UKC

Bad Weekend for Climbers

It may have been a lovely weekend weather-wise but it was tragic weekend for climbers with 2 fatal accidents.
Mathew Wilkes died when he dislodged a substantial loose block on Fool's Paradise on Gowder Crag in Borrowdale. Information from those at the scene suggest that there is still a lot of loose rock on the crag so please take care for the forseeable future if you intend visiting Gowder.
In a separate incident, a climber was killed and his partner injured, when they fell from a route on Shorn Cliff in the Wye Valley.

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18 Jun, 2005
There was a thread about a loose block on here a few days ago, guess it was the same one. http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=133968
19 Jun, 2005
As the OP of the previous thread warning of the loose block I am deeply saddened by this news. My thoughts are with his family. I thought that this forum would be the quickest and most effective way of spreading the warning, and I am left wondering what else we could have done, not being local to the area.
19 Jun, 2005
Not a lot really, given that this is the time of year when people come from all over, even Europe, to climb up there & not all are visitors to this site. Short of nailing a sign up, or an outright ban on the route. I guess we all know the risks. Sympathy to those involved.
19 Jun, 2005
Firstly, don't blame yourself... People don't check web-sites about access issues, bird nesting - and other than putting a notice at the bottom of that climb (which could have got blown away, or removed anyway) there is nothing really you could have done... We climb outdoors at our own risk. It sounds as though you were possbly very lucky to get away with it last week... Sympathy to all the friends and family of the climber who was killed.
30 Jun, 2005
We climbed the route on the 13th (unaware of the accident). Although the last pitch seemed dirty, I wasn't aware of any loose rock on it and it didn't seem any hard than the advertised 4b.
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