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Another Arapiles Accident 7-Feb-2003 At 6:35:14 PM rockeys

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Not sure where he is from, but his name was Paul and no, he didn’t have a helmet.

I was with a couple of mates who did Missing Link before Paul and his partner set off. The wind was gusting through the gully hard, I decided to sit it out and watch my more experienced friends do the climb. I chatted to both guys while we waited for my mates to rap off. Paul had done missing link before, albeit in slightly better conditions.

We had just packed up and were about to go back down Ali's when watching Paul lead the climb. He was looking good having placed his first bit of pro before the tricky traverse right which had him strung out a fair distance from his first piece. I think he had got his second piece in, but pulling on it it came out which made him loose his balance and fall. His partner tried to take in but there was way too much rope out from his bit of pro. The ground falls away a fair bit to the right of the start so it was probably more like a 12 or so meter fall onto rock. Needless to say he was pretty messed up with pretty severe head injuries and plenty of broken bones.

Fortunately, one of my mates who had just finished the climb, Warwick, is a nurse so he took control of the situation. Being my birthday, I had also fortunately decided to take my mobile up on the mountain which I wouldn’t usually do. I got on it straight away calling the ambo's and the araps rescue squad.

Warwick says he couldn’t find any pulse for a while, but the guy pulled through and eventually regained consciousness. We weren’t able to do much more for him other than talk to him and keep him warm. After well over an hour, an ambo abseiled down to him from the top car park. The chopper arrived soon after.

A decision was eventually made to pull him up the face opposite to missing link to the car park on top of the mountain where the chopper could winch him up from. It was way too windy for them to winch up out of the gully. A challenge for the araps rescue squad to say the least. They eventually worked it out and after a bumpy ride up the face in the scoop, we were glad to finally see Paul on his way to Melbourne.

We were happy to see a rope set up at the chains at Ali's which we abseiled off. The nerves were shot and we all weren’t exactly in the mood for a down climb. By this time, it was mid afternoon, we walked Paul's partner back down to camp (a climber of 25ys experience who didn’t know Paul that well), got back to our spot at the gums and tried to digest what the hell we had just gone through.

My birthday climb scheduled for that afternoon was replaced with a billy full of bourbon. We took off the next day needing a change of scenery. I've spent the last month re-evaluating my enthusiasm for the sport. It was a bit of a shock to see after only climbing for a year. Haven’t managed to get back on a rope yet, not just because I live in ACT and most climbing areas are closed after the fires... Haven't given it away though and I'm determined to get back up soon.

I hope this posting can act as a warning to anyone doing Missing Link. The traverse out to the right really does leave you strung out. Id know saying this will be controversial, especially to keepers of the araps ethics, but if there was a bolt on that section this guy wouldn’t be lying in hospital. But that’s another debate for people more experienced than me to partake in. A helmet certainly wouldn't hurt either...

A birthday I'll never forget.

If anyone has any news on Paul I'd be grateful to hear how he is going. My thoughts have been with him since that day.

Grant.