I'm sure plenty of you have had accidents or near misses, whether they be falls, epics due to bad conditions or navigational errors or maybe underestimating a route beforehand, getting there and doing it anyway. Time to share some stories!

Seven and a half weeks ago I fell about 15m and broke 4 bones in my back and my right ankle. Luckily I'm going to be OK, had my leg cast off after 6 weeks and can just about walk around slowly now and although my back gives me a bit of trouble now and then, it's getting pretty much back to normal. I'm aware that I'm incredibly lucky and falling differently could have easily ended in paralysis or death.

This was a classic case of underestimation. I was out for a big day of scrambling and climbing all over the Ogwen Valley, Snowdonia in B3 boots practising for The Alps. After climbing the Idawl Slabs, which is a high (140-150m) but slabby and easy climb we were going to take on the Cneifion Arete, which has a short (anywhere between 10 and 20m depending on where you start) easy pitch onto an exposed scrambly ridge.

I was leading the pitch and before I knew it was a few moves from the top. It was at this point I realised I'd shot up the thing without putting any gear in. I fumbled at the gear on my harness, and then the stupid thought of "I'm only a move or two from the top, may as well just go for it" went through my head. On the next move, my foot slipped and I was falling backwards. I was 'lucky' enough to hit some spikes on the way down, which may have slowed me, and the last one turned me over onto my side so I didn't fall the entire way onto my back. It felt more like 3 falls of 5m really. I knew straight away I'd broken my ankle, and was pretty sure I'd broken my back. I am very thankful to the amazing response of the RAF helicopter which air-lifted me to hospital and the Ogwen Vally Mountain Rescue who made it up from the valley floor on foot in no time.

Falling (especially falling backwards) is something I never want to feel again. Although I haven't particularly missed climbing, and I've managed to obtain a bad fear of heights, now I'm more mobile I am looking forward to getting out again. I'm not going to rush back into climbing, which I'm going to take an indefinite break from before I sort my head out, but will get back out into the mountains walking and scrambling as soon as I can.

Obviously this whole thing is my own stupid fault. I shouldn't have got that high without placing gear, and once I'd realised how high I was, I certainly shouldn't have continued without placing gear. I've always considered myself a safe climber, and I think I broke my own set of rules that day, which annoys me more than fall. I've definitely paid the price though! The 2009 summer was non-existant due to injuries and so was the 2010. The Alps trip I was practicing for I obviously missed. Life is a series of lessons, and I think you have to take as much as you can from those lessons. I've learnt a hard one here, but will definitely learn from it.

Anyway, this is the first i've really talked about it to anyone except my climbing partner so it's good to get some thoughts off my chest. I hope some more of you have some stories to share

Bloody Hell Jack! That sounds horrible! Hope you get well soon mate.

Tried an easy winter ascent in the Pyrenees last January. The regular path of narrow switchbacks up a steep slope was hidden under the snow. We ended up going straight up the 60 deg or so slope. One to two feet of soft snow over loose rock. I still had snowshoes on for the first half. Switched to crampons after 200 ft. The top was in the sun, and had softened a lot. I rolled a microwave size boulder and fell with it about 15 feet to the next ledge. Landed crampons on rock with a full pack on my back. Broke my ankle.

Also went climbing with a friend I hadn't climbed outside with before. He belayed me on a top rope I set up, and at the top I called "take" and sat back. At first I thought I was going awfully fast, and then suddenly I was zipping down the face. To his credit, the guy grabbed the brake strand and I stopped pretty abruptly about 15 feet off the ground. On the way down, a large retaining bolt caught my shirt and slashed my back and I got a pretty big bruise from hitting the wall when I stopped, but mostly I was shaken up mentally.

My belayer's hands were pretty badly burned. When I asked what had happened. He said he thought "take" meant I had topped out and was taking the rope up with me, so he had fed out a lot of slack and then lost the rope as it went tight. On the climb before this, I had pulled up the rope and moved the anchors. It never occurred to me to make sure everyone was on the same page with climbing commands. I had seen him climb in the gym, and knew he had took about 10 sessions of a club's rock climbing course (Mechanics and safety, not a technique course) in the last year.

Jack lucky man!
On 1st August I was climbing in the Wilder Kaiser. Pitch 11 of 14, easy stuff now (the rest was not difficult bits of IV and more III with scrambly bits). Moved away from the belay about 3m up, pulled up on a blog, it broke away taking me with it. Fell about 6 or 7 meters, broke right ankle, right collar bone and sprained left ankle. Also very lucky, my helmet took one good bang too. Got choppered off to hosy. Now Hobbeling round with a big plastic boot on my right foot, splints on my left and a very uncomfortable shoulder bandage thing.
Yes luck plays a big part in such things!
Get well soon!

Charles

DanTheMan wrote:Also went climbing with a friend I hadn't climbed outside with before. He belayed me on a top rope I set up, and at the top I called "take" and sat back. At first I thought I was going awfully fast, and then suddenly I was zipping down the face. To his credit, the guy grabbed the brake strand and I stopped pretty abruptly about 15 feet off the ground. On the way down, a large retaining bolt caught my shirt and slashed my back and I got a pretty big bruise from hitting the wall when I stopped, but mostly I was shaken up mentally.

My belayer's hands were pretty badly burned. When I asked what had happened. He said he thought "take" meant I had topped out and was taking the rope up with me, so he had fed out a lot of slack and then lost the rope as it went tight.

Wow, that takes the cake... glad things didn't turn out worse- usually when you read about things like that the endings are way worse. Lucky man.

Jack, when did your accident happen? Glad you're on the road to recovery. I would definitely agree that the mental aspect will likely be harder to overcome & take longer than the physical aspect. Also, while you're recovering, the funny thing is you have all this time to think about what happened... It's normal to be gun-shy for awhile when returning to the activity where you got thrown off. Time, persistance, & an awareness of the process & recovery will get you back on the saddle.

Aside from normal falls with no noteworthy consequences, it's been awhile since I've had a bad accident (knock on wood). Here's one that shook me up for awhile when/after it happened: http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/2 ... -Peak.html

Perhaps the most important thing I took away from that climb/accident was to anticipate loose rock on not-oft-climbed routes (& that when placed correctly, modern climbing pro' is amazingly good at doing what it's designed to do!).

Good luck with your recovery, Jack. Keep at it & keep your eye on the prize (being back on the sharp end again).