Storm-hit walker rescued after night spent sheltering behind boulder

A hillwalker spent a night sheltering behind a large boulder after getting into difficulty on a mountain in Glen Coe during Storm Chandra.

Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team said ferocious winds prevented the man from descending from the 3,773ft (1,150m) summit of Bidean nam Bian.

Severe weather - including heavy rain, high winds and blizzards - along with a risk of avalanches led rescuers to delay their search until daylight and better conditions the following day.

Glencoe MRT, with assistance from Inverness Coastguard helicopter, reached the casualty and he was stretchered to a location on the mountain where he could be flown down into the glen.

The rescue followed one at the weekend when UK and Dutch marines on a training exercise went to the aid of a walker they found curled up in snow on Ben Nevis - Britain's highest mountain.

The troops said it was so cold the man's eyebrows and clothing were covered in "solid blocks of ice".

Following Tuesday's rescue in Glen Coe, Glencoe MRT said the hillwalker was found "very cold but resilient" after his 17-hour ordeal on the mountain.

The team also praised the "brave and highly skilled flying" of the coastguard crew.

Storm Chandra caused travel disruption in parts of Scotland, and brought high winds and snow to mountainous areas in the Highlands - including the Cairngorms and Torridon.

On Saturday, members of Royal Marine Reserves Scotland and Dutch Korps Mariniers helped a walker who had got into difficulty after becoming separated from his two friends on Ben Nevis.

The Royal Marines said the man was curled up in snow near the summit and had "solid blocks of ice clung to his eyebrows, hat and gloves".

The wind was blowing at gusts of 40mph and the wind chill had dropped the temperature to about -20C degrees.

The troops, who were on a mountain training exercise, made a stretcher using ropes, a jacket and a shelter called a bivvy sack to drag him to safety.

He was handed over to the emergency services lower down the mountain.

"If we hadn't seen him, he certainly would not have survived," said Sgt Onno Lankhaar, section commander for the Dutch marines.