Near Miss at Raven Crag, Langdale – August 2024

August this year I was climbing at Raven Cag with a friend from Essex, the weather was good and the rock dry. We opted for Pluto which went without a problem. Following the obvious path off the crag we arrived at the traditional descent above Savernake I have used this descent many times over the years – never really liked it, my colleague had also used it in the past. On the walk to it we passed comment that it was unpleasant but that the alternative abseil descent put up some years ago following a fatality on this traditional descent was not very pleasant and would be running with water.

When we arrived at the ledge above the pedestal there was a party of 3 on the ledge below who had just completed Savernake. My partner descended first. He lowered himself over the ledge facing inwards. He appeared to get his left leg on the pedestal and went to put his right leg down but missed the pedestal causing him to tip backwards off the pedestal. He hit the ledge 3 metres below on his back , bounced off the ledge and over the edge and thankfully stopped about 1.5 metres down held by the branches of a tree which grows off the left side (facing out) of the crag. He was helped back to the ledge by the climbers on the ledge suffering little more than a torn ear and bruising. I was able to descend to the ledge and after a few minutes recovery we completed the descent without further incident. Clearly, had the tree not been there or the had the branches failed Jason would have fallen the full height of the crag and most likely have been killed.

My partner, is an experienced and careful climber with many years experience,. He is not sure exactly what happened to cause him to fall and the explanation given is my interpretation from watching from above.

I’m aware that this incident is not a one off and am aware of at least one fatality on the same descent. The difficulty as I see it is that the pedestal is far enough below the ledge to make it a bit of a stretch to reach it with your feet and there are no positive holds on the ledge to allow the climber to secure that move so if balance is lost for any reason they are going to fall to the ledge and likely over the edge of that. Therefore, I would like to propose that a short chain linked between 2 bolts be fitted to the top ledge to provide a secure handhold whilst lowering on to the pedestal. Whilst it maybe argued that climbers are not obliged to use this descent and can opt to use the abseil the clearly worn path shows that it used regularly and the wet nature of the abseil makes it unattractive and its presence is not clear to those who don’t know the crag.

Simon Brearley
Oct 20224