ridge starts near to the Charles Inglis Clark hut below Coire Leis and terminates close to the highest point of the mountain. The normal route up Tower Ridge is a graded 3S as a scramble – the highest scrambling grade – and contains short pitches of rock climbing graded as difficult. It is one of the few mountain routes in Scotland with sufficient length and exposure to be considered Alpine in character.
It has been a busy time for rescuers on Ben Nevis.
Three climbers were rescued after getting stuck on the 4411 feet high mountain only a few days earlier.
Members of the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team had to carry out a “difficult technical rescue” on rain-soaked Ben Nevis on Thursday afternoon.
The climbers called for help after becoming crag fast. They were on the Long Climb on the Orion Face of the mountain at the time.
The conditions were poor with rain and low cloud when the rescuers set off around 4pm.
A team spokesman said: “This was a difficult technical rescue as the Long Climb is the longest in the UK and it is Alpine in scale.
“The climbers were located about 200 metres below the top of the route by a team member who was lowered down. The options were to continue the lower or lead climbers back to summit. It was safer and easier to lead them back to summit.”
The Long Climb on the Ben is described on the UK Climbing.com website as “a classic meandering line, best climbed after a few dry days and with good visibility”.
On Tuesday a climber was rescued 40 feet from the summit – while a walker was also airlifted off Ben Nevis after falling and smashing her head.
In the first incident at 1.20pm a climber became crag fast on Little Tower.
The man was scaling Ben Nevis on his own but two climbers below him spotted he was in trouble and raised the alarm.
The Inverness-based Coastguard search and rescue helicopter airlifted him into the care of Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team but he was uninjured.
Two hours later the helicopter was back on the mountain after a woman fell at Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe, also known as Half Way Lochan.
She was taken conscious to the Belford Hospital at Fort William.
Lochaber MRT team leader John Stevenson warned that the Ben “is incredibly busy at the moment – it is heaving with walkers – and we would advise people to be prepared and take care.”
