Lord Berkeley's Seat in the An Teallach range. Photo: Nigel Brown CC-BY-SA-2.0

Rescuers called to an injured base jumper in the Highlands said the man was lucky to be alive after an incident on the An Teallach range.

The man, in his 20s, scaled steep ground above a 500m drop on Lord Berkeley’s Seat to regain the mountain’s ridge after being blown into the rockface.

Police alerted Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team on Thursday afternoon after a call for help from a group on the Wester Ross mountain.

The Inverness Coastguard helicopter also flew to the site, where several base jumpers had been leaping off the exposed peak.

A Dundonnell team spokesperson said: “Lord Berkeley’s Seat is 1,030m above sea level and has a mostly vertical drop of at least 500m on its north face.

“After jumping off the peak, the casualty’s parachute was caught by a gust of wind which turned him around and propelled him into the face of the mountain. He then slid a short distance before stopping.

“He was then able to climb back up, over steep and very hazardous terrain, to rejoin his companions on the main ridge. He was found to have sustained only minor injuries but was evacuated in due course from the mountain by Rescue 151 to Dundonnell MRT base at the foot of the mountain.”

Dundonnell MRT leader Donald Macrae said: “This is the first time we’ve been called out to a base-jumping incident.

“To say this young man is lucky to be alive is something of an understatement. He must have a guardian angel. He came very close indeed to a long vertical drop which he would not have survived.”

The team said the man was an experienced base jumper.

The rescue was the team’s second in 24 hours. In the early hours of Thursday members went to the aid of a woman who injured a leg while walking in Glen Orrin, between Muir of Ord and Marybank.

After treatment, the walker was stretchered to safety.