A Bristol-based wildlife presenter has escaped being

permanently paralysed after he broke his back in a horror

rock-climbing accident.

Steve Backshall, the former Really Wild Show frontman fell

25ft onto rocks after attempting to scale a difficult cliff

face in the rain.

Steve, 35, hit the floor with a ''sickening thud'',

shattering his lower leg and spine in two places.

The force of the impact sent his heel bone straight through

the bottom of his foot, while the jolt dislocated his ankle and

fractured two vertebrae.

Luckily there was no spinal chord damage or Steve could have

been left permanently paralysed from the neck down.

Eye-witnesses say he was ''screaming in agony'' after the

accident at the Wye Valley in the Forest of Dean, last

weekend.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Steve, an experienced rock

climber, said his safety equipment failed to work correctly

because the cliff he was attempting to climb was too wet.

He revealed that his injuries will delay the release of

three adventure TV programmes which he is currently

filming.

Bachelor Steve, the presenter of 'Lost Land of the Jaguar',

a BBC1 nature documentary series which will be screened next

week, said: ''Everything was going really well for the first

20ft or so, but then I came to a difficult bit and had to

stop.

''The rock was still a bit wet from an earlier shower, so

the route I was trying was harder than normal.

''I stopped for a rest but the next thing I knew, I was

heading very quickly towards the ground.

''When I landed, all I can remember is hitting the ground

with a sickening thud, and being in a huge amount of pain.

''I can't begin to describe how painful it was - it's worse

than anything I'd ever experienced before.

''But I'm lucky it wasn't a whole lot worse - I could have

been paralysed or worse.''

Steve, who has presented several documentaries for the BBC

in Bristol, added: ''Now I've just got to concentrate on

getting better so I can continue filming, but it looks like

that will be for some weeks yet.

''The three new shows I'm working on might have to be put on

hold until I'm fit enough to take part again.''

Steve's ordeal began on Saturday afternoon at Wyndcliffe

Rocks in the Wye Valley where he was climbing with lifelong

friend Tarquin Cooper.

The pair - who have climbed together across the world - had

already scaled several routes that morning, and Steve decided

to try one more before going home.

But Steve started-up the 70ft cliff just moments after it

had finished raining, and the limestone was still wet and

'greasy'.

As he climbed, Steve attached his safety rope to specialist

'camming devices' that he placed in cracks to prevent him

hitting the floor if he slipped.

But because the rock was wet, the camming devices - which

work on friction - failed to hold his weight and popped out of

their positions when he fell.

Tarquin watched helplessly as his pal plummeted to the

ground and started tumbling down the slope below.

The adventure travel writer, 33, said: ''It was just awful.

I watched as Steve cartwheeled down the rock before hitting the

floor with a thump.

''He was screaming in agony, so I did my best to apply a

field dressing to his wounded leg and told him not to move.

''But after a few minutes, Steve perked up and said he was

OK. I applied bandages to his leg and other cuts and bruises

and helped him to his feet.

''Steve is a big man and I couldn't carry him, so he put his

arm around me and I gave him a stick. Then we walked together

back to the car - 45 minutes away.''

Tarquin raced Steve to the the Accident and Emergency

department at Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI), where doctors set

his broken leg and applied a back brace to his spine.

He said it was quicker driving him to the hospital than

calling 999 because the area is so remote that ambulance crews

would have been unable to reach them.

Steve was left with a broken tibia in his left leg, and a

shattered talus bone in his left foot.

He also sustained a dislocated ankle, while his heel bone

punctured the skin in the sole of his left foot.

Two of the vertebrae in his mid-back were compressed so

forcibly that they fractured - protecting his spinal chord in

the process.

Steve, who hopes to leave the Bristol hospital early next

week, said his recovery could take at least six weeks.