UKC

Shame it wasn't grey - you could have photoshopped the wheels out and pretended it was airwolf :-)

Wow, the draft must have been something else!

It actually wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting! The reason they were so close is I think they were trying to avoid being above me. When they arrived I was precariously leading up an exposed arête without any gear at that point which certainly got me worried. They were close enough we could communicate by face/hand gestures and they were very careful not to blow me off the crag!

When the helicopter first arrived, I should say. I then got some very secure gear and was happy taking photos without worrying about being blown off. Apparently I had a piton before the arête but clearly my memory is failing!

wow!

Thanks!

Congratulations! This photo was chosen as Photo of the Week, based on votes by registered users over the past 7 days.

Absolute cracking photo. How the the helicopter was so close? Rescue?

A friend and I had a similar experience on the South Face of the Marmolada last year, it was a bit surprising! I think we were most confused by what it wanted, but they seemed to be flying round checking that none of the parties on the wall were in major trouble.

In this case it was a rescue from a route just to the side of us, and below. We've heard from the people involved and although there was a broken ankle they're all fine. The location of the injured party and the shape of the crag meant they needed to be in that position and were probably cursing us for happening to be in 'the way'!

http://aviationweek.com/space/last-call-aviation-weeks-photo-contest-see-photos-early-entries?NL=AW-05&Issue=AW-05_20161017_AW-05_230&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_6&utm_rid=CPEN1000001782693&utm_campaign=7357&utm_medium=email&elq2=19fff1d3518a42d094490002f6872e3d#slide-23-field_images-1514391
Could be in with a shout in this competition.