I have to admit, I have been in an intense climbing slump the past few weeks. I was considering taking a long break from climbing to regain my passion and psyche back. My slump began from experiencing a horrific climbing accident. I was belaying a friend who was trad leading. He was climbing a really stout and hard trad route, after placing one piece he felt out the moves… then climbed down. Once he started to weigh his only piece, it shifted and popped out of place. He decked on a ledge high up, passed out, and started falling face first down to the base (without a helmet). By the time I had time to react, I only had enough time to try to grab him by the harness and pull back as hard as I could.
Out of all the places he could land, he landed face first at the edge of a small boulder. He lost consciousness for a few seconds, experienced retro/anteriograde amnesia for 30 mintues. There was blood everywhere. His injuries looked really harsh, he bashed his skull and fractured the left facial bones. My friend is a tropper though, he was super calm and composed the whole time. Still being a jokester in the ambulance, and calm with the trips to two hospitals. I am really thankful there were climbers near by with EMT experience. As horrible as the falling accident was, it played out the best possible way. My buddy is doing great now, he had surgery to get a metal plate in his forehead (pretty cool) with no complications. All his injuries are injuries that can heal with time, and we are all really thankful for that.
That was the first traumatizing experience for climbing for me. Even still at this moment, I know its going to take time for me to get back on ropes.
The 2nd slumpper came with my hyped expected trip to Bishop for spring break. I love Bishop. Its my favourate place to boulder so far. Unfortunately, (as you can read in my previous blog post) I contracted the influenza virus on my trip. All these series of unfortunate climbing events really bummed me out.
The last slump came from misplacing my quickdraw necklace I have been wearing for a while. I took it off to try on another necklace. The next day I was looking for it, it was nowhere to be found.
I am a person who believes in fatalism. Which basically means I believe the subjugation of all events or actions to fate. Maybe all these intense traumatizing/unfortunate events happening so often & so close together means something. I should take a break from climbing for my own sake.
I was still sick and the “What The Crux Competition” is coming up the following weekend. I have been in partner with ThreshHold Gym to set up this event for CCS series competition for my university and climbing club. A few days before the comp day I attempted to climb for the first time in a few weeks. I was flailing on V3s, from the lack of energy due to the flu. After a few attempts at some problems I couldnt handle any more climbing. Once I got home my high fever started to come back. Super bummer. I couldn’t compete in an event ive been planning for since last year.
Yesterday was the comp. The virus in my system subscided, I finally felt like myself. I forgot that I already pre-paid for the comp a while back. I was thinking of competing, when I started to shuffle through my climbing bag I found my quickdraw necklace! From that moment I decided, what the hell… Ill try to climb and compete. The competition went well, I felt strong in comparison to the rest of the girls in the comp.
The results were in, as they called the results for the rest of the women my name still didnt come up. Once was the OPEN category was called, it was a surprise to see that my name (and only my name) was called. I placed 1st in OPEN! Also placed 2nd, and 3rd in open I guess haha. No other woman competed in the open category with me. So basically, I was competing against myself.
Lets just say the $100 prize w/a massage got my psyche back. IM BACK BABY. Ready to crush again.
happy Sunday everyone!
-Natalie Duran
you always seem to have really awesome posts. I originally followed you on youtube, and it’s been awesome seeing you grow there and on here as well. kudos.
I completely understand the lack of psyche. i’ve been struggling with it since november. since then i’ve gone through waves of feeling like i need to climb, instead of wanting to climb. to not climbing. to wishing I never had to leave.
I’d bet it is your body begging for a break. a step back, just to rest a bit. I did track all through highschool and college. by the end, I hated it. I learned the hard way how to over train because I wouldn’t listen to my body asking to slow down, ease up, or just plain walk away for a while.
even now, at 25, i’m finding my body is struggling to recover from the things i did to it. and i’m constantly adding to that list of injuries (Tore my right bicep a week ago, and ended up in ER. 3-6 months PT before I can climb again.) because even now, I still don’t listen to my body.
I guess what i’m saying is, don’t be afraid to slow down. the fire will keep going. and you’ll probably not only find your psyche again, but you’ll find yourself healthy enough to do something with it.
Take Care,
James
Hey James sorry to hear about that injury.
I also see that climbers refuse to take a break when they need to. The only time they take a break is when they are forced to take a break, from an injury! Sad to say.
Once i started to really think about taking a break, I felt so lost not knowing what I am going to do with my time. I found myself surrounding myself with friends who are all climbers. If I hang out with climbers during break, all I want to do is climb! Or talk about climbing haha.
It is a hard thing to do, when climbing is a lifestyle and not just a sport at this point.
Hey so I ran across your blog here randomly, and first let me say great stuff! Its great to see people writing and blogging about climbing. Though I thought that I might ask the question first as to what you learned from your friends accident? Could it have been avoided? And where you as well as the rest of your group prepared for what happened? And how could you have been better prepared? The only reason I bring questions like that up is that not only is it a resource for you but also for anyone who may read this. Just as the American Alpine Club does every year with their book accidents in N. American mountaineering. Accident reports are how people learn from stuff like that and can hopefully better prepare themselves for the future. As far as the stoke factor goes on climbing…I totally understand and that’s totally normal. As someone who works at a gym and typically climbs upwards of 180+ days a year, I struggle with this a ton. I get to the point where the last thing I want to do is climb. I find that by mixing up what types of climbing I’m doing seems to help with that. I would say further your knowledge and experience in climbing, keep it new and exciting, go on trips to new places (even if they suck), and learn a different types of climbing (maybe ice or mountaineering). After climbing pretty solid for the past 8 years there are still new things I learn about climbing all the time. Also taking a break from climbing can be very beneficial as well. You typically come back stronger than before if you take a week or two off and let your body fully recover. Well hopefully this provided a bit of fuel for thought for you as well as a little extra motivation. I wish you only the best with your climbing endeavors.
-Jesse
I did leave a lot of details out of the accident story. But personally, I learned a lot from the accident… Most importantly wearing a helmet when trad climbing. Be aware when weighing pieces, because if they shift loading position they can pop out. TR a route isn’t the worst idea, especially when its a josh 12a ha. Lastly, never peer pressure anyone into leading.
It also pushed me to learn about handling emergency situations… maybe carry a more thorough first aid kit, and know how to use it in different situations.
Thanks for the advice Jesse, glad to know i’m not the only one struggling with the psyche. Also totally, i’ve always wanted to learn how to/experience ice climbing or mountaineering. Unfortunately living in Socal… hard to find ice anywhere haha. Also, very difficult to find people who actually ice climb or mountaineer in my area. I would want to experience those areas of climbing with someone who is experienced, and has many hours under their belt of the sport. Still always looking out for that person. Also, I absolutely can’t handle the cold haha. I think anything under 60F is freezing. This can be due to my lack of an ounce of body fat on my body, or living in a desert for my whole life haha. Always willing to overcome that for climbing, just get a bomb down no? haha
thanks Jesse
Some advice that I might give for the future is that when you’re placing gear, DO NOT fool yourself that a piece is good enough. The mentality of “some gear is better than none” Is how people get hurt. Make sure your gear is good and that you will be able to climb the route well enough to place gear and know it wont blow out. I dont know about you but personally I would rather spend many many more days enjoying climbing than to be sitting in a wheel chair or walking with a limp and telling people about how I could have prevented it. The piece your friend weighted and blew out would not have held a fall sorry to say it and he would have probably been in the same situation or even worse could been higher up on the route and caused all of his gear to zipper. A good thing to do is to put a doubled up piece that is close to your belay that will withstand an upward as well as downward direction of pull. This will keep the rope from potentially shifting pieces further up the wall when or if you fall or weight the rope.
Another thing I think that by the sounds of it you might enjoy is the book “Freedom of the Hills”. It covers absolutely everything you could ever want to know about anything climbing. It has everything in there from climbing basics, ice climbing, first aid, all the way to trip leadership and decision making process. Most people call it the climbers bible. Its something that can teach you a ton and is fun to read and learn from. If you’re like me when I’m bored that’s the first thing I do is try to learn something else about climbing (new routes, closure info, technique, or whatever). As far as the being cold when or if you do dive into ice climbing; Just as anything goes, preparedness is key to having a good time. If you are dressed properly and have adequate layers then you don’t even notice the cold, but if not it’s miserable. My suggestion in that department is to spare no expense when it comes to cold weather gear, it makes life SO MUCH better! Hope to see some great posts from you in the future.
-Jesse
Ha I do have the climbers bible, great book. I have to say some of the “walking to the car” strategies did save me from getting lost in one instance from the forest.
I like some other books for specific gear placements/anchor building over the freedom of the hills… just because they are more specific, have numerous examples, and have actual visual pictures. Mountaineers Outdoor Expert and some John Long books are really great.
How awful about your friend, I am glad he’s on the mend and I hope that he won’t be eternally put off climbing. Same goes for you — as was said above, don’t fear what happened simply learn from it. Perhaps take one of those outdoor first aid courses? They can teach you all sorts; how to stop heavy bleeding, how to make a temporary splint, they can be lifesavers if you’re miles from your car or phone signals.
I hope your confidence hasn’t been knocked for good, you’re a great climber and accidents do happen. Get back on the proverbial horse, trad a simple route using all of your intended extra precautions. Good luck!
I say this mainly because I remember you told me that trad was your favourite form of climbing other than bouldering, and I personally would be sad to see you stop, even for a lengthy amount of time. Rx
Defiantly, thanks for the great words Rachel… i am doing better now
i cant not be psyched haha