UK Climber Dangles by Hand for Hours

They gave the victim morphine for his pain and were able free his arm using grease.


A CLIMBER was stuck hanging from a rope with his arm jammed in a crevice for more than three hours yesterday.

The 28-year-old endured an agonising wait when he got his hand wedged in the hole after he slipped.

Three pals struggled for an hour to free him but ended up calling emergency services.

A mountain rescue team arrived shortly after, followed by firefighters and a helicopter carrying explosives, chisels and hammers.

They gave the victim morphine for his pain and were able free his arm using grease. He was then winched aboard a specialist RAF Sea King helicopter based at Valley, in Anglesey, and then transferred to a hospital in Bangor, Gwynedd.

Ian Henderson, spokesman for the Llanberis Mountain Rescue team, said: "The arm was greased with jelly and ice was used to cool it down before we were eventually able to free it from the crevice."

The man, from Aberdyfi, Gwynedd, was attempting a climb known as Noah's Warning, 1,000ft up Dinas Cromlech, above the Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia.