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That is how I would describe my day.
It started fine with a congratulations breakfast for our new VP of sales and a couple meetings this morning. Then around noon I headed out to meet Scott to go climbing at Farm Cliff. The hike in is about 30 minutes (nominally), but took longer with the snow on the ground.
Farm Cliff, when you get there, is a nice piece of rock. There were some newly bolted routes, not named/graded yet as far as I know, but they didn't look TOO bad from the ground. So, I decided to try and lead one of them. I cheat-clipped the first bolt, then made another 5 clips (I think) and was about 2/3 of the way to the next one when I fell. Swung out, back in, and banged my left foot into the wall, to some sudden bright pain. I was just in reach of a bolt & clip two down from the last one I clipped -- they were probably around 2x my height apart, so figure about 2.6 * 2 * 1.8m = 9m or so total fall, though some of the was probably deceleration zone. (Might have been less, I'd have to go and measure how far apart the clips actually were. No less than 5 1/2 m, though. So, 18-29 feet for the USAns.)
After breathing for a minute or so, I test-moved my left foot. Nope, nice bright pain.
Had my partner lower me off, retrieving the quick-draws below me, and tried standing on the foot -- nope. I put my hiking boots back on, and cinched my left one down as absolutely tight as I could. (Figuring to use it as a sort of cast/splint/support.) Then belayed Scott so he could recover the two other quick-draws by leaving a biner at the top clip I made it too.
Then he headed out with one pack, leaving me to finish packing up my pack, which he would do on a 2nd run with me. After finishing the packing, I figured I'd be really slow and needed to get started on the slog out. I found a couple sticks to use as hiking poles/crutches and essentially hopped my way out, up and down steepish terrain, with snow, etc. After about 3 hours of this, I was really exhausted, but almost there -- but managed to get a lift from a local farmer in his 4WD pickup for the last few hundred meters. That trip out -- gruelling. I am so glad I had an old pair of cycling gloves with me -- without them, my palms would be trashed. (The gloves are, now, trashed.)
I drove back, using the clutch as little as possible, to where Scott had left his car, then took myself off to the Civic hospital. Emergency was, luckily, mostly empty. Was triaged quickly, and sent for X-rays fairly quickly. Waited a while, then a quick evaluation, then more waiting, then another doctor. Definitely a sprain, but there might be something on the X-rays -- need more. Back to Radiology, more X-rays (about 6 or 7 more, in addition to the initial 3), more waiting. Verdict: bad sprain, and hairline fracture in my ankle.
And, I no longer had my boot on. Also, I was not supposed to put any stress on the ankle, as the fracture might shift. (I'm to go back for a follow-up Monday morning.) So, I called gabriel_le to come rescue me, and she did. (Thanks to scubajim and pezchica for allowing her to borrow the car.)
The weather, though, was beautiful.
It started fine with a congratulations breakfast for our new VP of sales and a couple meetings this morning. Then around noon I headed out to meet Scott to go climbing at Farm Cliff. The hike in is about 30 minutes (nominally), but took longer with the snow on the ground.
Farm Cliff, when you get there, is a nice piece of rock. There were some newly bolted routes, not named/graded yet as far as I know, but they didn't look TOO bad from the ground. So, I decided to try and lead one of them. I cheat-clipped the first bolt, then made another 5 clips (I think) and was about 2/3 of the way to the next one when I fell. Swung out, back in, and banged my left foot into the wall, to some sudden bright pain. I was just in reach of a bolt & clip two down from the last one I clipped -- they were probably around 2x my height apart, so figure about 2.6 * 2 * 1.8m = 9m or so total fall, though some of the was probably deceleration zone. (Might have been less, I'd have to go and measure how far apart the clips actually were. No less than 5 1/2 m, though. So, 18-29 feet for the USAns.)
After breathing for a minute or so, I test-moved my left foot. Nope, nice bright pain.
Had my partner lower me off, retrieving the quick-draws below me, and tried standing on the foot -- nope. I put my hiking boots back on, and cinched my left one down as absolutely tight as I could. (Figuring to use it as a sort of cast/splint/support.) Then belayed Scott so he could recover the two other quick-draws by leaving a biner at the top clip I made it too.
Then he headed out with one pack, leaving me to finish packing up my pack, which he would do on a 2nd run with me. After finishing the packing, I figured I'd be really slow and needed to get started on the slog out. I found a couple sticks to use as hiking poles/crutches and essentially hopped my way out, up and down steepish terrain, with snow, etc. After about 3 hours of this, I was really exhausted, but almost there -- but managed to get a lift from a local farmer in his 4WD pickup for the last few hundred meters. That trip out -- gruelling. I am so glad I had an old pair of cycling gloves with me -- without them, my palms would be trashed. (The gloves are, now, trashed.)
I drove back, using the clutch as little as possible, to where Scott had left his car, then took myself off to the Civic hospital. Emergency was, luckily, mostly empty. Was triaged quickly, and sent for X-rays fairly quickly. Waited a while, then a quick evaluation, then more waiting, then another doctor. Definitely a sprain, but there might be something on the X-rays -- need more. Back to Radiology, more X-rays (about 6 or 7 more, in addition to the initial 3), more waiting. Verdict: bad sprain, and hairline fracture in my ankle.
And, I no longer had my boot on. Also, I was not supposed to put any stress on the ankle, as the fracture might shift. (I'm to go back for a follow-up Monday morning.) So, I called gabriel_le to come rescue me, and she did. (Thanks to scubajim and pezchica for allowing her to borrow the car.)
The weather, though, was beautiful.
