A Wellington man "froze" 50 metres up a steep cliff and had to be rescued by firefighters.
Wellington Central senior station officer John Mansford said the man, believed to be in his 30s, clung for his life for almost an hour high above Seatoun's Breaker Bay yesterday morning after his spur-of-the-momentdecision to scale the cliff.
"He froze. All of a sudden you look down and the height gets too much for you," Mr Mansford said.
Unable to carry on up the face or retrace his steps, the inexperienced climber was left grasping rocks while his partner went to call for help.
"It was pretty precarious, it was pretty steep," Mr Mansford said. "He didn't have a ledge, he was just white-knuckling it."
While Wellington Free Ambulance and police rescue personnel stood by, firefighters secured ropes to knobs of rock at the top of the cliff and abseiled down to secure a harness around the man. He was then lowered to safety, only 21 minutes after the 111 call.
Mr Mansford did not know what had inspired the man's attempt to conquer the cliff, but said he was "extremely relieved" to be back on solid ground.
"I think he was bit like Edmund Hillary -- he did it because it was there -- but I doubt whether he'll be doing it again."
