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Date of Incident

19/05/2019

Country

England

Activity

Other

When

Injury

Serious injury requiring medical treatment

Incident

On Sunday 19th May 2019 one of the finishing holds on Unclimbed Wall at Harrison’s Rocks broke and a young talented climber was unfortunately injured when making a solo ascent of this route. The climber was very experienced and had climbed this route many times, but unfortunately he did not tie into a rope and decided to solo this route. Sandstone is unpredictable and the finishing hold broke, approx 8 metres high. Fortunately there were other climbers near by who were first aid trained, who did their best to keep the situation under control until the air ambulance arrived.

Lessons

Soloing on Sandstone at this height should be avoided and should not be encouraged. The access from the far side of Harrison's Rocks should be reviewed, as the ambulance crew had difficultly locating us from that end.

Causes

Anonymous?

Yes

Reported By

Rescuer

Wearing Helmets?

Rescue Services Involved?

Kent, Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance. Plus the HART team (Hazardous Area Response Team)

broken hold unclimbed wall
harrisons rocks incident 19.05.19

Author

9 October 2019 at 10:12:21

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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. 

If you have a concern regarding this report please contact us at incidentreports@thebmc.co.uk

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