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A climber who survived an astonishing 1000ft fall claimed it was just like being on a water park slide.

Adam Potter plunged the height of the Eiffel Tower before landing at the foot of a Munro.

Yesterday, he said: "It was like being on a flume, except more painful."

Stunned rescuers found Adam standing up and calmly reading a map. And he's still hoping to have a crack at climbing Everest in March.

Adam, 35, told the Record: "The only thought that I can remember as I fell was, 'This is going to muck up my Everest trip'."

And as for his injuries, he joked: "I've had worse cuts shaving."

As well as a badly battered face, Adam broke his back in three places - though he's not been confined to a wheelchair.

The landfill site manager, from Dowanside, Glasgow, was climbing with his girlfriend, two pals and pet black Labrador Harry Potter when he lost his footing on the summit of the 3589ft Sgurr Choinnich Mor, around five miles east of Ben Nevis.

He was rescued by a Royal Navy Sea King from HMS Gannet in Prestwick, which was on a training exercise in the area.

The adventure sports enthusiast was transferred to Glasgow's Southern General Hospital.

Last night, Adam revealed: "We were out walking in the hills and we were walking along a ridge.

"It was icy, snowy and we got to a point where I said, 'Okay, let's put on our crampons on and get our axes out now, just in case'.

"I said, 'We will do it just behind that rock', which was about five metres away.

"As we walked towards the rock I slipped and then I kept falling.

"I tried to slow myself down on the ice and snow. I was jabbing my feet, my hands or anything to tr y to slow myself down, but each time I lost speed I would go over a bit of cliff.

"I would get all that speed back up again. That went on for 1000ft.

"There was one bit where I managed to lose a lot of speed. I slowed down and I went over the last cliff and I could actually see where I was about to go and I thought, 'That is not a good place to go'."

His girlfriend Kate Berry, 30, and pals Helen and Jeremy Anson could only watch in horror.

Adam said: "The helicopter guys told me there is at least three points where it is vertical cliff and each of those is over 100ft.

"I can't remember any specific thoughts. The only thought that I can remember was 'This is going to muck up my Everest trip'. If I broke a leg or anything like that I would have been b******d. It was just good luck."

When he finally stopped falling, Adam did not know where he was so he instinctively reached for his map.

He said: "When I got to the bottom I was knocked out. When I came to I did not have any recollection of how far I had got through the day.

"I was looking at the map trying to work that out and trying to get gloves and another hat out of my bag.

"But gradually my memory came back to me. I think I was in shock until the helicopter arrived.

"It wasn't until I was laid down inside it that I star ted to not ice var ious pains."

It would be a further 10 minutes before his girl friend and friends realised he had survived.

Adam said: "Al l three of them were quite distraught. They saw me bouncing down and screaming on my way down on the drop sections.

"When I reached the bottom they could not see me properly. I just looked like a tiny little speck. They thought I looked like a rock until I got up and they realised it was me."

Adam revealed: "My shoulders are pretty tight because I had my rucksack on and it was ripping me all over.

"My back is broken in three places but not the places that put you in a wheelchair.

"And my face is a bit mucked up - if you hadn't noticed. I can't believe I haven't got a broken ankle, or broken leg or arm or anything like that.

"I am also lucky that the helicopter could come so quickly."

As well as climbing Adam, who has also l ived i n Aberdeen, enjoys mountain biking, white water kayaking, canyoning and caving.

The Royal Navy Sea King helicopter reached the scene around half an hour after his dramatic fall.

Lieutenant Tim Barker, the crew's observer, said: "We began to hover-taxi down the slope and spotted a man at the bottom, standing up.

"We honestly thought it couldn't have been him, as he was on his feet, reading a map. Above him was a series of three high craggy outcrops. It seemed impossible.

"So we retraced our path back up the mountain and, sure enough, there were bits of his kit in a vertical line all the way up where he had obviously lost them during the fall.

"It was quite incredible. He must have literally glanced off the outcrops as he fell, almost flying."

A paramedic was winched down to check Adam, who appeared to be unscathed beyond some superficial cuts and bruises and a chest injury, He was said to be "shaking from extreme emotional shock and the sheer relief of still being alive".

Police described him as a "very fortunate climber".

And Lt Barker said last night: "He is lucky to be alive.

"It's hard to believe that someone could have fallen that distance, on that terrain, and been able to stand up at the end of it, let alone chat to us in the helicopter."

AND NOW FOR EVEREST...

Adam's main focus now will be making a full recovery for his Everest trip in March.

He said: "I hope that I will be fit. This is a bit of an inconvenience."