Rescued Cheddar Gorge Climber Tells His Story
Casualty eye view. A member of ASSAR scrambles up Cheddar Gorge with Fire & Rescue Service to get to Simon.
It’s very rare that we help to rescue climbers these days. Climbers equipment, self-rescue skills and the rockfaces they climb on have all improved over the years.
Typically we get called out to search for and rescue ‘despondents’, people who are suicidal, or people who are vulnerable for mental health reasons. Invariably these call-outs can be quite tragic and mean that we can’t share many details about them.
Our recent callout on the evening of the 22nd May to help rescue a climber with a broken ankle and his partner is a rare occasion that we can share more details and hear from the casualty.
Simon Carobene and his partner were scrambling up the cliff to the start of their climbing route for the evening when he slipped.
We were called out at 19.39 to work alongside the Fire & Rescue Service and South West Ambulance Service to locate the climber, stabilise the injury and bring him down to the road and the waiting ambulance.
Simon reported, “I broke my ankle on the way to the start of a climbing route in Cheddar Gorge, and had to be rescued due to the awkward location. One of the ASSAR members, who as I remember was called Ian, climbed up to me and gave me a blanket and put my ankle into a splint. He also kept me company while we were waiting for the rope system to be set up, and then helped get me into a stretcher and lower me down to the road. I would very much like to thank him.
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to ASSAR along with the fire and ambulance services and everyone who helped to get me down from the cliffs. They did an outstanding job of getting me out of a very tricky situation, and I really can’t thank everyone enough.
After being rescued, I spent five days in Weston General Hospital. Unfortunately I broke my ankle in three places and so had to have surgery to install metal fixtures on both sides of the ankle. I have been resting up at home for the past week and I am now slowly starting to feel better. It doesn’t look like I’ll be doing any climbing for some time now though!”
All the members of ASSAR wish Simon a speedy recovery and a long climbing career ahead of him.