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10b4me
Boulder climber
member since 2002
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FALL ON PLASTIC - DRIVEN INDOORS BY INCLEMENT WEATHER - NO HARD HAT
Hahaha!
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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largo is one of our most astute investigators of climbing accidents, and i'm eagerly awaiting his analysis of what happened. i know he's kinda encumbered by that body cast, but i'm sure he can type with his nose. meanwhile i'm rifling through JL climbing books, looking for the chapter on rugosities.
rockreation is one dangerous place. my worse climbing injury occured there while putting on my moccasims. i'm not joking about that. those shoes have a "slingshot" heel, i was eager to get started climbing that day, and as i carelessly pulled on the heel, the elastic somehow snapped the index and middle fingers of my right hand sideways. i didn't think much of it until i got on a climb which involved underclinging, and the knuckle joints of those fingers bent over the wrong way. whooooa! the (kaiser) doc said that reattachment surgery was not recommended for such "minor" injuries, so now i get to look at two bent fingers for the rest of my life.
largo has been telling people he stopped climbing three years ago. he'll never stop, and neither will i. looking forward to seeing him out there again sometime soon, as i did at rockreation just a couple weeks ago. he's always an inspiration.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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What hospital and how long is the stay?...thanks...
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Grampa
climber
from SoCal
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Wishing you a speedy and full recovery. Al
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steve shea
climber
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John, just saw this. Heal fast. At the age of 65, I trenched while exceeding the given velocity at my local ski area, JH. The skis stopped immediately and I kept going at about 30 deg off center. Alpine bindings do not release well in that attitude but bones do. I broke the tibia in three places and the fibula in two. Sort of lower leg puree. Pretty messy. One surgery and six months non weight bearing with a year of rehab did the trick. Other than looking at my leg, I would not know it happened. I'd say 95% healed. I went into the long, bad bivy mode. You will crush it. All the best, SS
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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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I'm loopy but one thing is clear - there's a lot of love in the climbingg world, and I must be getting the bulk of it over the last few days. I am embarrassed to have raised others on this site only to have them wish me good cheer. Thanks to all, from the bottom of my heart. You are my heros.
Sincerely,
John Long
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Happy to see John post. Take care.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Yes, consciousness is always a good sign!
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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When I was 14, I was bouldering Pratt's Overhang on Flagstaff, and
it was dark. My spotter Larry Dalke saw me stand up onto that
highest hold and give a sigh where I knew I had made it. He
walked away, and the next thing I knew the moon was spinning around,
and I was lying flat on my back and gazing up at the stars.
That's a horrid feeling. I couldn't breathe. I wanted to
say, "Nice catch," but could only make some sort of gasping grunt.
He pushed on my chest, some totally untrained instinctual attempt
at artificial respiration, and then I got my air back, stood up,
and we started laughing. The next day, I woke up and couldn't move
my right wrist. I cracked a bone in it. They put it in a cast and
said not to climb for four weeks or more. The next day I was
in Eldorado hammering pitons with my left hand. We're pretty
resilient when we're young. An ankle is another matter, if you can't
walk. But I can imagine an overhang John could play on, with only
a wild swing in his harness, out in space... Not to climb for a few
weeks is no big deal, though, when you've done as much as John
has. People sometimes ask me why I'm not always out there on the
rock, or some such. They don't realize that decades ago I did
every climb I ever wanted to twice over. Just to walk below
the walls now is a great pleasure, to look up and remember.
We have our nostalgia. It's almost silly, though, to
say "Heal up fast, John," when we know his spirit. That's just a
given. Not much is going to slow the man down for very long. I will say,
though, that climbers have more accidents in "safe" places than in
situations of real seriousness. Huntley Ingalls stepped out the
door of the Sink one night and broke his ankle. Jim Erickson
recently broke his ankle doing something silly. Was it John Glenn
who was first to orbit the earth and then seriously hurt his
back in a fall in the bathtub?
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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This thread is useless without photos. Some portraits of the climber as a young man.
The "slanting rugosity" reference above is from John's classic story about soloing with Bachar, "The Only Blasphemy." John has published a number of versions over the years and my paraphrase of it above was from the first version in Ken Wilson's anthology, Mirrors in the Cliffs. Got this quote from a later version on the web.
He wastes no time, and scores of milling climbers freeze when he starts. He moves precisely, plugging his fingertips into shallow pockets on the 105-degree wall. I scrutinize his moves, taking mental notes on the sequence. He pauses at 50 feet, directly beneath the crux bulge. Splaying his left foot onto a slanting rugosity, he pinches a tiny rock wafer and pulls through to a gigantic bucket hold. He walks up the last 100 feet, which is only dead vertical. From the summit, Bacher flashes down a smile, awaiting my reply.
... Fifty feet passes quickly. Then, as I splay my left foot up onto the slanting rugosity, the chilling realization comes that, in my haste, I have bungled the sequence, that my hands are too low on that puny wafer that I'm pinching with waning power. My foot is vibrating and I'm desperate, wondering if and when my body will seize and plummet. A montage of black images floods my brain.
Whenever anyone tells me about wanting to solo a climb, I tell them to read this story first. It should be mandatory for any soloist or would be soloist.
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bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
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Jesus you Stonemasters were something else. Thanks for showing those of us who showed up a couple years later the method and the madness.
Oh yeah, heal up John. Speaking as one who has been busted to pieces numerous times over the last 40 years, modern medicine is the ticket! You'll be crushing in no time.
PS: If you decide you don't want your pain meds, PM me. Just sayin'.
EDIT: That Roubidoux shot is the sh#t. Great man airing it out on a great problem.
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Capt.
climber
some eastside hovel
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Good to hear from you John.Best wishes for a quick and proper healing.Positivity is about the most important part of healing so I'm sure you'll be up and at again soon enough.Positive vibes comin' from this direction.
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Cole
Trad climber
los angeles
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So sorry to hear this. Like Coz though, I'm very glad it wasn't something more catastrophic.
Pulled this book out this morning and read a story, boy I wish I could write like that! Heal up soon.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Glad you liked the Rubidoux shot, Riley and BVB. Can you imagine doing that thing in red PAs?
Someone in a different thread was talking about how precise you had to be to edge with them; if you didn't place them exactly, the hard rubber would skate off in a nanosecond. Even thinking about rocking onto that big hold at the top with those red skates on your feet gives me the willies.
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10b4me
Boulder climber
u.s. 395
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Cosmic, yer KILLING me over here dude!!!...
I agree, that pic is funnier than hell
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rbolton
Social climber
The home for...
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"Ho, man...We didn't have NOTHIN' like this in Borneo!"
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luggi
Trad climber
from the backseat of Jake& Elwood Blues car
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John...I hope you heal quickly and do help that along I attached videos that answer questions that I know you have been wondering about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AKvRvL5r3A
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Flanders!
Trad climber
June Lake, CA
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John, it is clear that MANY folks car for you and wishing you will. This bumps in the road of our lives, let us know just how many people admire you.
All the best to you and family as you mend.
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