UPDATE: Walker got lost in Cairngorms in sub-zero conditions after dropping compass
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Mountain rescuers have said that a walker who got lost in sub-zero conditions in the Cairngorms at the weekend was lucky to be found relatively quickly.
The middle-aged man from Inverness-shire, who has not been named, was trying to walk down from the summit of Cairn Gorm on Saturday.
But he ended up way off course by some six kilometres and near to the north summit of Ben Macdui.
He was fortunate in that police were able to trace his location after he made another 999 call.
Sixteen members of the rescue team took part in the 10-hour emergency call-out following the initial alert from the lost walker early in the evening.
Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team leader Iain Cornfoot said: “Originally he had gone to the top of Cairn Gorm but could not find his way down and ended up trying to trace his step towards Coire an t-Sneachda and ended up way over.
“He said he had dropped his compass at some point.
"If we had not had the grid reference then we would not have found him that night.
“The winds were moderate but it was bitterly cold with heavy snow fall at times and it was difficult underfoot at times due to the new and drifting snow and visibility was really poor at times.
“He had good clothing and would have survived the night but he would not have been in a good condition in the morning as the winds picked up later on and more snow came through.
“It was lucky that we managed to find him.
“He was cold but warmed up relatively quickly and was able to walk off with us to Coire Cas car park.”
The missing man was located at around 11.30pm by the north summit of Ben Macdui and the team were back at their Inverdruie base by 3.30am.
Cairngorm Mountain was thanked for their assistance during the rescue.
Braemar Mountain Rescue Team members also assisted in the search. They were called out at the same time given the lack of a grid reference for the missing walker and it was thought he could be on their side of the range.
They continues to walk into the plateau and only stood-down once it was confirmed the man had been found.
The CMRT relies on public donations for its vital work – find out more at https://cmrt.org.uk
