UKC

Anyone living in the aberdeen area will probably have heard about the climbing accident involving a 14 year old at cove. That was my little brother.

We were climbing the 20 metre cliffs and he was leading a route. He was about 8 metres above where I was belaying him from with 2 bits of gear in, a hex and a dodgy nut. He was about a metre above the nut when he lost his grip and pushed himself clear of the wall. The nut pulled straight out without any resistance he then fell down the 8 metres and bounced off a ledge(one of life's "Oh Bollocks" moments) and cartwheeled another 2 metres down into the sea. His weight came onto the hex just after hitting the ledge and it did slow him down but it then ripped as well. I pulled him out of the sea on the rope to find him fully concious. I got him out of the water and then ran back up the cliff to get mobile reception to call the emergency services. The first ambulance was very quick to get to the scene as where the coastguard. After seening the position he was in they called out the RNLI but the sea was too rough to safely move him onto the boat. Therefore the decision was taken to call out a helicopter and airlift him to hospital. Two and a half hours after the fall he arrived in hospital.
He is now recovering in ARI with his left leg broken in three places but apart from that he is fine.

The main point in this thread is to thank all the emergency services for all there effort in the rescue. I would especially like to thank the two members of the Coastguard who where the first to get to him, the RNLI for all there efforts to get him out even with the rough seas and finally to the Helicopter crew who flew up from Northumberland to help.

Thank you all very much,

Andy

In reply to AndyH1710:

Hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Vince

In reply to vince mcnally:
likewise.

In reply to AndyH1710:

Aye, hope your little bro mends soon!

Hope you're ok too, sometimes the accident can affect both people!

In reply to AndyH1710:

Glad all came good re the rescue services, it's reassuring to find that they are there isn't it? Hope your brother makes a speedy recovery & doesn't lose the faith. Likewise hope you're OK & get back on rock soon. Lots of us will have been there to a lesser or greater degree & know it's not always easy, plus an especial thank you for taking the time & effort to make your post here.
Mike

In reply to AndyH1710:
I think i saw that when on the train yesterday. Glad your all safe. It could have been a lot worse.

In reply to AndyH1710:

Saw the chopper and lifeboat when we were out at Souter Head that evening. Glad to hear your brother's on the mend and that things didn't turn out worse. Hope this hasn't put either of you off climbing and you're both back out there sooner rather than later...

In reply to Stuart S:

Thank you all very much for your concern. As for me I'll be back out on the rock as soon as i find a new partner(and my harness which i took of at some point and cant find anymore). I understand the risks of climbing and take them very seriously so as much as I didnt want to see what i saw it didnt particularly traumatise me in any way, its just part of the sport.

Andy

In reply to AndyH1710:
I hope your brother recovers soon. Which route was he doing when he fell?

In reply to SornaBob:

He was doing "Drop not"(VS 4b) at Bruin Cove.

Andy

In reply to AndyH1710: Good effort sorting it out quickly, probably a bad day out for you too, have a good chat to your brother about it in a while when he's physically better

In reply to AndyH1710:

Dear Andy

That was very mature post. The main point, was you remained calm and took the right course of actions.

I hope when you are old enough, your little brother buys you a drink.

Norrie

In reply to AndyH1710: Make sure you give your nuts a sharp tug - pull down, every time.

Glad you are both safe.

Stu

In reply to Stu Tyrrell:

As it were!

In reply to Niall:

LOL, I'll rememer that one.

Andy

In reply to AndyH1710:

Was also out at Souter Head on Tues evening and noticed all the activity. Hope your wee bro is well on the road to recovery now and, as Stu said on another thread, he's making the most of all the nursey attention!

Tried to find Bruins Cove a couple of weeks ago and despite having been before spent 2 hours trying to find it (unsuccessfully!)

In reply to Rowie B:
Where did you park? Can't rememeber what the book description is, but the way i go is:

Go into Cove, cross the railway bridge at the pub, turn right, and drive up the land rover track straight ahead, where there is some obvious parking on the left (where you park for Red Wall). Walk through the gate (that says no entry - not sure whether it is ok to walk through there or not!) and once you pass between the 2 houses, go to the far RH corner of the waste ground. Walk alongside the railway until past the head of the inlet. Follow the southern edge of the inlet, heading east and you will eventually see a narrow grassy arete that descends steeply (at points) down to the top of Bruin Cove (which is on your right).

I had the same problem recently!

In reply to Rowie B:

If you do manage to find it there is a fantastic climb called "Acid Drop" its HS and has three stars in the guidebook, its the best climb i've ever done and the pro is bomber. I would make a special visit just to climb that one route.

Andy

In reply to AndyH1710: Best wishes for a speedy recovery for yer brother. Hopefully ye'll both be back out there again soon.

on a completely random note and purely because there are aberdeeny folk on this post, can I ask anyones opinions of the climbs at clashrodney north - rocky crags. Went there for first time the other day and it all seemed severely undergraded. I lead VS 4c but (although I wasnt having a good day) 'Half Hearted' severe looked pretty damn hard and 'Set Up' VS 4b looked well well out of my leading range and shit scary. Any comments?

In reply to JohnR:

Yeah I was there last week, I can lead HS and I gave half hearted a go, got about 20 inches off the ground before giving up(the sad thing is i'm not kidding) and I didn't even bother looking at Set up.
Go round the corner to Clashrodney(Bareside point) and look at pink slab and central buttress, there are some excellent climbs on there ranging from S-HVS. Pink slab is brilliant and one of my favourite crags.

Andy

In reply to AndyH1710: yeah we ended up there because I was too scared of anything above Vdiff on Rocky Crags. Its got some nice routes on the slab but im not a fan of central buttress because theres nowt at the top for belays that I could find.

In reply to AndyH1710:

Best wishes to you and your bro. I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Mike

In reply to Anonymous:

The only problem is with pink slab is i'm prone to dropping peices of gear and it is usually when i'm climbing above the water. I've only been there twice and so far the fish in that lagoon have two of my belay devices(one was my ros so i guess he doesnt really need it), 2 nuts and a nut key.

Andy

In reply to JohnR:
Was at Rocky Crags on Wednesday night.

Set up (the VS 4b?), in my opinion, would probably get MVS if that grade was still used, so i'd say it was overgraded (& i'm crap at rock climbing).

It's easier than it looks, with good gear in the left slanting crack & slighly slabby. I reckon it's worth more than a star. It's really good climbing.

Half Hearted isn't the easiest to protect, but it short and to an extent, can be back and footed. There are good holds on the right.

There are more routes there than the book details. For example, behind the large block where you set of for the "blocky quartz crack" (can't rememeber the name), theres a rib to it's right, starting up the short wall with a 2 inch wide quartz vein. Easy once you get past the start.

Anyway, I recommend you give it another go!

In reply to JohnR: Led half-hearted last year and must admit it definitely did not feel Severe. I would say HS at least.

In reply to SornaBob:

We headed over to do Insect Groove etc but the crag was heaving with birds so decided to try and find Bruins Cove (and sadly enough I've already been there but couldn't remember exactly where to go!). Will give your directions a bash though as thought the ones in the guidebook were a bit unclear.. Is it badly birded or pretty clean?

In reply to AndyH1710:

All the best to him

Always worth remembering that even apparently good gear can pull out if you fall out from the cliff.

In reply to Rowie B:
To the left of Acid Drop is birded as usual. Fair amount of bird poo on the ledge below the (excellent) corner of acid drop, but not enough to put you off.

In reply to SornaBob: maybe on a very good day I will
Still not convinced about being able to back and foot Half hearted, but then I'm not very good at technical climbs like that

In reply to Rowie B:
>Is it badly birded or pretty clean?

Make sure to pack your number 9 hex to swing at the little bastards.

Andy

In reply to SornaBob:

Agree with you on Set Up. Well protected and probably a good first VS lead. Very pleasant.

Thought Half Hearted was a little bit pokey, but not too bad. One of my mates tends to use it as a descent route and he's been known to need a top-rope rescue when attempting to solo VDiffs so make what you will of that!