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Arapiles accident Saturday 09/02/2008 14-Feb-2008 At 4:23:31 PM thisrod

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I was a member of the accident party, and saw the whole rescue. Thanks to the air and ground ambulances, rangers, SES and ARG members and climbers who participated. Here's what happened.

Around lunchtime Saturday, Brendo was leading Chinese Algebra. He slipped off the crux, the top piece pulled out, and two nuts below and to the right of it zippered. It happened the way every anchor textbook describes. He fell about 10m to the ground, landed on his feet, and rolled.

We, the three uninjured climbers in the party, did a primary survey of Brendo's injuries. All we found was a dislocated ankle. He was too sore for further examination, so we could not exclude a spinal injury. We chose to keep him still and call triple zero, expecting an ambulance to bring morphine, a cervical collar and a solid stretcher in about 20 minutes.

I met the ambulance near Castle Crag. The paramedics advised me that a helicopter was coming, and asked whether I thought it necessary. I pointed out where Brendo was, and said that it would be easy to carry him down on a stretcher. They called to cancel the helicopter, but their dispatcher wanted them to inspect the patient and the terrain first hand. When they saw the boulders at the bottom of Voodoo Gully, they worried that someone else would be injured in a stretcher carry, and asked the chopper to continue. Later, other rescuers opined that the wind and Brendo's proximity to Voodoo Wall would prevent the chopper from winching him out. No one pressed the issue.

Brendo was considerably more comfortable when the helicopter arrived. The crew lowered a paramedic, who moved Brendo away from the cliff to a spot where they could attempt to raise him in a harness. The chopper returned, and the crew attempted to lower a cable, but they soon gave up and left. The SES then put Brendo in a stretcher, and eight lifters carried him to the road without further drama.

(Edit: fix formatting)