Edinburgh student airlifted from Arthur’s Seat after being knocked out on first day of freshers' week
The 18-year-old English literature student had to be helicoptered down from the famous summit after it was judged to be too dangerous to carry her down
A university fresher who was airlifted from Arthur's Seat after being knocked unconscious on her first day in Edinburgh says the dramatic rescue made her "the girl from the helicopter".
Earlier this month, Phoebe Blandy was about to fulfil a rite of passage for any Edinburgh fresher and reach the top of Arthur’s Seat when she tripped on the last step from the top, knocking her head and falling unconscious for five minutes.
The risk of concussion meant the only option to get the 18-year-old English literature student to an ambulance waiting for her at the bottom of the extinct volcano was winching her up onto a coastguard helicopter and airlifting her off the hill.
Recalling the incident, which happened around 5.30pm on September 13, she said: “I think I was quite lucky. I think it could have been bad if I’d hit my temple or something.
“It was a bit scary because the helicopter door was open when you first get in. But it was very pretty because I never actually saw the view from Arthur’s Seat, because I fell before I got the chance.”
The helicopter landed in the nearby playing fields hours after the fresher had set off to climb the hill with 10 or so new friends she had met after moving to the city the day before.
Lying at the hilltop all that time gave her plenty of time to get to know them.
“It was odd waking up to see so many unfamiliar faces around me when you’ve just passed out,” the University of Edinburgh student said.
While the incident was “quite an exciting thing to happen” for the paramedics who tended to her, Phoebe’s mum apparently “freaked out” when she heard the news.
Her mum had just made it through airport security ready to board a flight home to Brighton when she found out about the fall and immediately raced to the Royal Infirmary to meet her daughter.
The hospital’s A&E team gave her the all-clear that night after checking her head and putting some stitches where she had hit her chin from the fall.
She said: “I had quite a lot of blood in my hair so she was slightly freaked out and my face was really dirty from the dust from the helicopter and everything.
“She was worried but it was fine. She just stayed the night in mine because I wasn’t allowed to sleep alone for the first night in case I died in my sleep or something.”
Miss Blandy was given strict instructions by doctors not to jump around too much at the club.
For the first few days after she said she did not drink or “really go out” and walked around campus using her scarf to cover the plaster on her chin.
The unforgettable experience did however give her plenty to talk about for the rest of freshers’ week.
“It was quite a good introductory thing to get people to know people during freshers’ week, ‘I’m the girl from the helicopter’,” she said.
The fresher, who stressed she was not drunk when she took the tumble, has since shared the footage to TikTok where the video has been seen nearly a quarter of a million times.
On whether she will scale Arthur’s Seat again, she said: “I would.”