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