Well, the verdict is in and I seem to be a wee bit injured. I had spent a few days working on Learning to Fly. It's pretty hard for me, because it's gray BD's, which means my fingers go all the way in and I end up trying to do a pseudo ring-lock. In addition, the route is steep, short, and powerful -- not my style -- and I found myself needing to basically campus on these weird ring-locks. (The feet on cracks this thin, especially in the desert, are pretty slim to none).
Anyway, I was feeling really strong in the campus department and felt like I was really close to sending. I was pretty excited about this fact, because the route is the antithesis of my style.
Well, while I was down in IC camping, we had a couple of days of rainy weather. On the second day, it stormed in the morning, but then got absolutely beautiful. I started getting anxious about getting something done, but my climbing partner counseled me against it, saying that it wasn't wise to climb on damp sandstone -- for obvious reasons. I am, however, nothing if not obstinate, so at about 4pm, up I went to the wall, determined to send my 'proj.'
Not so much. The inside of the crack was so sandy it was turning my tape orange, and we had no brush with which to fix said problem. Nonetheless, however, I threw myself at the route time and time again, blowing off unexpectantly in the middle of the crux over and over, until finally the sun was setting and I was forced to call it a day.
The next day I woke to extreme soreness, particularly in the knuckle of my left pointer finger. The side of the knuckle was quite swollen and very tender. To make a long story short, I took a couple days rest to let it heal, but it didn't really get any better. I seem to have strained the lateral tendon in my pointer finger but good. Thankfully, I didn't tear it, so a week or two off and I should be right as rain. Hopefully, the next time around patience and rationale will prevail...
Oh, but I certainly have 'learned how to fly.'
The Verdict
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Posted by katie on 4/7/2008 on katie's blog |
6 comments
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woodchuck07 says:
Ouch! Blown fingers are no fun at all. Tape 2 fingers together IF you must climb in the near future before it fully heals. That usually works to some degree. When my knuckle blew out years ago, in a big empty echoing indoor wall in a barn, it sounded like a shotgun went off. That was freaky for sure. Injuries....how we tend to accumulate them at the worst times, just when about to do something great!!
captain static says:
Take care of yourself Katie! Eric Horst's Training for Climbing website has some good stuff about finger injuries you might want to read: http://www.nicros.com/archive/A2_pulley_injury.cfm I tweaked my elbow in January bouldering and ended up taking six weeks off. Suprisingly when I started back I seemed to have lost little power. I'm a little behind on the endurance curve that I would like to be prior to the spring season but fortunately spring has been slow to come to Red River Gorge this year. _____________________________________________________________________ Support the Red River Gorge Climbers' Coalition. Join the RRGCC's growing group of friends on MySpace.
JR says:
JR verdict: injury sux, i wish u well.
captain static says:
Here is a lesson on pushing it too much when you get a seemingly minor injury. My friend Mike was at Hueco in December and heard something pop in his upper arm. He had some swelling and pain so took a few rest days figuring he'd be OK. After resting he felt OK and wanted to pull down hard on the last day of his trip. Well he was doing just that when he heard a loud pop in his upper arm. The verdict, he had initially torn the tendon that attaches the bicep to the bone then on that last day had completely severed the tendon. He had arthroscopic surgery the day after X-mas and yesterday was his first day back climbing after three month of physical therapy.
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Support the Red River Gorge Climbers' Coalition.
Join the RRGCC's growing group of friends on MySpace.
jimjuliem says:
Good luck with your injury. Hope you get well soon. Did anyone suggest RICE?
Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. (Elevation means elevating the limb above the heart, not like gaining altitude on a climb! Ha! Ha!. JM
jimjuliem says:
A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice.
A quote from----Ed Howe American journalist (or to a woman, we should add nowadays).
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