Tower Ridge, with Great Tower and Tower Gap, scene of the incident. Photo: Jim Barton CC-BY-SA-2.0

A climber was airlifted from Britain’s highest mountain after suffering serious injuries in a fall.

The incident happened yesterday, Saturday, and involved a reported rock fall in the Tower Gap area of Tower Ridge on the north face of Ben Nevis.

Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team was alerted about 4pm by police and members of the team went to the climber’s aid, along with a Sea King helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth. The injured mountaineer was winched from the site and flown to hospital in Fort William.

Climbers in the area said the rockfall appeared to be down Glover’s Chimney. It is not known if there are still loose rocks on the route. Two servicemen were injured last month after falling an unknown distance from Tower Ridge, which is a classic rock scramble rated Difficult or Very Difficult, depending on the route taken.

Two Lochaber MRT members were also involved earlier that afternoon in a rescue on Ben Vrackie, the Perthshire corbett near Pitlochry.

The Lossiemouth Sea King was in the Lochaber area on a training exercise and also to help retrieve a 600m rope used by the mountain rescue team.

Because of the walker’s injuries, the team’s doctor and another volunteer flew with the RAF crew to the mountain.