Climbing is Inherently Dangerous
We see these words on every piece of climbing gear we buy. After you have been climbing for awhile you kind of become comfortable and forget it until you are on a pitch that really scares the S**T out of you, and then you think “man that was some scary S**T this is a dangerous sport/lifestyle. All we can do to help minimize this danger factor is to climb smart; placing good gear, climb within your ability, have a good knowledge of climbing and rescue. But even with all of this sometimes it becomes dangerous and it gets real again and sometimes you get hurt on the easiest rated climb you’ve ever lead. This is what happened to a buddy of mine this past weekend.
After the weather and avalanche conditions were not cooperating for use to go ski some steep couloirs taking one of my friends Cody climbing outdoors for his first time seemed like a great time. His enthusiasm for going had two other experienced climbers and myself amped to go climb at Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs where it was suppose to be warm. I have been here a few times and find the climbing fun, certainly not the best in Colorado but when the weather is warmer it’s a good place to go. There are some classic routes up really smeary slab and really fun towers that make for fun vertical rappels.
After we got our free climbing permits we found a 5.5 route that we thought would be good for Cody and an easy warmed up. This route was called Silver Spoon and went about half way up an east-sloping slab called Drug Wall. Now I am certainly no expert climber but I have led my fair share of 5.9 and 5.10 routes and found this to be a really hard 5.5 and pretty run out. It could have been that it was early in the morning and so I was not quite awake but I’m not convinced of that yet. After zig- zagging my way up the slab and setting up an anchor for top-rope Cody had a very entertaining climb; then Grant a more experienced climber went up and said that with the mantel move in the middle he though it was harder than a 5.5 but fun.
The last person to go Chris decided that he wanted to lead it himself. Being a rather experienced climber and having lead multiple 5.9’s it did not seem like a problem for him. After making some really good and rather fast moves up to the first and second bolt he approached the more difficult mantel move about 10 feet above his last clip where while making the mantel he slipped and started sliding down the slab. I was the one belaying him and was able to pull in some of slack before he finally stopped. After seeing multiple people take big whippers on leads and having taken a few myself I was not too concerned. He really just slid down the rock, not to belittle his fall because it was about 20 feet and anyone that leads knows any fall is not fun at all. But after hanging there for a little he said “I think I need to come down my ankle looks pretty messed up.” After lowering Chris as he hopped one footed down the rock and helping him get to the ground we saw that his ankle was already really swollen and showing bruising. We quickly called it a day and had one person help Chris to the car while myself and one other cleaned the route and got all the gear to the car.
After a long drive to Denver and then backup to Boulder Chris found out that his ankle had a chip in the bone and possible tendon damage. After having to wait two more days to see a specialist he found out that luckily he had no tendon damage and wouldn’t need surgery. So for the next month or so he will be in a walking cast but hopefully heal up well and after some physical therapy be able to enjoy summer.
After finally seeing someone I was with get hurt in climbing and being the belayer I kept thinking to myself “what went wrong?” But then I just realized sometime these things just happen, it is part of the sport. It could be on the most intense remote Alpine route of your life and the situation could be much more critical, or you could be having a relaxing weekend climb on an easier rated route and simply slip and it could happen to anyone. It is one of those times when you get a reality check that for you just like everyone else climbing is inherently dangerous and you can get hurt. So everyone be careful out there, and Chris glad it wasn’t any worse than it is.
Cheers!
