A CLOSE CALL.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20364, 23 July 1934, Page 5

A CLOSE CALL.

Climber Saved by Loaf of Bread. FELL FROM ROCK. (Special to the “ Star.”) LONDON, June 7. A loaf of bread in his knapsack saved a London climber’s life when he fell 90ft from a rock in England’s Lake District. Mr W. P. Cooper, of London, a member of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club, and Clive Dowthwaite, also of London, were climbing Mouse Hill on Blea Crag, near Grange in Borrowdale, when Mr Cooper fell. Mr Cooper had nearly gained the top of the hill, and was reaching out for another hold, when his haversack swung round and unbalanced him. He bounced off a ledge, missing a large piece of projecting rock by a hair’s breadth, and landed on his back on the screes. He owed his life partly to the rope and partly to a loaf of bread in his haversack, for it was on this that he fell, and thus was saved from breaking his neck. Mr Dowthwaite tried to hold the rope and had his fingers cut almost to the bone, and he was nearly dragged down before he could fasten on to the belay. Then he climbed down to Mr Cooper and went for help. Farmers, labourers and ambulance men climbed to the top of the 3000 ft high crag, got Mr Cooper to the top in a rope cradle and then carried him down on a stretcher. He was taken to hospital with a broken arm and a broken ankle.