A climber has survived a terrifying 10-metre fall down an icy cliff face in the Scottish Highlands, with the incident captured on his helmet camera. Karlis Bardelis, 30, from Latvia, was attempting to scale a 60-metre cliff in Coire an Lochain during a training exercise in 2012, footage of which has only recently been released.
The video shows Bardelis's ice axe coming loose, knocking his other axe out of position and sending him into a three-and-a-half-second free fall before his safety ropes caught him. The climber, who now works in Nepal, credited his ropes with saving his life, noting the dangers of sharp ice tools and crampons that could cause serious injuries during such falls.
Bardelis had travelled to Scotland for a training course organised by the British Mountaineering Council, joining climbers from 26 countries. He admitted feeling both excitement and fear during the climb, and attributed the fall to a mistake in placing his ice axes. After being rescued by his harness, he continued his ascent and successfully completed the climb.
Reflecting on the incident, Bardelis said he never considers death as an option in such situations, and his main thought during the fall was hoping to land somewhere soft without breaking any bones. The footage has elicited mixed reactions, with some viewers laughing and others finding it too frightening to watch.
