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Date of Incident
12/05/2026
Country
England
Area
Route
Activity
Trad rock climbing
When
Descending
Injury
Minor injury
Incident
We did Rockers Revenge on Avon today and went to ab off the tree on the slab as per guidebook. It looked a bit suspect with quite a few dead branches so we looked around and there is now a two bolt lower off (close to the abb tree) at the back of the slab. So we abbed of this. My mate went first. The 2 glue in staples line up straight down the slab rather than over the edge. So it is pretty much useless to get a direct abseil down. He got to the bottom of the slab, went over the edge, probably 15m out of direct descent line and took a big swing back and hit the rock hard. He thought he had broken his collarbone, however he got down safely. I followed unaware of his accident but aware of the possibility and went over the edge much earlier to prevent a swing. I got down safely. I later had a message exchange with Ben Darby, local crag rep. and he explained there is another bolt lower off at the bottom of the slab in direct line with the one we used. So safe descent requires 2 abseils. We didn't spot the 2nd belay point. The injury resulting from the swing were torn ligaments, around shoulder.
Lessons
I think we were culpable in our decision making. We should have checked for another lower off allowing for a direct abseil. However we were unaware they existed anticipating to be able to go off the original tree.
Causes
Abseil or rappel failure or error
Anonymous?
Yes
Reported By
Participant
Wearing Helmets?
Yes
Rescue Services Involved?
No rescue services involved
Author
13 May 2026 at 12:17:11
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