Dramatic rescue of 'very lucky' man after fall at waterfall beauty spot left him hanging over cliff edge
A man who slipped down a cliff edge at Llanrhaeadr Waterfall had his fall broken thanks to a thin tree sapling.
Rescuers, who had to abseil to rescue the man, precariously perched on the edge of an eight to 10 metre cliff, said he had been a "very lucky chap".
Members of the North East Wales Search and Rescue Team were called out to the beauty spot in north Powys on Sunday after the alarm was raised by the owner of the tea room at the foot of the waterfall, Phil Facey.
When they arrived they realised that abseiling down to the man was their best option to reach him.
A spokesman said: "The ideal method of rescue would be a helicopter winch, but unfortunately the casualty was under tree cover and very delicately balanced."
The initial response was to get one of the search and rescue team to abseil down to secure the casualty and check on his condition.
"Whilst this was going on a full technical rope rescue system was set up so a further team member could retrieve the casualty," the spokesperson said.
"Once the man was secured to the second rescuer they were both lowered down the remaining cliff face. The casualty was fit enough to then walk off to the valley bottom and drive himself away. He was a very lucky chap, as his fall was stopped by a very thin sapling, just at the edge of an eight to 10 metre cliff."
After the rescue the team members spent an hour de-rigging the rope system and carrying a mountain of gear back to the waiting vehicles.
The Brecon Mountain Rescue team had set off north towards Llandrhaeadr with more equipment and Tech Rope Rescue members.
"It looked initially like we may have needed more resources than we had available but the team was stood down when the casualty was on the ground."
