in your recovery. If the finger doesn't work out, it may be better to lose it. Think of what Tommy Caldwell has done with 9. This kind of incident is sobering, but I think if you are fated to climb, you will. Try not to agonize over it.
The most important thing to do is learn from your mistakes. That is the best thing you can take away from this ordeal.
My first accident I just happened to be wearing a helmet and it saved my life. I would not consider climbing anything without one. Even if it's just a hiking trail I usually bring one just in case. The rest of your body will take a pretty hard hit without any significant damage but your head will not.
Routefinding, if it doesn't look right consider back tracking. Many times the guidebooks have incorrect info, don't rely on them. The nickname among the locals for the Canada Alpine Selected guide is "The Book of Lies". If you have time check with the climbing ranger in Banff beforehand, they can give you the correct info.
As you are going up always look back periodically. You would have seen the choice of ridges that you couldn't figure out on the way down. This happened to me on Edith Cavell. I didn't look back enough and missed where the ridge split off in two. On the way back I realized that I didn't check going up and ended going down the wrong one and having to do a scary back track.
I classify all my injuries into two categories, permanent and non permanent. Permanent are the only ones that should concern you. Just guessing but I think the back injuries are the only ones that are semi-permanent. As time passes you will learn to deal with even the permanent. The collarbone is non permanent. The pinky may be permanent but it's of little consequence compared to a fore finger or thumb. My left thumb is permanently damaged but it becomes normal in perspective with time.
Neurological (nerve) injury takes the longest to heal and that includes brain injury. The best thing to do is try to eat healthy and maybe look at something like Ginkgo to improve circulation. Green stuff is good to, like spinach (raw) and spirulina (think the green drink from Odwalla). There's 3 types of foods. Damaging, neutral and healing. You need healing foods right now.
Also you should get back to exercising as soon as possible. The sooner you get moving the better you will feel.
The objective hazard of rockfall is the worst thing you face in the local alpine, except for maybe lightning, and that's easier to avoid. A strategy to deal with loose rock is difficult and route dependent. At some point on some routes you may want to treat all halfway suspicious rock like it could be on a hair trigger. In other words you don't even breathe on it if you or anyone are below.
First, I'm glad you made it out alive and are whole, relatively speaking.
Second, I had to laugh when I read this:
"I quickly changed out of my favorite hiking shirt because I knew the hospital would cut it up."
It told me your spirit wasn't broken! It reminded me of a time when I was a kid and I was tossing a football with some neighborhood dads. One of them tripped over a curb and ended up breaking his ankle while going for the ball, but he caught it. As he lay there in pain with us all standing over them, he said,"At least tell them I caught it."
These things put life in perspective. I've never had an accident like yours but have had close calls, and they always make me evaluate why I do this and if I should stop or tone it down.
Just today, I watched my son take a fall while climbing. The fall was likely due to a mistake I made with setting his gear. Only the backup system I set kept me from having to call my wife and tell her that I had gotten our son killed. Still, I had to watch him fall right past me (we were climbing side-by-side) for about 15' before that backup knot arrested him.
He was understandably scared and didn't want to keep climbing, but descending would have been very difficult. I was able to get over to him and fix his gear, and then he got his nerve back and finished the climb. Later, he did it again.
It's understandable that right now you are thinking you should climb less. But climbing is in your very being. When you are back in climbing condition, I hope you climb as often as your body allows you to. And I think you will. True climbers, no matter their experience or ability, know that they have to climb, not that they simply want to or like to. Non-climbers don't get that. But I think you do.
Kudos to Adam for keeping a level head and getting you out. And he shouldn't beat himself up over knocking that rock loose. In some terrain, it's virtually impossible not to set it rolling. It would be easy to say he shouldn't have moved an inch until you were free and clear, but it's not always that simple when you're actually there. He showed his mettle in getting you out.
P.S. There is a guidebook on the Canadian Rockies that Dow once told me is called "The Book of Lies" for its bad beta. I wonder if that's the one you guys had.
P.P.S. The 9 is for all the big grammatical mistakes. I'm still a teacher. 10 for the story and the pictures. ;-)
KeithN - Nov 6, 2014 8:27 am - Hasn't voted
Good luckin your recovery. If the finger doesn't work out, it may be better to lose it. Think of what Tommy Caldwell has done with 9. This kind of incident is sobering, but I think if you are fated to climb, you will. Try not to agonize over it.
MariaH - Nov 6, 2014 8:33 pm - Voted 10/10
Scary!Get well soon! :-)
Buckaroo - Nov 9, 2014 1:14 am - Hasn't voted
Glad You're Still AliveThe most important thing to do is learn from your mistakes. That is the best thing you can take away from this ordeal.
My first accident I just happened to be wearing a helmet and it saved my life. I would not consider climbing anything without one. Even if it's just a hiking trail I usually bring one just in case. The rest of your body will take a pretty hard hit without any significant damage but your head will not.
Routefinding, if it doesn't look right consider back tracking. Many times the guidebooks have incorrect info, don't rely on them. The nickname among the locals for the Canada Alpine Selected guide is "The Book of Lies". If you have time check with the climbing ranger in Banff beforehand, they can give you the correct info.
As you are going up always look back periodically. You would have seen the choice of ridges that you couldn't figure out on the way down. This happened to me on Edith Cavell. I didn't look back enough and missed where the ridge split off in two. On the way back I realized that I didn't check going up and ended going down the wrong one and having to do a scary back track.
I classify all my injuries into two categories, permanent and non permanent. Permanent are the only ones that should concern you. Just guessing but I think the back injuries are the only ones that are semi-permanent. As time passes you will learn to deal with even the permanent. The collarbone is non permanent. The pinky may be permanent but it's of little consequence compared to a fore finger or thumb. My left thumb is permanently damaged but it becomes normal in perspective with time.
Neurological (nerve) injury takes the longest to heal and that includes brain injury. The best thing to do is try to eat healthy and maybe look at something like Ginkgo to improve circulation. Green stuff is good to, like spinach (raw) and spirulina (think the green drink from Odwalla). There's 3 types of foods. Damaging, neutral and healing. You need healing foods right now.
Also you should get back to exercising as soon as possible. The sooner you get moving the better you will feel.
The objective hazard of rockfall is the worst thing you face in the local alpine, except for maybe lightning, and that's easier to avoid. A strategy to deal with loose rock is difficult and route dependent. At some point on some routes you may want to treat all halfway suspicious rock like it could be on a hair trigger. In other words you don't even breathe on it if you or anyone are below.
Bob Sihler - Nov 9, 2014 9:34 pm - Voted 9/10
Josh...First, I'm glad you made it out alive and are whole, relatively speaking.
Second, I had to laugh when I read this:
"I quickly changed out of my favorite hiking shirt because I knew the hospital would cut it up."
It told me your spirit wasn't broken! It reminded me of a time when I was a kid and I was tossing a football with some neighborhood dads. One of them tripped over a curb and ended up breaking his ankle while going for the ball, but he caught it. As he lay there in pain with us all standing over them, he said,"At least tell them I caught it."
These things put life in perspective. I've never had an accident like yours but have had close calls, and they always make me evaluate why I do this and if I should stop or tone it down.
Just today, I watched my son take a fall while climbing. The fall was likely due to a mistake I made with setting his gear. Only the backup system I set kept me from having to call my wife and tell her that I had gotten our son killed. Still, I had to watch him fall right past me (we were climbing side-by-side) for about 15' before that backup knot arrested him.
He was understandably scared and didn't want to keep climbing, but descending would have been very difficult. I was able to get over to him and fix his gear, and then he got his nerve back and finished the climb. Later, he did it again.
It's understandable that right now you are thinking you should climb less. But climbing is in your very being. When you are back in climbing condition, I hope you climb as often as your body allows you to. And I think you will. True climbers, no matter their experience or ability, know that they have to climb, not that they simply want to or like to. Non-climbers don't get that. But I think you do.
Kudos to Adam for keeping a level head and getting you out. And he shouldn't beat himself up over knocking that rock loose. In some terrain, it's virtually impossible not to set it rolling. It would be easy to say he shouldn't have moved an inch until you were free and clear, but it's not always that simple when you're actually there. He showed his mettle in getting you out.
P.S. There is a guidebook on the Canadian Rockies that Dow once told me is called "The Book of Lies" for its bad beta. I wonder if that's the one you guys had.
P.P.S. The 9 is for all the big grammatical mistakes. I'm still a teacher. 10 for the story and the pictures. ;-)
mdou - Dec 25, 2014 5:51 pm - Hasn't voted
Crazy StoryThat's really unlucky. I hope you recover completely. Sorry for the bill.
dino61111 - Feb 12, 2016 4:34 pm - Hasn't voted
Good luck with a speedy recovery.That was an amazing story. I trust you are recovering. I hope you can hike normally by this summer. Peace.
Sierra Ledge Rat - Jan 31, 2023 8:32 am - Hasn't voted
No helmet?I don't see a helmet in any of your photos from this trip