Woman rescued after cliff fall

Durban -

Mountain rescuers came to the aid of a woman who broke her ankle and leg after falling 2m at a popular rock climbing spot in Drummond, west of Durban on Sunday.

Storm Knightly, 22, had been with four of her friends when she fell at Monteseel, about half way between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.

Fortunately for her, a group of mountain rescuers with the Mountain Club of South Africa, who had been rock climbing about 100m away from Knightly and her friends, sprang into action.

Gavin Raubenheimer, the club’s rescue convener, said it took about two hours to hoist Knightly up the cliff on a stretcher.

“She had broken her ankle and lower leg and had suspected back injuries,” said Raubenheimer.

Knightly was apparently lowered off the end of her rope and fell. The group were reportedly climbing using top-roping, he said. Top-roping is a technique in which the rope is thrown through an attachment at the top of the cliff with both ends hanging at the bottom end.

“The one end of the rope is held by people while the other end is held by a belayer - who holds the rope using a special device.”

He said the climber climbed on to the other end, and while they climbed up, the belayer pulls the rope using the device.

Raubenheimer said he believed they may have run out of rope.

“If they had tied a knot at the end of the rope, the incident could have been avoided.

“It seems like she was being lowered to the ground but the rope was not long enough. It slid through the braking system which caused her to fall.”

He said the woman appeared to be a beginner.

“When a person starts out as a rock climber they are on a learning curve and find themselves at most risk. They are still in a phase where they are trying to understand. But the more they climb, the better equipped they become to avoid such accidents,” he said.

Daily News