Episode Intro
It was the ABC News that first alerted the outdoors community to Macca’s Big Wall Fall near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. With over 30 years climbing under his belt, including many first ascents and stories, some of which are the stuff of legend, he is one of the Blue Mountains climbing community’s most well-known characters.
Five years on from the accident, he joins me today with Sergeant Dal Atkinson, the team leader of Blue Mountains Police Rescue Squad, to speak about what happened and what the challenges of location, access and weather made this one of the longest and most difficult cliff rescues in New South Wales.
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Key episode takeaways
- Importance of not adventuring alone
- The value of experience and skills built from a life outdoors
- The priceless skill of assessing risk objectively
- Always having a way to call for help (in coverage or satellite option)
- Preparing and carrying all you need in case things go wrong (extra warm clothes, emergency blanket)
- The privilege of living in a country with access to well-trained and resourced emergency services
- Understanding how fire/flood/weather can change landscapes
- Knowing that rescue/help isn’t immediate, even if you have access to 000. Many things can affect the speed of help getting to you and ensuring that you have adequate supplies to manage environmental, food, water supplies while waiting.
- Insight into conditions and policies (eg. fatigue/hours) that can affect rescue.
- Awareness of support away from the incident location (eg. forward command post, support staff, resources and escalation chains) that are often the unseen part of rescues.
- And so much more…
Links and resources
Transcripts
Transcripts are now available alongside the episode on most podcast platforms, such as Spotify and Apple.
Thanks to
Episode Sponsor // Blue Mountains Climbing School
