On Sunday Abi and I (Hayden) went to tackle “Wake of the Flood” a rad trad climb on the lower cliffline at Medlow Bath. After leading pitch one I rested on the belay ledge, and then started up pitch two with the intention of linking them. I quickly ran into difficulties because the crack was very thin hands for me, I was struggling to find jams or fit my hand in past my thumb in some sections.
I had a #1 cam in around head height that was getting in the way of trying to find some jams. I sussed out the (bomber) 0.75 cam that wasn’t too far below it, and removed the #1 clipping it to a shoulder sling so I could put it in quickly later.
I knew the gear was good and with Abi’s encouragement that “you got this” (I was thinking the opposite), it was time to retreat upwards and go for it. I manage a few moves up and get an average thumbs down jam with some okayish feet (read crappy). Feeling quite desperate I plug in the #1 cam. Unfortunately I can feel myself peeling off and also realise that the cam is still attached to my shoulder sling. An unfamiliar situation, I was scared about what would happen if I fell while the cam was still attached to the sling, and went to grab the cam.
Poof, down I go, I feel the shoulder sling tension. *CLICK* the piercing sound as a carabiner gate opens and snaps shut, it’s quite visceral, especially while falling. Abi’s belay comes in catching me, probs about a 6m fall.
Looking up I see that the 0.75 caught me, and thankfully the carabiner that opened was on the #1 cam. I guess the sling wrapped around the gate and opened it. I also realise that my shin reallllly hurts and is bleeding. After a minute or two it settles down, just banged up on the small ledge with a minor gash as a parting gift.
I pull up to the ledge to build a belay so Abi can rescue me from my predicament, ie. cruise up the crack with his jamming prowess, freshly enhanced from his recent trip to Liming, China. While seconding the second pitch I also notice that my middle finger hurts when using the trigger on cams. At the pitch two belay it’s obvious the finger is a bit swollen and bruised, so on the final pitch I just aid on Abi's gear in the thin finger crack.
End result is an average story, three stitches in my shin and a tiny fracture at the end of my finger. But more importantly some key takeaways:
- Don’t grab for bolts/quickdraws/cams if you fall, the various injuries that can follow are well documented and nasty. Thankfully mine is quite minor and should be good in 3-4 weeks.
- Always unclip gear before placing it. I could've fallen onto my static shoulder sling, luckily it unclipped from the cam. A few months later we tried just hanging on a sling by your shoulder and it really hurts, so falling might've resulted in some much more serious injuries.
- The gate opening is a healthy reminder to not backclip, that sound would suck a lot more if it was your rope unclipping.
- Knowing when to retreat or assess fall potential. Because we were climbing with stretchy double ropes on a relatively wandery route, I was always going to fall a fair way. With a small ledge below I maybe should’ve reconsidered moving up since I was struggling to find jams. Having a belay on the ledge to reduce the slack in the system might’ve prevented my shin kissing the ledge. Hard balance though, sometimes you just have to go for things.
- Getting spanked on a climb really shows you what you need to improve on 🙂