An emergency rescue operation was launched after a 22-year-old took a tumble on Cavehill .
Dylan Elwood suffered a chipped fibula after jumping from a cave opening onto the grass below, like he did as a child.
But the North Belfast man said “it turns out as you get older, it doesn’t quite end the same way”.
Unable to walk, and stranded up the mountain with pals from around 8pm on Monday, they were forced to call for help.
He told Belfast Live: “Me and my two mates just went up for a walk as the weather was good.
“We got to the first cave up Cavehill and I thought I could jump down from the side of the cave on to the grass.
“I did it years ago when I was a kid, but turns out as you get older it doesn’t quite end the same way.
“As soon as I landed I felt my ankle burning up almost instantly, so I knew something was wrong.
“One of my friends tried to find me a stick to use for support but I couldn’t even lift myself up off the ground.
“My friend then thought the best thing to do would be to call emergency services.”
The Fire Service and a specialist rescue team climbed to his aid through Belfast Zoo following a call at 21.41pm.
Dylan said they “helped keep my leg at ease” as “after time passed the pain was getting a lot worse”.
They then set about getting him onto “a stretcher with a big wheel that they put me on to bring me back down the hill and into the back gates of Belfast Zoo”.
An X-ray of his foot at the Mater Hospital that night showed Dylan had suffered a “chipped the fibula bone in my ankle”.
The Belfast lad added his foot was then encased in an air cast and he was sent home from A&E on Tuesday morning to await a call from the fracture clinic.
“I’m really thankful for everyone who showed up to help because if they hadn’t have I would have been stranded until early hours of the morning as I could not move at all,” he said.
“My foot is still really sore and swollen at the moment but the pain seems to be travelling up my leg a bit towards my knee.”
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