Falling

[Collin]

This is a question and a story;

 

Question: What went through your head as you fell? What's your story?

 

 

I think the saccular otolith reports on vertical accelerations, usual average resting rate of sensory neurons around 100 spikes/sec, a few thousand fibers per side. I forget what the average sensitivity is but if the sudden unweighting silences them all that's a few hundred thousand missing inputs which is pretty much the first noticeable thing to "go through" my head and yours, too. After that it gets complicated.

 

So bullshit went through your Head?

[Dru]

When I fell from a rappel and broke both my ankles, during the fall, I thought: "Shit, my wife is going to be pissed off."

 

When I fell while leading, and broke both my ankles, I thought: "shit, my mom is going to kill me."

 

does from the first bolt count as "leading" or would "roped bouldering" be more accurate

[marylou]

 

does from the first bolt count as "leading" or would "roped bouldering" be more accurate

 

Does gravity work differently 30' off the deck than it does 1000' off the deck? I'm sure you'd be happy to explain that to us, since it's apparent you know everything.

[Dru]

Yeah if you fell from 1000' up you'd break a lot more than ankles.

[wfinley]

I pulled a classic stupid mountaineering move a few years ago and tumbled down the Orient Express. I was 2500' of head over heels. It took maybe 30-40 seconds... who knows. It felt like 10 minutes. I remember clear as day seeing rocks in front of me. My thought was "So this is what it feels like to die". There was no remorse - no anger no fear; no religious convictions went through my head . I felt the exact way I feel when I lay down to go to sleep at night. But I didn't die... and coming out of a haze where you're certain to die into the horror of a terrible accident is a strange mixture of terror and exalation.

[catbirdseat]

So this was you?

[wfinley]

Yep... that's my 15 minutes. Jeff Munroe, my partner, was from Seattle.

[sobo]

Mine was kinda like ken4ord's, not so much a "fall" as it was a jump. It was several years ago at Vantage on a column that separated from the main wall. I was in a crouch, ready to make a mantle to the top of the pedestal when I noticed that the main wall in front of me was receding. I thought to myself, "Self, that's really wierd..." After a millisecond of what can only be called stunned confusion, I decided that I had to spring off the thing, a la Spiderman, as taking my chances in a long swan dive seemed infinitely better than being on the underside of that big hunk o' rock when it hit the talus slope.

 

I didn't think of much of anything while sailing gracefully through the air (I was told later by nearby parties that my dive was one of the most graceful "falls" that they'd ever witnessed). I was brought up short after a 40-foot+ swan dive, kinda like Wyle E. Coyote stops in mid-air before he crashes, when my first piece off the ground held, absorbing much of my kinetic energy. I flopped on the talus slope from about the height of falling out of the top bunk, and the remains of the pedestal, now about the size of a VW bug, rolled behind me. It melted my rope through about 3 feet from the tie-in knot. I can still hear old Bill Robins's voice through all the dust and haze, "Oh my god! We finally killed somebody!" Truth was, I literally walked away from that one.

[k2glfpro]

Can't believe my chair tipped over that easy...

[catbirdseat]

Sobo, I take it your pro was on the main wall and not on the column. The latter would have been a bummer to say the least.

[sobo]

Nope. The pro was in the crack formed by the column/pedestal and the main wall. The way I figgerd it, my jump must have allowed me (and the rope) to "beat" the pedestal to the first piece up from the belay.

[ken4ord]

I spun around facing out from the cliff, looked at my hand a saw a part of the cliff in it's grasp. I thought, 'What the fuck is going on? Oh shit! I got to hit that ledge or I am fucked.' I tossed the rock out of my hand. Luckily I hit the ledge and avoided a long pendulum fall.

 

Did you aim for the ledge?

I got to hit that ledge or I am fucked.

 

I didn't really have to aim, but definitely needed to stick it to prevent the bounce then pendulum.

[Cairns]

This is a question and a story;

 

Question: What went through your head as you fell? What's your story?

 

 

I think the saccular otolith reports on vertical accelerations, usual average resting rate of sensory neurons around 100 spikes/sec, a few thousand fibers per side. I forget what the average sensitivity is but if the sudden unweighting silences them all that's a few hundred thousand missing inputs which is pretty much the first noticeable thing to "go through" my head and yours, too. After that it gets complicated.

 

So bullshit went through your Head?

 

The fall itself can be a wonderful experience. Your chance to be weightless. Nothing but pure sensation should be in your head. Later you can think "outside the box". If yours is still intact.

 

Be happy you don't experience barbecue nystagmus.

[Collin]

Mine was kinda like ken4ord's, not so much a "fall" as it was a jump. It was several years ago at Vantage on a column that separated from the main wall. I was in a crouch, ready to make a mantle to the top of the pedestal when I noticed that the main wall in front of me was receding. I thought to myself, "Self, that's really wierd..." After a millisecond of what can only be called stunned confusion, I decided that I had to spring off the thing, a la Spiderman, as taking my chances in a long swan dive seemed infinitely better than being on the underside of that big hunk o' rock when it hit the talus slope.

 

I didn't think of much of anything while sailing gracefully through the air (I was told later by nearby parties that my dive was one of the most graceful "falls" that they'd ever witnessed). I was brought up short after a 40-foot+ swan dive, kinda like Wyle E. Coyote stops in mid-air before he crashes, when my first piece off the ground held, absorbing much of my kinetic energy. I flopped on the talus slope from about the height of falling out of the top bunk, and the remains of the pedestal, now about the size of a VW bug, rolled behind me. It melted my rope through about 3 feet from the tie-in knot. I can still hear old Bill Robins's voice through all the dust and haze, "Oh my god! We finally killed somebody!" Truth was, I literally walked away from that one.

 

I think you got me beat. That must have tripped you out. I sounds like it could have been a lot worse. At least you "walked away" from that.

[EWolfe]

"Why haven't I stopped yet? I actually have time to think. Oh Shit!"

[EWolfe]

This is a question and a story;

 

Question: What went through your head as you fell? What's your story?

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