Here's my chance to live my words. I put this on the new forum created by the decades old Potomac Mountain Club. I e-mailed it to friends who weren't members of the Potomac Mountain Club. Will I submit this to the Accidents in North American Mountaineering? Haven't decided. I was encouraged by a climbing friend to post it on Facebook - which has seemed to kill the blog - but this is too long for Facebook.
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I hurt my left foot and got whiplash symptoms in my neck and
shoulders. After driving the 4wd .5 miles to a pull out in the wash and a
1 hour and 40 minute approach (we started at 7 am) we were at the base
of the popular desert tower climb Jah Man (pronounced Yah Man), five
pitches, Grade II, 5.10c. I started the first pitch (5.9/5.8+) and found
the climbing surprisingly greasy and not well protected (it was a 50'
pitch or shorter and I placed one offset nut, (2) 3, and (1) 4 camalots.
My right hand even slipped off the hand traverse but thankfully my left
foot and left hand were able to keep me from falling off. I finished at
a block slung by tat on a ledge and brought Erin C. up. Pitch two was
the 5.8+ chimney pitch. The crux was getting into the chimney by
laybacking a triangle shaped off-width block. After realizing I was
still too big to squeeze through the block into the chimney, I placed a
red Metolius master cam about seven feet up from the belay ledge just
right of the flake in a crack and then a small blue Alien cam a foot
above it. Heel hooking to get myself on top of the sloping slippery
flake I grasped at the inside of the chimney trying to find a way to
transition into it. In the middle I tucked my feet under my hips almost
straddling the flake. I stood up on the flake. There was no pro at my
head height and at this point the alien was at my feet. My vision
started started to focus on a smaller and smaller span of rock in front
of me while my mind screamed, 'no fall zone! jump into the chimney!'
Grasping at a small sloper on the right side of the chimney I attempted
to make the move but the next thing I know, I'm riding the triangle
flake down, desperately squeezing the flake with my legs on both sides
to slow down the fall before I toppled backwards off it as it sharply
ended. I probably hit another section of the flake and almost came down
on Erin. Her belay stopped me as the alien held my hips less than a foot
off the ledge. If climbing has slapstick, this was a hilariously
awkward and strange fall. Rattled and feeling urgency as a group of
seven French climbers started up the first pitch behind us, Erin took
over the lead. After it was my turn to climb I told Erin, "I think my
left foot is f*ed up," She asked if I wanted to bail, I told her I would
continue climbing and see how I felt. The climbing felt fine, maybe it
was adrenaline, endorphins or both but my foot felt okay, not 100% but
not pained by climbing. Erin finished the rest of the pitches of Jah Man
(5.8+, 5.10c, 5.10, 5.10). I followed. We finished with lunch on the
ledge with the French climbers who's party we ended up in the middle of,
rapped on their ropes and hiked back the less than 2 miles to the car,
did a wine tasting and ended up back at the condo at 4:15 pm, to watch
the sunset from the windows. We might have to do the climb again as
neither of us had a chance to slap each other with high-fives between
pitches exclaiming, "Jah Man!"
Post Doctor's Visit Analysis: I have a sprain in my left
foot and a cyst in the joint cartilage. I'm scheduled for an MRI as an x-ray doesn't show fractures in the smaller bones. I can walk but at 80% of
the pace I do now, boots are uncomfortable, and I have constant but diminishing pain. I
can climb top rope, but I can't run or jog (or dance in heels - found that out by Saturday morning!). Hiking seems to be
okay. I was also tested for a concussion. I don't remember hitting my
head or back or neck and I was wearing a helmet, but 28 hours after the incident, I had a headache
at the base of my skull and tight shoulders and neck. Given my lack of
focus the following day, the doctors believe I had some sort of mild or
less severe concussion. I'm still processing the fall, but I think a few
factors played into it 1) having my confidence shook by my near fall on
the first pitch 2) being overconfident because the last two days we had
been on harder graded climbs at Indian Creek 3) fatigue from climbing
harder routes the previous two days 4) instead of being focused on where
I was with my feet on the slippery rock, fixated on getting into the
chimney (a lapse of attention at the moment). At this point the only
thing I can think of doing differently is being more aware of where I
was standing and making sure I was comfortable on my feet and taking a
good look around. When I TR'd the pitch, it was smooth and not nearly as
difficult as I had made it out to be on lead (easier said on top rope
as always!). Perhaps taking a rest day before climbing the route after
two hard days of climbing might have been wiser too.
