A young medical student who suffered catastrophic spinal injuries in a climbing accident is suing his climbing partner for £200,000 for letting go of the rope that should have saved him.
Ross Smith, 24, is paralysed from the waist down after plunging 30ft from the Sunderland Wall climbing centre’s artificial rockface four years ago.
His fellow student Spencer Ollivier broke the ‘golden rule’ of climbing by letting go of the ‘belay’ rope, designed to be kept taut and stop the climber falling further in case of a slip, according to the legal claim.
Despite suffering catastrophic spinal injuries in the accident in 2017, Mr Smith, from Bolton, has managed to carry on his training as a doctor and surgeon.
But now he is suing climbing partner Mr Ollivier for negligence, saying that he let go of the belay rope, allowing him to crash down to the floor.
Mr Ollivier admitted liability for the accident almost three years ago, according to a claim issued in Manchester High Court. But the two sides were unable to agree how much compensation Mr Smith should receive.
Both men were students at Newcastle University and members of the university’s mountaineering club when they became belay partners for a warm-up climb.
Mr Smith was a first year medical student and a novice climber and it is believed Mr Ollivier was studying earth science in the year above at the time of the tragedy.
Ross Smith, 24, is paralysed from the waist down after plunging 30ft from a climbing wall
Fellow student Spencer Ollivier allegedly let go of the ‘belay’ rope, he claims in legal writ
One of the indoor climbing walls at the Sunderland venue where the accident happened
Mr Smith said in his claim he had been taught that the golden rule was never to let go of his end of the rope, so that if the climber falls, his belay partner takes up the slack and stops the fall.
Mr Ollivier, of Guisborough, Cleveland, went first, in an uneventful climb with Mr Smith belaying him.
Mr Smith then began to climb, but as he reached for a hold at the top of the wall, his fingers slipped and he fell. Instead of his fall being checked by his belay partner the rope simply moved freely and he fell to the ground, the court will hear.
