On Saturday morning a group of 6 left Wentworth Fall to go down Ashcroft Ravine for a canyon. Near the end of the canyon, during a climb down Andrew fell in shallow water and hit his calf on a rock.

The wound wasn’t opened and the pain localized to the middle of the right calf. We weren’t sure about the exact injury but we tried to move forward. Two members went to look for the junction with Wentworth creek to know our location. We provided a walking stick and took his backpack to help walking the next 200 meters to the junction. It took us a bit more than 1hr to see the junction.

Andrew couldn’t use his right leg and with another few hours to the car including a climbing exit we decided to split the party, 3 would exit the canyon and seek for help while 2 would stay with Andrew and activate a PLB. The 3 leaving left extra food and warm cloth for the others.

After getting some height on a ridge we dialed 000 and talked to Katoomba Police explaining the situation. The time we arrived at the car the PLB had been picked up and they knew the exact location. We shared as much details as possible with the rescue squad and a ground team got ready but before they left we heard a helicopter coming for the rescue.

The junction, a fire and an orange emergency blanket made it easy for the helicopter to locate the group. They winched Andrew and the other two were asked to walk to the car. They arrived at the exit in the dark and didn’t want to climb it in the dark. They stayed in the creek and had a fire going with extra clothes and food. They walked out the next morning.