AS 2004 came in with a blast it provided a challenging start to the year for members of the Tayside Mountain Rescue Team.

Sadly a string of incidents brought tragedy after a woman died when her car plunged down a remote ravine, but team leader Alfie Ingram said yesterday it was amazing that the hills and glens of Angus and Perthshire had not claimed any more lives after blizzards brought the harshest of beginnings to the new year.

Hours before the bells, the civilian Tayside team members were aware that they could be on the hills after a vehicle remained in the Glen Doll car park well into the hours of darkness.

Unfortunately, the weather at lower level was also causing major problems and Mr Ingram said that even as the tea-time alert was raised he knew the team would be facing serious difficulties in getting into the glen.

“At the point we received the information the Dundee-Forfar road was even closed, so we were basically monitoring the situation through contact with a local farmer, Mr Stack-Dunne,” he said.

“Later in the evening it was decided that we would attempt to head up there, but then the farmer met the couple coming off the hill,” he added.

It emerged the married couple struck problems when the woman’s crampon broke as they were ice climbing in Corrie Fee, leaving them with a hazardous abseil in the freezing darkness.

Mr Ingram added that while the Clova incident was being monitored a report had also come in of a shooter overdue in the hills of Perthshire, north-east of Pitlochry, but again the state of the Tayside roads was a major barrier to deploying any mountain rescue personnel.

“We have some team members in the Glenshee and Blairgowrie areas, but the roads we would have been on up there were just about impossible at that time.

“It was decided to make a big push in the morning, but we knew we were looking at having to try to cover 10 miles of private road which was reported to have three or four feet of snow on it. So the only options were either to try from the north or to get in from the air, and a helicopter was arranged through RAF Kinloss.

“The following morning was a very good one once the weather cleared, and as the helicopter was doing a recce there was the chap emerging from his snow hole. Coincidentally one of his friends came upon him almost at the same time.

“He was taken to Raigmore Hospital. He was suffering from mild hypothermia, which all things considered was pretty remarkable because the weather was pretty horrendous,” Mr Ingram added.

“As we were rendezvousing for that incident, word also came in that a car was in a gorge, so two police vehicles were redeployed to go over and help there with what was unfortunately the recovery of a body.”

Then car accident claimed the life of a woman after the vehicle was discovered in the early hours of January 1 in the ravine on the B846 Tummel Bridge to Aberfeldy road.

Mr Ingram added, “Apart from the car accident, the result of the other incidents was very good in that all of the people involved came out of it OK.

“The conditions really were quite bad and it would have been difficult for people to stay out in them without having problems.

“Tayside Mountain Rescue Team’s involvement really started around 6 pm on Hogmanay and didn’t end until well into the next day. It was a busy start but it’s impossible to say with mountain rescue what that means.”