A search is under way for two ice climbers who have been missing overnight in the Cairngorms in "dreadful" weather conditions.
Two climbers who went missing in "dreadful conditions" in the Cairngorms have been found.
It is feared the pair were caught in an avalanche while climbing in the Coire an t-Sneachda area. They were last seen on Sunday afternoon.
The pair were caught in an avalanche in Coire an t-Sneachda in the Northern Corries. Their conditions are not known.
The alarm was raised when the men, both from the Aberdeen area, failed to turn up at a meeting point.
One climber has been taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
Mountain rescue teams and an RAF helicopter are involved in the search.
A RAF helicopter, two mountain rescue teams and search dogs were involved in the search after they were reported missing on Sunday.
A spokesman for Northern Constabulary said one of the missing men was in his late teens and the other in his early 20s.
According to search and rescue teams the other man is still in the corrie.
We are not sure if they been avalanched or taken shelter. We hope they have taken shelter Mountain rescue team leader John Allan
John Allan, leader of Cairngorms Mountain Rescue Team, said 27 searchers had been dropped off in the corrie by a helicopter.
He said: "We are not sure if they been avalanched or taken shelter. We hope they have taken shelter."
Winds in the area have been gusting at up to 70 miles an hour, lowering the temperature to -20C.
During the night an RAF rescue helicopter from Lossiemouth carried out a search using an infra-red camera, but nothing was found.
The ground search, involving Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team and a team from RAF Kinloss, resumed at first light.
RAF spokesman Michael Mulford said the hope of the effort resulting in a happy ending was keeping the search team going.
'Conditions awful'
He said: "It is a relatively small area but conditions are really awful.
"You have got a lot of snow up there, you have got an avalanche danger. This is the difficulty with that whole area of Coire an t-Sneachda."
Mr Mulford added: "Never say never in search and rescue. Many people have defied the odds."
One veteran mountaineer told BBC Scotland that Coire an t-Sneachda is a honey pot for climbers because it is easy to get to and offers grades one to nine climbs for beginners to the highly experienced.
