A pair of hikers who got stuck up a mountain in the Cairngorms were rescued after they got stuck in freezing -15°C conditions wearing trainers and jogging bottoms.
The Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team explained that the duo had been planning on climbing Ben Macdui and set off at 6pm on Tuesday (30 December) before they became ‘cragfast’, a term which means they were stuck on a steep rock face and couldn’t safely go up or down.
The hikers were two men in their 20s who ended up calling for help fewer than three hours after they set off.
Lacking the proper equipment for mountain climbing or winter weather, the two men ended up getting stuck and could not move any further, leaving them at the mercy of the dark and the freezing winter weather.
They made their distress call at 8:45pm and by 1am on New Year’s Eve everyone had made it back to safety.
Two men wearing trainers and jogging bottoms tried to climb a mountain at 6pm in winter, less than three hours later mountain rescue was called to help (Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team/Facebook)
According to The Times, team leader Iain Cornfoot said that the two men ‘wouldn’t have survived the night with what they were wearing’, as he explained that one of them was ‘suffering from hypothermia’ and they were rescued ‘about 1,050m up’.
He explained that with the windchill factor it would have felt like -15°C for the hiking duo trapped on the mountain, and that one of the hikers was found in a ‘very precarious position’ where if he had slipped he was facing serious injuries.
Cornfoot explained that the two men had set off from Edinburgh at around noon that day and attempted to climb the mountain while ‘incredibly ill-equipped’ as they were wearing jogging bottoms and trainers.
Their lack of crampons or ice axes meant they could progress no further and got stuck in icy conditions, while Cornfoot said ‘it would not have had a good outcome’ if the men had tried to press onwards into the dark in icy conditions and become even more lost.
Brought back to base by the mountain rescue team to be warmed up, neither man required medical treatment.
The men were successfully rescued, but they ‘wouldn’t have survived the night’ without rescue (Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team/Facebook)
A spokesperson for Cairngorms Mountain Rescue Team said: “The team was called out at 8.45pm last night to assist two hill walkers who had become cragfast in the Goat Track area of Coire an t-Sneachda.
“The pair had set off at 18:00 intending to climb Ben Macdui, but without crampons or an ice axe they quickly found themselves unable to continue on steep ground in winter conditions.
“After some rewarming and reassurance, the rescuers were able to set up a belay and lower them safely back down to the corrie floor.
“Everyone was off the hill and back at base by 1am. A good outcome all round.”
Considering the hikers tried climbing a mountain on a winter evening without proper equipment, them being rescued without need for medical treatment certainly is a good outcome.
Thank goodness for mountain rescue teams. If you want to throw a donation their way you can do it here.
