So this weekend a few pals and myself visited a town in southern Utah known as St George. We ended up at Dixie Rock [ a famous rock outcropping in the area] and continued to boulder, jump, and just being idiots and indulging in being out on a nice weekend.
I found a nice looking wall to climb and decided to SOLO this rock. Basically to climb it with no safety precautions and no climbing gear. Really, really, really stupid. I make it up 30 or so of the 35 foot wall and I'm on the last large ledge. It is a fairly easy climb and at this point i could have walked up the remaining distance.
I was about to climb over the last few feet when the ledge I was standing on, broke. Leaving only gravity and the 30 some on feet below me to affect my grimly lit future.
I hit the ground and rolled. Right onto rock. The rock was slightly titled. But still rock. I laid in pain as my two buddies pondered what we should do. For a split second I thought I was okay. However upon attempting to stand I heard "crunching" and "popping" in my left ankle and I decided to retire back to the ground.
My buddies managed to carry me down the few hundred hards to the road. However in a few spots I had to crawl, avoiding at my best, any contact with my legs to the ground.
Upon arrival to the hospital I was told I likely had two broken ankles but they needed to cut off my nike dunks for the appropriate x rays. I knew that I had broken something in both and I was shaking so bad they had to tie my legs to down. These were brand new nike dunks and there was no way I was going to let them cut off my new high top dunks. So I untied my shoes.
Normally untying shoes would be considered a simple, even mundane task. However when you [as later determined by the x rays] broke your left ankle, 3 bones in your right ankle, and disconnected a few bones in both, you start to realize this isn't an easy task.
I was thrust into surgery that same night. Around midnight. I was under for 4 hours as the doctor sorted out and straightened my feet. Turns out it needed 2 screws and a pin to fix the problem.
The surgeon said he had seen lots of these types of falls and most ended with cracked femur, hip, and back bones. I told him it may have been my skiing that allowed me to know how to land. Haha
I guess I'll be on film / edit duty for a while now, eh?
SPARK NOTES
* Don't solo climb.
* Fell 30 feet to rock
* Let the nurses cut off your nike dunks. It doesn't matter how much you like them. Let them do it.
* Make sure you are surrounded by good pals who will help you out in a bad situation.
Special thanks to my parents for driving the 5 hours to come be with me for surgery. For my friends for hanging out with me and helping me through the ordeal. And for modern medicine. I am truly thankful for all these things. Oh and my twin sister who has been helping me since.
Also no disrespect to Tanner Hall with the post title. Just thought it was fitting.
