A climber found himself at the end of his rope and happy to be alive after plummeting off an icy cliff face – an averted tragedy caught by his helmet cam.

Karlis Bardelis, 30, of Latvia was scaling a 200-foot cliff in Coire an Lochain, Scotland, when his ax dislodged and he fell about 32 feet in 3 ½ seconds, Barcroft Media reported.

“My ropes saved me and stopped my fall,” Bardelis said. “These kinds of falls are very dangerous because I’m carrying two ice tools and crampons, both of which are really sharp and could cause serious injuries.”

He was taking part in a training course organized by the British Mountaineering Council that included climbers from 26 countries.

“I fell because I made a mistake,” he said. “I put one ice ax in a crack and was trying to put another one in but the placement wasn’t good so it ripped the other one out.”