An RAF Sea King helicopter

A woman has died after falling in a Cairn Gorm corrie.

Teresa Michelle Conalty, 40, of County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland, was airlifted yesterday, Saturday, from Coire Cas after falling about 200m (650ft). Ms Conalty died in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

She suffered head injuries after falling on the Fiacaill a’ Choire Chais ridge on the south-western edge of the corrie, which is the main skiing area for the CairnGorm Mountain resort. She was walking in a group when the accident happened about 11am on Saturday.

Members of the Strathclyde Police and the Arrochar Mountain Rescue Teams, which were training nearby, went to Ms Conalty’s aid, along with ski patrol members from CairnGorm Mountain.

They carried the woman to the funicular railway, which took her down the mountain to an access track, from where an RAF Sea King helicopter airlifted her to hospital in Aberdeen. She died on Saturday evening.

Avalanche conditions in the northern Cairngorms were graded ‘low’, category one, yesterday, after a period of snow and ice consolidation and stabilisation.

However, the area was subject to high winds. Writing on the sportscotland Avalanche Information Service blog, assessors who conduct Rutsch block tests on the mountainside to determine avalanche probability, said: “From the valley the Cairngorms looked superb but the reality was southerly gusts of up to 125mph with a mean wind of around 100mph over the summit of Cairn Gorm.”

Despite the winds, the good climbing conditions had tempted many winter mountaineers into the northern corries. However, many were forced to turn back in the face of the strengthening winds.

The avalanche assessors said: “Lots of people ended up retreating, uttering comments such as ‘Well I’m 16 stones and even I got blown off my feet’.”

Ms Conalty’s next-of-kin have been informed.