Three walkers rescued from middle of the Lairig Ghru in Cairngorms in blizzard
Three people had to be rescued from the middle of the Lairig Ghru in atrocious weather conditions overnight.
Braemar Mountain Rescue, along with with assistance from Aberdeen Mountain Rescue and Coastguard Search and Rescue, were called out to The Pools of Dee late last night.
The Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team had initially been alerted that the three hill walkers were having difficulties.
Initial reports had suggested one of the group was suffering from hypothermia.
CMRT leader Iain Cornfoot said: “Originally the call-out came to us as there was potential for good weather this side of the Cairngorms for the rescue helicopter to fly in.”
However, the conditions in the vicinity of the high mountain pass meant it was not possible for the helicopter to get close to the walkers’ location.
Mr Cornfoot explained: “The Prestwick-based helicopter ended up going to Braemar to pick up mountain rescuers there as the incident was closer to them so we did not deploy.”
The Coastguard helicopter could only get them rescuers to within eight kilometres of The Pools of Dee but this still allowed the team to reach the walkers much more quickly.
Once located, the trio of walkers were given shelter and assessed by a medical technician.
They were able to walk out with assistance of mountain rescue team members.
Two all-terrain vehicles met up with the group en-route to speed up the operation which was complete by 6.30am this morning.
