UKC

A climber is luckily saved by a last minute top-rope as the icefall he is on collapses underneath him.

As we often get warm conditions when winter climbing in Scotland, this video acts as a good reminder of how unreliable melting ice is as a climbing medium.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=67234

In reply to UKC News: If he's the leader I'm bloody glad I'm not on the other end of the rope. Never seen somebody less well co-ordinated.

In reply to UKC News:

The 'rescue' party will certainly not have bought a round that night methinks. How very lucky for him.

In reply to unclesamsauntibess:

Indeed.......I'm by no means the worlds best winter climber but that guys like Bambi on ice!!!

In reply to UKC News: Crikey! Lucky guy

In reply to unclesamsauntibess:


I'll let you know when I next get out on ice - I've seen loads worse than that (and I know I am)!

In reply to UKC News:

That'll learn 'im

In reply to Formerly Known as Pylon King:

I bet he had to change his trousers after that

In reply to UKC News:

Definitly one not to show the missus!

In reply to UKC News:

I don't know much about ice climbing at all but it seems that his judgement is a bigger issue than his technical climbing ability.

Give the guy a break, he's just lead most of a WI5 so is obviously competent. Coming close to dying (would you want to fall on screws in that ice!) and then trying to scratch up a smooth ice-less slab is going to make any one look pretty sketchy!

In reply to torquil:

agreed.
Sketchy stuff. Glad they were there and competent to help him out!

In reply to UKC News:
OMFG

That is amazing. No wonder he's like jelly afterwards. Quite amazing to see. Presumably the pro further down was just as bad as the ice you could see... if so they he owes them ....

In reply to torquil:

Totally agree, and the rock below is probably polished to a fine sheen by all that running water so there's probably nothing even close to decent to get purchase on.

In reply to UKC News: The guy remains incredibly composed! I am sure he helped that slush stay on the rock by not panicking.

In reply to torquil: Agreed as well. Definitely used up one of his lives there.

In reply to UKC News:
Hideous! No judgement cos I don't know all the circumstances. What I know is that I would not want to be climbing any ice in this condition. Very scary! But you never know how you got there until you were there!

In reply to UKC News: Fair play to all of them. They all stay composed and the rescuers quick action stopped them all from having a really bad day. Everyone knows that stuff like this can happen, but we just hope that it'll be to someone else... What an awesome success though! Does he get to put a tick in the book? (I'm sure some would say no, but I'd probably let him have that one)

In reply to UKC News:
Great video clip, I was panicking sat at my desk! All of them did well to stay composed. If the climber had panicked the ice would have gone much earlier. The relief on his face when he gets back on level ground is classic.

Don't think I'll be buying those crampons and axes after all...

In reply to UKC News:

The woman on the rescue team is excellent - calmness personified

In reply to torquil:

Definitely more 'W' than 'I'...

Somehow he manages to keep smiling throughout. Maybe he just doesn't have any spare mental capacity to change expression.

Not flattering to the poor guy, but that optimistic scrabbling in crud whilst balanced on knees brings back some very deeply-buried memories... good work by the top team.

In reply to UKC News: I was thinking that the conditions didn't look good, pretty obvious what was gonna happen. At least he kept a smile on his face and is still smiling at the end.

We all make mistakes or poor judgement calls, so long as you can live to tell the tale and smile through it then it's a lesson learned. And unless you've never pushed yourself before then we all know what it's like to get jelly legs at some point.

I enjoyed the video

In reply to UKC News:
I wonder how well the person filming was belayed? Or were they just standing at the top on that crud?!
And if they WERE belayed securely perhaps helping out rescuing rather than carrying on filming would have been more helpful - saving the time the other guys had to use to set up a belay?
Not that it didn't result in a gripping bit of footage... and at least all ended well!

In reply to UKC News: Must have been a mental battle to get that biner clipped

In reply to Catherine Speakman:


Looked like a helmet cam to me, and if you listen you will hear that he did offer to help set up a z pulley.

In reply to Catherine Speakman:
I haven't climbed Kennedy Gully specifically but I have climbed a fair bit at Ouray - the anchors are usually either super bomber trees (with chains around them) or rock anchors - nothing to worry about there. The rescuers were most likely standing on flat ground.
The rescuers are a bit of a gong show, but they got the job done!