Jonny Dawes meets the men who rescued him after Feb. injury

Johnny Dawes fell while climbing on Stanage Edge in Derbyshire in February, resulting in an open fracture to a leg.

Dawes, one of Britain’s best known rock-climbers, met his rescuers who helped to save his leg after he suffered serious injuries in a fall earlier this year.

He told a friend after the accident that he had seen his sole, but he wasn’t talking about a mystical experience, just the fact his foot was facing in the wrong direction.

Dawes, who is renowned for his ‘dyno’ style of climbing, said the fact members of Edale Mountain Rescue Team had training in straightening the type of fracture at the scene meant blood supply and nerve connections to the damaged lower leg were quickly restored, avoiding the risk that the limb might have to be amputated.

Dawes said “I am so grateful to Edale Mountain Rescue team for the way I was treated and cared for at the time of my accident and if it was not for the skills of the team I could have lost my leg. “I will always be in debt to the team.”

In the 1980s, Dawes pushed British standards with the first E8 ascent of Gaia, on Black Rocks in the Peak District – followed by an E9 on Face Mecca, Clogwyn Du’r Arddu on Snowdon.

For more on Dawes, see here.