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Date of Incident

21/01/2020

Country

Wales

Area

Watch House Crag

Route

Incident

On a warm, clear January day, a group of 3 of us decided to head out to the Gower to make the most of the sunny weather and do some sport climbing. On the second route of the day, I was on a very doable 4a as part of my warm up. I was roughly halfway up the route and just above the third clip when the foothold I had all my weight on broke off beneath me. At this point I was just about to clip the third clip, so had a lot of slack rope. I do not remember actually falling, but the next thing I knew, I was dangling upside down about a metre from the ground. On the way down I managed to hit my left hand, taking some small chunks out of it, and my left leg which is now very bruised and battered. However, the most concerning thing was the fact my head took a good whack at the bottom. Had I not been wearing my helmet, my day could have ended up very differently (either in hospital or worse). I was very lucky to have a good belayer and lucky that the people I was with were first aid trained!

Lessons

The moral of the story is that you should always wear a helmet when climbing, even if you do not expect to fall. However, I know I should have clipped a bit sooner, meaning I would not have fallen anywhere near as far or as badly. New helmet is probably now needed.

Activity

Sport rock climbing

When

Ascending

Injury

Minor injury

Causes

Hold breaking

Anonymous?

Yes

Reported By

Participant

Wearing Helmets?

Yes

Rescue Services Involved?

Author

22 January 2020 at 14:15:35

For more advice and guidance on good practices visit BMC skills

All reports are self-submitted and have not been edited by the BMC in any way, so please keep an open mind regarding the lessons and causes of each incident or near-miss. 

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