Derry Climber Severs Arm in Copycat Incident. 18th May 2003

In circumstances uncannily reminiscent of the recent case in Utah, a Derry climber today staggered into Altnagelvin Hospital having walked the 18 miles from Culdaff with the stump of his amputated arm cradled in his windcheater pocket. Stuart Hamilton explained to astonished A+E staff that his arm was firmly stuck in the tapering crack system of Diversion (Hard Severe) and that there had been little option but to cut it off with a penknife. Questioned further about the circumstances he explained that his climbing partner had become frustrated when Mr Hamilton had got his arm stuck while trying to retrieve a cam. He abseiled down, hacked off the offending limb and extricated the gear from the crack. When Mr Hamilton declined to finish the route due to having only one arm left, he was roundly abused by his partner before the rope got the same treatment as the arm. Mr Hamilton had to pick himself up from the nettle patch and walk to Derry in his rock shoes (being unable to lace up his boots).

"I can understand that he wanted his friend back", said Mr Hamilton, "but I will never forgive Frankie for using his combination-knife-fork-and-spoon tool. My climbing career is over".

Mr McCloskey, who was interviewed and then released by the Gardai, said, "It's all a bit of a tragedy...unless someone can get that arm out of there a perfectly good route will be lost to a generation of climbers. We all know how squeamish youngsters are these days". The Gardai said that they would not be taking the matter any further because disarmament should generally be viewed as a positive thing.