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Activity
Sport rock climbing
When
Ascending
Injury
Minor injury
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.
Causes
Slip, trip or fall, Hold breaking
Anonymous?
Yes
Reported By
Participant
Wearing Helmets?
Yes
Rescue Services Involved?
Author
11 February 2020 at 16:19:23
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