UKC

had a text from a mate who cycled past police, ambulances and Fire engines there- stretchering someone off late this afternoon

Hope they're ok.

In reply to Wes:

oh hell! I hope so too.

Nikki

In reply to Wes:
do you know what happened there? i was only climbing there the night before, i hope that they are ok

In reply to mlmatt: I cycled past just after the accident. Not sure, but looks like a climber fell from Suspense, or maybe Baby Duck - another climber went up shortly afterwards to retrieve gear. The stretchered climber was pretty still & for a while I feared the worst, but then I'm fairly sure I saw some movement in his hands (from a distance). Fingers crossed he's not too badly hurt.

In reply to bpmclimb:
He's got head injuries, but don't know latest condition.

In reply to Wes: flip*ing hell, hope he's okay.

Did anyone see the guy soloing up the gully between suspension bridge buttress and the ampitheatre buttress on Saturday? Not sure if he had climbing shoes on but he was, for the most part, he was scrambling along grassy ledges and stuff rather than on rock...

Don't know what he thought of the experience, but it looked nothing like fun to me. :-S

In reply to chembhoy: Have been there and you're right...

In reply to Wes:
Whoever it is, hope you're ok.

In reply to bpmclimb:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144936&command=di...

sounds hopeful.

In reply to nikinko: Thanks

In reply to Wes:
One of our freelance instructors was there and assisted with the rescue. We've got the chap's climbing gear here at UCR awaiting collection by one of his friends, and we hear he's doing well in hospital.

In reply to Anne@Bristol:

Thanks for the update. Glad the guys doing well and glad your chap/ess managed to get his gear back.

Best wishes to the lad getting well and back again.

In reply to Anne@Bristol:

Hey Anne,

good to her that he's doing all right and i wouldn't of expected anything less from your instructors.

Speak soon no doubt!

In reply to nikinko:

From that article. For any body who has been in the gorge see below:

“ . . . was climbing with a friend when he fell and landed on the tunnel that covers part of the Portway.”

In some ways he has got to be viewed as a lucky boy.

BTW: Anybody know what time it happened I was in the gorge most of the day and saw nothing?

In reply to Reformed Climber:

From what our instructor has told us, the press reports seem to be substantially wrong in a number of ways (nothing malicious, just lazy reporting). I'm sure that the climber or his partner will post in due course if they want to discuss the accident.

In reply to Anne@Bristol: You touch on something that I've thought a number of times...

In an instance like this when an accident occurs, newspaper reports et al apart from highlighting the dangers of climbing and bringing that to the front of our minds again... they do nothing to educate.

Similarly over the Winter with the tragic accidents in the Northern Corries expecially, those people died and yet I felt in some instances that the bbc reports that I read especially did not give enough time to finding out the details... apart from a message of "do not climb in the wrong conditions" nothing came out of the reports for me.

My point is, despite the fact that the media are not there to educate climbers about the dangers of their sport - does anyone else feel that it would be useful to get more information about the circumstances of these accidents?
And Anne, you say if the party involved at the suspension bridge wish to speak about it they no doubt will do on here in due course... so do we have to accept that these are sensitive times for the people involved and that the media are not interested in the detail. just the headline??

In reply to chembhoy:

Not particularly no! A guy got hurt, that's not good.

I'm glad to hear that he's doing ok now, and hope that if he checks in here he will find a thread full of best wishes, not a thread full of analysis and criticism from people who weren't involved, and not a thread begging for all the gory details from people he doesn't know. Like Anne said, if he wants to talk I'm sure he'll find somewhere to do that, although if it was me I'd find somewhere more private than this forum to do so! I'm not going to get drawn on any more on this thread, as it will defeat the point of what I'm trying to put across in the post.

All the best

Nikki

In reply to chembhoy:

Agreed.

My other "sport" is also considered a high risk activity but has a very different safety culture from climbing. Every incident and accident (no matter how minor) is analysed, documented and reproduced for general dissemination within the gliding community to learn from.

Climbing on the other hand seems to rely on hear-say, rumour, Chinese whispers and frequently even backlash when someone enquires in to the particulars of accidents.

Perhaps the person who fell at Avon was doing something we all do, that we don't consider high-risk, but should actually pay attention to. Perhaps it was gear failure, or even stupidity.

Regardless we can all learn something from it, if only we were told what actually happened!

In reply to nikinko:

What if the accident occurred, say, in the setting up of an anchor, using a method which we all tend to use and feel is quite safe? What if this accident is an example that contradicts this commonly held view? Should we have to wait until the next edition of John Long's "Advanced Anchors" in 4 years time to learn that this is case?

What if it was a case of not backing up a bit of gear, not screwing up a screwgate, attempting to ab off tat, or any other possibility?

The full details of this accident would provide the kind of information we all need to know, or at the very least, need to be reminded of. In many ways, the gorier the details the better for solidifying this knowledge.

In reply to chembhoy:

Not really either, it'll probably just be a fall where someone got unlucky and there's not really a lot you can say beyond offering your sympathy. But it would satisfy my macarbre curiosity.

I'm interested to note that the fire brigade used ladders to get on top of the Gallery. The polished corner with the shitty old rope's a bit dodge, but there's a scrambly path on the other side from the rat run from the zig zags, following the fence and wires. Did they use their engines to lift the guy off - getting a chopper in there would be spectacular.

In reply to David Martin:

That's a healthy imagination, verging on the paranoid you've got there.

In reply to Paz:

At this rate I guess we'll just never know will we.

In reply: That article seems to have gone now. However, did anyone else read about the dogs being killed after the car they were in was set alight?! I'm lost for words that someone could do such a thing.

In reply to Bill:
heart breaking wasnt it

people like that should be put down.

In reply to Paz: James, shouldn’t you be writhing up!!!

In reply to Ian: Unfortunately it also reminded me of something I witnessed a couple of months back, and the thought of them in there made me sick!

I agree with you. They don't deserve a plce in society. (And I don't usually say things like that!)

In reply to Bill: I mean place.

In reply to Anonymous:

Who are you, the f*cking voice in my head, or something?

In reply to Paz: Yes , spoke to our man in Durham the other day and at this rate he will be finished before you.

In reply to Wes: the guy who fell is a friend of mine from Stamford, Lincs - he is in frenchay hosp with cuts and bruises but more seriously a fractured 6th cervical vertebra - I only heard by email yesterday but managed to get in touch by phone

he is very lucky as he hasn't sustained damage to the spinal cord as far as we know but its early days yet

he has no recollection of the fall - one minute he was putting gear in - next minute he was on a trolley in hospital

we all hope he gets better soon

In reply to David Martin:

I completely agree. As a military aircraft engineer I take it for granted that every accident/incident involving an aircraft is investigated, analysed and the results diseminated. All pilots and techinicians then have full access to investigation reports so that they can learn what mistakes not to make.

Also, even if the results of a crash investigation puts an acccident down to 'human factors' it isn't just left at that and every effort is made to identify direct and indirect factors that may have contributed to causing the accident or exascerbating the consequences.

Personally I think the BMC should consider running a voluntary accident reporting/recording system. It would only benefit the UK climbing community in the long-term to have a better understanding of the true risks involved.

In reply to nickdowney and others: I'm glad the climber is doing ok in hospital.

This is the second person I'm aware of who's ended up in hospital after falling off that Buttress. The other one was about 5 years ago and he made a full recovery after a 100'+ fall.

I just hope I'm not reading about antoher one in 5 more years.

In reply to nickdowney:
Hello Nick,
I spoke to my brother (the climber) last night and he has had a fairly major op on his vertebrae, has a small amount of pain but is allowed to walk about in the hospital. Biggest annoyance to him is the double vision (hopefully temporary).

In reply to John Pontefract:

Glad the lads up and walking around. Hope he makes a full recovery.

Best

Nikki

In reply to Mark Stevenson:

Do you know what route they were on 5 years ago, and what route this guy was on last sunday?

As it happens I am curious as to how accidents happen on such a safe crag - I never understood the four upgrades on it - but I might have a Wallnut of theirs.