A Run of Injuries

It's a common refrain that people that are starting to train get injured more often. I'm just starting to train a little more seriously for climbing, I'll try it for a few months and see how far I can get, and I can confirm that injuries have been prevalent - however all of them have been acute, due to blunt force trauma, and with no connection to the training.

The rock and some of the damage caused, it's thicker than it looks from this angle
The first was a few weeks ago I was assisting with the rigging and supervision of a ropes training weekend with ISS at Nowra. I went to the ute to grab a tube of sunscreen from the glovebox, trying to avoid the inevitable sunburn. I put the sunscreen on the roof and reached back in for something else. Due to the angle of the car, I rested my left hand on the door pillar. As I turned to go I must have bumped the door, slamming it onto my hand, pinching the end of the middle finger. I swore a bit, opened the door and grabbed the first aid kit from under the drivers seat.

Handing the first aid kit to dad, I grabbed a bottle of water and sat down in the open hall. While it was bleeding a little, it was pretty minor, just cutting the back of my finger just above the cuticle. Despite the ridiculous levels of pain, and the fact that I felt light-headed off and on for the better part of an hour, the damage wasn't that bad. The nail is a little bruised, and the pad was tender for a day or two, but the bone is ok, and it hasn't stopped me from climbing. I was deep water soloing a few Nowra lines that evening.


The second was this past weekend, climbing at a relatively new area on the Braidwood road near Nowra. Utopia at Hylands Lookout. the climbing is pretty similar to Nowra, but it's a little higher, and stays in the shade all morning, so it seemed like the place to be on a 35+ degree day.
After an early start (the best kind of day) we find our way to the bottom and rack up. Bonnie takes the first lead, an 18 with an interesting, bouldery start, leading to easier moves up top. We stickclip the first bolt, as it is poorly placed to clip, as well as being fairly high.

Bonnie pulls on and makes short work of the first few moves, then starts to traverse right to an arete. It's a reasonable reach out to the jugs on the arete, so she grabs an intermediate in the corner and repositions.
The next thing I know she's in the air, and as I move to brace and lock off I notice that there is a rock coming down as well. Relying solely on instinct I manage to get my left hand up, and take the rock on the knuckle of my thumb.

I quickly check on Bonnie, and lower her to the ground, trying to keep the blood off the gear. My thumb is completely numb, and bleeding considerably. Once I get her on the ground and can let go of the rope I check on my hand. Despite the blood, the cut doesn't look all that big and thankfully it's on the knuckle, so I doubt that anything is broken. We clean it up and the bleeding stops. A half hour later, after some food and water, I poke and prod a bit, and decide that it's not broken, and that provided I don't try to pinch anything, or use the thumb at all it should be ok.

I attempt the gr 20 variant start to the same route, but the crack is less pleasant than expected, and needs me to press my thumb into the crack in places, I fall just before the easy bit, and bail off. For the rest of the day I am a little more selective about the climbs I attempt, limiting myself to face climbs. I make short work of a few 18s, nearly OS a short 22, flash a 21 and work the moves on a 23. Not bad for the first day back on routes in months, and especially with a busted hand.

Despite wearing a helmet, this incident has made me reconsider the use of a blocking belay device, at least on some routes. In this situation I had zero time to react, and while I'm pleased with my response, the potential results of that rock hitting me in the head are sobering.

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