CLIFF HANGER!

A Stranger in Danger.

Miraculous Act of Courage.

A 24-year-old Canadian man has been honoured for an extraordinary act of courage after climbing a mountain without ropes or equipment to reach a badly injured hang-glider pilot stranded high above the ground.

Matthew Clark had already completed his own flight from Mount Prevost, in British Columbia’s Cowichan Valley, when word came over the radio that another pilot had crashed.

Seventy-five-year-old Stephen Parson had flown into a tree on the 2,585-foot mountain and was left hanging in his harness around 200 feet below the summit.

He was semi-conscious, suffering from a concussion, several fractures and a serious injury to his leg. Worse still, the length of time he had spent hanging in his harness meant he was beginning to suffer from suspension trauma — a potentially life-threatening condition.

Clark knew someone needed to reach him quickly.

There was just one rather significant problem.

He had no climbing equipment.

Fortunately, Clark had more than four years of experience in rock climbing and free soloing. Faced with an injured man in increasing danger, he decided to use that experience.

He began climbing a narrow, slippery gully, bracing his body between the rock walls as he worked his way towards the stranded pilot.

Eventually, he reached Parson.

Using a knife, Clark cut him free from the harness before dragging him to a safer position. He treated the serious wound to his knee, kept him warm and stayed by his side while rescuers tried to reach them.

The terrain was so difficult that professional rescue teams initially couldn’t get to the injured pilot.

Clark remained with him for around three hours.

Eventually, a helicopter rescue team arrived and lowered a doctor to the mountainside. Parson was stabilised before being hoisted into the aircraft and taken to a waiting ambulance.

Doctors later treated him for a concussion, broken ribs, a fractured wrist and the serious knee injury. He spent eight days in hospital and several weeks rebuilding the strength and movement in his legs.

He went on to make a full recovery.

Clark was later told that getting Parson out of the harness when he did may even have saved the injured man’s leg.

Now his remarkable decision to put himself in danger to help a stranger has received official recognition.

Matthew Clark has been awarded the Carnegie Medal, an honour given to people in the United States and Canada who risk their own lives in an attempt to save the lives of others.

On a mountainside where professional rescuers were struggling to reach an injured man, one 24-year-old with no ropes, no climbing equipment and no obligation to put himself in danger decided somebody had to go.

So he went.