Climber injured in fall

Crews from Spokane County Fire District 9 rescued a climber who fell partway down a cliff Sunday morning at Minnehaha Rocks in John Shields Park.

The climber and his friend were doing some lead climbing Sunday morning when the accident occurred, said Deputy Fire Chief Jack Cates.

In lead climbing, one climber scales the cliff and inserts “protection” into the rock; climbers then clip their ropes to the protection to help them in the event of a fall, said Steve Reynolds of Spokane Mountaineers. Below, another climber stands belaying, or holding onto, the rope. The climber may have been working his way up a route called Tar Babies, where the cliff stands about 70 feet high, Reynolds added.

The climber was on the rock face when one of the protection tools came loose, Cates said, and he fell 20 to 25 feet, landing on a 6-foot outcropping known in climbing circles as “The Ramp.”

“He’s a lucky man,” Cates said. “If he hadn’t landed on that outcropping, he’d have been in a lot of hurt.”

The climber’s name was not available.

Cates said the man was transported to Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center with a shoulder injury, facial lacerations and a possible back injury.