WATCH: Cairngorm mountain team rescues twocrag fast climbers stuck on The Needle

It has been a busy weekend for the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team who have had to respond to incidents on successive nights.

The volunteers were called out at around 10.50pm on Saturday to two cragfast climbers on the Shelterstone in the Cairngorms after going off course whilst tackling a route called ‘The Needle’.

WATCH: Mountain team rescues pair of climbers who go off route on The Needle

It is the second time in as many weeks that the team has had to deal with stricken mountaineers on the route.

Team leader Iain Cornfoot described the call-out as an ‘almost carbon copy’ of the rescue earlier in the month.

Coastguard rescue helicopter R948 was tasked from Stornoway and flew the rescue team members and equipment to the top of the climb.

Once a rigging system was set up, the CMRT was able to lower a team member down to the climbers and haul them up one at a time.

Mr Cornfoot said: “The alarm was raised around 10.50pm. The two climbers who were crag fast were climbing with another party who were climbing on a different crag and they reported that the pair were in difficulty.

“They were in a stationary position and had been for a couple of hours.

“They had slightly off route on the Needle to a more difficult route and tried to self-rescue but one of the party had suffered a slight injury so could nto continue.”

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Two climbers have to be rescued after getting stuck on The Needle

Thirteen members of the team took part in the operation.

Mr Cornfoot said that the team members had responded to two climbers crag fast on the Needle earlier in the month and this helped with the rescue.

He said: “The guys knew exactly where all the rigging points were and how to get down but because they were slightly off-route this made it a bit more difficult.

“We hauled them up to the cliff one at a time. We pretty much did all of the techinical hauling and rescue in the dark.”

Both the man and the woman, in their twenties and thirties and from the Borders, were able to walk out with the CMRT members from the top of the climb unassisted.

They reached the Coire Cas car park at around 6.30am.

Then the CMRT was called out again last night after a man in his sixties suffered a lower leg injury after slipping whilst walking with a friend in Glen Banchor near Newtonmore.

The fall happened at around 4pm but was not reported until later in the evening as his friend was unable to initially get a phone signal.

He walked down the glen and was able to call for assistance at around 6.30pm.

Mr Cornfoot said: “We were assisted by the estate and one of the keepers on Glen Banchor which was great and able to use an Argocat to reach the casualty and he was safely evacuated using the vehicle.”

Both men were well equipped. Mr Cornfoot said: “It was just a simple slip.”

Seven team members turned-out and they were back at their Inverdruie base by around 11pm.

The rescue team leader observed: “It has been relatively quiet recently but it can be funny how things happen.

“One of the team members was saying that he can only remember around four rescues on The Needle in around 40 years and we have had two in two weeks.”

The Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team relies on public donations to fund the work that they do.

For more information visit their website https://cmrt.org.uk

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