A 20-year-old free climber who became stranded on a Georgia cliff face called 911 with one hand while clinging to a rock, and asked whether he would appear on the news because he did not want to worry his father.
The man, identified by some US media as Thomas Perry, was climbing the west face of Mount Yonah on August 25 when he chose the wrong route and became stuck on a 20-inch by 20-inch ledge about 260 feet above the ground. He was wearing ordinary trainers and had no rope, helmet or harness.
He remained calm and called 911 with one hand, asking the operator: "I'm not going to be on the news or anything, am I?" The operator replied that he probably would not be, and the man said: "I don't want my dad to start worrying about me."
White County Public Safety deployed a drone to locate him. Firefighter Will Roper rappelled down, secured the climber in a harness and hoisted him to safety in about 42 minutes.
Roper said the climber was "strikingly calm" and joked with him during the rescue. The man told Roper he had experience with the mountain but had simply picked the wrong route.
