Incredible moment ice climber survives 60ft fall when frozen pillar collapses (photos)

Incredible images have captured the moment a wall of ice snaps sending a climber tumbling to the ground surrounded by tonnes of ice in Canada.

John Freeman survived one of the craziest ice climbing falls ever recorded when a pillar of ice he was climbing detached from the cliff face.

Using only ice tools and crampons, John was attempting a solo climb of the vertical ice wall until a misplaced tool shattered the ice, causing the entire frozen face to cascade to the ground.

John, a climbing guide from Canmore, Alberta, Canada, was miraculously only winded when he fell from 60ft up the steep cliff face to the floor.

He told Caters News: "It was a warm day, we got a good sense like it was a healthy piece of ice there - and we wanted to climb.

"I walked up to the ice and it was super thin, it wasn't even as wide as my shoulders, I had to climb very delicately, it was intense.

"I could feel the climb move under me, I had never encountered that before.

"It was fast - the tool struck the ice and I immediately felt that I was moving, I didn't realise what was happening.

"I could hear the ice breaking and I realised the whole thing was collapsing and there was nothing I could do about it.

"The sharp pieces of ice were digging into my body as I was sliding along the ground and I just waited for it to stop - and I was alive."

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