Yesterday afternoon (30/1/2011) a walker descending from the Stairway to Heaven, Wadi Ghalila, RAK, suffered lower limb injuries after falling in scree. He was part of a well prepared and equiped group with experienced mountaineers so they had no problem stabilising the casualty and making him comfortable. They quickly made the judgement that they would not be able to evacuate him with out assistance.
Initial phone calls were made to the mountaineering community for help. Straight away the community rallied and in the last of the light about 30 mountaineers gathered at the roadhead and walkedthe 5km up the hill in the dark up to the scene of the incident. Lots of other climbers were waiting in the wings if required.
It was decided, due to the very difficult nature of the ground, not to evacuate the casualty in the dark so the rest of the walking party where brought down with a group staying overnight on the hill with the casualty. This morning the mountaineering community is mobilising in force to evacuate the casualty at first light.
There is a mountain rescue tradition around the work of climbers working together to assist climbers in the event of an accident.
Ian Ganderton 
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