A climber had to be rescued after suffering cuts to his body and a significant head injury falling from a hill in Gwynedd. The man, in his 20s, fell from Craig yr Aderyn (also known as Bird Rock) just after midday on Saturday, August 27 whilst lead-climbing from a ledge with his female climbing partner.
When he fell, despite his partner slowing the fall from her belay position, the man briefly lost consciousness and began bleeding heavily. With his partner's help he was able to get back onto the ledge where his partner raised the alarm using 'the very weakest of phone signals.'
Although her message was cut off due to the poor signal, an ex-mountain rescuer at a nearby campsite heard their shouts for help and phoned the police too. Piecing together the details, the police call-handler requested helicopter assistance, which was provided by Aberdyfi Search and Rescue and assisted by neighbouring South Snowdonia Search and Rescue.
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Rescuers were worried that trying to winch the pair directly into a helicopter from the crag would mean they would be blown off the ledge by the helicopter's downwash - the movement of air created by the blades. They decided instead to get crew members to the top of the crag and winch them up to there.
A lack of natural anchors and the shallow soil made it difficult to get the winch's anchor pins into the ground and the crew weren't able to directly see the two climbers from the top of the crag. This meant they had to use a spotter, stood a fair distance away, to guide the winch down.
A rescuer was lowered down towards the climbers but couldn't get there on the first attempt. The rope technicians were able to reposition their equipment based on this, and the pair were reached the second time.
The man was lifted up, followed by the woman, and the pair were helped into the nearby helicopter. Team spokesperson Graham O'Hanlon said: "The man's climbing partner did a remarkable job, first in holding his fall from a precarious belay position, but then also assisting the man back to a safer position, raising the alarm and stabilising his injuries."
Everybody was safely off the hill by 6.40pm. The man was taken to hospital for a further assessment of his injuries.
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