Climber found alive and standing after fall down 1,000ft mountain

Rescuers find man bruised but on his feet and studying a map after falling down steep and craggy mountainside in Scotland

A climber who fell 1,000ft (300 metres) down the face of a Scottish mountain was found by a rescue helicopter, standing up and studying a map and suffering only cuts and bruises.

The 35-year-old man, from Glasgow who has not been named was in a group of 24 climbers which reached the 3,589ft (1,094m) summit of Sgurr Choinnich Mor, about five miles from Ben Nevis, early yesterday afternoon, when he lost his footing and fell.

A Royal Navy Sea King helicopter, which was already in the air on a training exercise, arrived only 35 minutes later. The rest of the climber's group pointed rescuers in the direction of his fall, down the steep and craggy eastern slope of the mountain.

When they spotted somebody standing far below at 792.5 metres and beneath three high craggy outcrops, they assumed it must be the wrong man and flew back to the summit, where they spotted bits of the man's kit scattered in a vertical line down the face of the mountain.

A paramedic was winched down to check him and found him bruised, with a minor chest injury and some superficial cuts, although he was described as "shaking from extreme emotional shock and the sheer relief of still being alive".

"We honestly thought it couldn't have been him as he was on his feet, reading a map," Lieutenant Tim Barker, the observer for the crew, from HMS Gannet, based in Prestwick, Ayrshire, said.

"It was quite incredible. He must have literally glanced off the outcrops as he fell, almost flying."

The climber was winched on board the helicopter, where he was checked again by a doctor before being transferred to the Southern General hospital in Glasgow.

Barker said: "He is lucky to be alive. It's hard to believe that someone could have fallen that distance on that terrain and been able to stand up at the end of it, let alone chat to us in the helicopter on the way to ! the hosp ital.

"I have to say, when we got the call and realised the details of where he'd fallen, we did expect to arrive on scene to find the worst-case scenario."


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