Highland mountain rescue teams praised for 'dedication and professionalism' after busy spell

Mountain rescue teams across the Highlands have been spending a huge amount of time in challenging conditions to help people off the mountains this winter.

Inspector Matt Smith, Police Scotland's national lead for mountain rescue, praised the professionalism of the volunteer teams after a busy spell at the start of winter.

In 2022 Scottish Mountain Rescue teams - which do not include Lochaber, Glencoe or Cairngorm teams which operate separately - were called out 843 times to 636 incidents. These involved 21 deaths, with 11 of them mountaineering accidents.

Insp Smith said there were about 10 more rescues last month than the previous December.

"It's not so much the number. The severity of the rescue tends to be far greater in winter," he said. "Even in the last week, volunteer teams have been out for a huge amount of hours overnight to bring people off the hills."

Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team were called to a hillwalker who had slid 100 metres on Ben Wyvis last week, while the Cairngorm team responded to a climber suffering from hypothermia on Hogmanay following at least two call-outs the previous week for lost walkers and a climber who fell in Coire an t-Sneachda.

Insp Smith said the extremes of weather at this time of year and the lack of daylight hours hampers rescue efforts and "make things really difficult".

He added: "What the teams come up against is exactly what walkers or people that are venturing out will come up against.

"Mountain rescue teams have had to deploy in very challenging conditions, for long periods of time, to help people that have become injured or lost, or needed help.

"They face some really long, dark, cold nights to get these people off the hills."

"Winter seasons are always quieter than summer ones, but for us we've seen a number of significant events.

"The rescue teams in Scotland are incredible, the level of dedication and professionalism, it's just second to none."

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