VOLUNTEERS from Derby Mountain Rescue had to help find a climber who fell 25ft from a cliff in Derbyshire.
Members of the team were joined by RAF sea rescue, the ambulance service, firefighters and police as they tried to get the the 42-year-old man after he fell from High Tor, in Matlock Bath.
The teams were called to the incident at 3.30pm yesterday after a 999 call was received.
The man, who is from Sheffield had been climbing High Tor with his partner.
Kevin Corcoran, from Derby Mountain Rescue said: "Due to the inaccessible nature of the base of High Tor, the casualty first had to be located.
"Members of the rope rescue unit abseiled from the top of High Tor to find the climber, who had landed at the foot of the cliff face.
"When he was located, it was decided that the skills of mountain rescue would also be required and the team were alerted."
Mr Corcoran added: "While initial treatment was being provided by paramedics, mountain rescue members transported a stretcher and some specialist equipment along a narrow and difficult track to the scene.
"Team members then protected the casualty with a full body splint and transferred him to the specialist stretcher, capable of being lowered by ropes or winched into a helicopter.
"The difficulty of the path back to the road meant carrying the stretcher out would take a considerable amount of time and require rope protection at key stages.
"Therefore, an RAF Sea King helicopter had also been called from RAF Leconfield with the hope of being able to winch the casualty from the ground."
Mr Corcoran said whilst en route, the aircraft had to be diverted to another incident in North Wales, before heading back to Matlock Bath, arriving at just after 6pm.
He said: "Due to the amount of tall trees by the foot of the cliff and the complete lack of any open spaces from which to winch the stretcher, the helicopter had a difficult job in lowering the winchman and had to resort to hovering over the edge of the cliff so he could walk down the cliff face whilst being lowered.
"The paramedic treating the casualty was then winched into the aircraft followed by the casualty, who was then flown to Queen's Medical Centre for further treatments.
"It was a difficult rescue, requiring the talents of a number of different agencies, but it was gratifying to see how well all services were able to work seamlessly together to carry out an effective rescue.
"The RAF crew deserve special mention as they only had a narrow gap of about six feet between the cliff and the trees to lower their winchman and raise the casualty, which took some superb flying."
A police spokesman said the climber suffered a suspected broken ankle in the fall.
