Police are appealing to the public for help in tracing a missing hillwalker who failed to return from a hike in the Highlands.
Ruth Betts, 64, left her hotel in Fort William on Wednesday intending to walk the Mamores range near Kinlochleven along Na Gruagaichean, Stob Coire a Chairn and Am Bodach.
However she failed to return and concerns are growing for her welfare.
Ms Betts is described as around 5ft 3in, of slight build, with short grey hair.
When last seen she was wearing grey walking trousers, a waterproof jacket and carrying a green and grey rucksack.
Inspector Ross McCartney said: “Our inquiries found she reached the summit of Na Gruagaichean around 10.15am but we don’t know if she continued along that route. She has not returned to her accommodation.
“Ruth is an experienced hillwalker and was equipped for a day in the hills, but concerns are growing for her welfare.
“Extensive searches are ongoing with assistance from local mountain rescue, Coastguard and the Search and Rescue Dogs Association.
“It is important we find Ruth as soon as possible. I am appealing to anyone in the area who may have seen Ruth to get in touch. Any piece of information could be vital in helping us to trace her.”
Anyone who can help is urged to call police on 101, quoting reference number 3322 of July 24.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here