UKC

Just saw this on Sky News -
Man Held After Fellow Climber Falls To His Death
Last Updated 12:15 21/07/2014
A man has been arrested after a fellow climber plunged to his death from a coastal cliff.

More follows...

In reply to MountainGoat82:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28403951

A few extra details there

In reply to MountainGoat82:
Yes, a rare thing for someone to be arrested. I have never heard of it happening.

In reply to Pete Dangerous:

What terribly sad news, thinking of all involved.

In reply to MountainGoat82:

Let's wait for more info. What the media call a "climber" and what we mean by the term can often be poles apart...

In reply to Pete Dangerous:

hmmm, manslaughter. By an act or gross negligence? Will be interesting to find out.

In reply to mh554:

That's what I thought too! I found another article saying that they got in to difficulties but I can't imagine why he would have been arrested :/

In reply to MountainGoat82:

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/story/2014-07-21/climber-arrested-after-co...

In reply to MountainGoat82:

siezed their gear which suggests negligence. Still seems excessive to arrest...

In reply to Gordonbp:

Very fair point Gordon!

This was the other article but you never know with the press how much is just 'padding' to fill out the article!

In reply to MountainGoat82:

too soon ?

In reply to Gordonbp:


http://www.whitbygazette.co.uk/news/local/update-abseiler-dies-in-cliff-fal...

would seem to bear that out.

In reply to Andy Say:

What is "Whitby jet" and why is it worth "hunting"?

But from that article they don't appear to be climbers in our sense of the word.

In reply to MountainGoat82:

Unless it's been very recently developed, there is no rock climbing at Kettleness. There are however some in situ ropes used by fishermen and fossil huinters to access the shore.
http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/images-marks/kettleness-decent.jpg

In reply to MountainGoat82:

Yep, a two line article in a newspaper and we'll all start jumping to conclusions!! FFS, I despair!

In reply to mh554:

It's a stone and it's used in jewellery - it was particularly coveted by the victorians.

In reply to mh554:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitby_jet

I know that area well as I fossil hunt around those bays alot, the cliffs are very unstable and I would never go climbing on them for fossils, hence why they are good fossil collection grounds, constant fresh falls producing fossils.
Jet is worth a good bit of money in the right size pieces or quality.
As said previously "general term for a climber is poles apart", shame this has happened.

In reply to MountainGoat82:

I noticed in one of the reports it says:

"A friend who was at the scene was unhurt and a spokesperson for Whitby coastguard, who attended the incident and cared for the second man, said: “He just said his friend was going down the cliff and they had tied this rope round a rock. But it moved and down he went.”

Sounds like some random blokes hunting for fossils or jet with some basic abseiling kit didn't understand what constitutes a sound anchor and unfortunately one of them paid the price.

Still not sure why the other guy was arrested though, He surly can't be legally responsible for the quality of the other guys anchors he decided to ab off.

In reply to Lord_ash2000:




Maybe there was a love triangle; or it was a Whitby Jet control issue; or it could have been linked to ice-cream van wars.

There have been a few crime novels written on the basis that a climbing 'accident' could be easy to stage.

And even a few suggestions that it has actually happened.....

But in this case? I dunno.

In reply to Tall Clare:


...and Goths.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

There is some stuff to develop round there, but I doubt these guys were climbing. Sad anyway.

In reply to Franco Cookson:

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/main-topics/general-news/climber-in-whi...