Baker Seracs?

[robert]

I was worried that it might be a pretty serious break by the way that he described it. Hopefully he will heal faster than expected. On the way down he said that he intended to keep climbing, so at least he was keeping a positive atitude. Wish him a speedy recovery for me when you see him again.

[sweatinoutliquor]

May I ask what happened? Just a slip? Did someone deck? Curious cause I'm thinking of going seracing this weekend (my first time!) and I don't want to, ya know, have a repeat performance. Thanks folks, and hopefully there is a speedy recovery!

[robert]

It was just a slip on moderate angle ice. He was walking back around on the ice, sliped, spiked his leg and then caught his crampon breaking his ankle. You just can't let your guard down. Even a short fall with crampons on can be very dangerous. I would certainly still go and feel good about it. It is really fun and pretty mellow up there right now. The seracs are in great shape. Have fun.

[Gary_Yngve]

Yep, in the most recent ANAM, there was a lower leg fracture resulting from a short ice-bouldering fall. (.5 meters to the first impact, where the damage occured, another meter till he stopped)

[sweatinoutliquor]

Thanks for the info guys. I assumed it was something like this cause of where the break occured. I still haven't taken a leader fall with crampons and toolz and the thought scares me pretty bad... What's that, like 18 sharp points to stick yourself with? We need an ejection button that pops crampons and leashes off when you fall. Or crampons that release like ski bindings! I know that doesn't make much sense. Anyway, thanks for sharing! Again, I hope for a speedy recovery!

[out_for_a_while]

Greetings. I'm on the who slipped back out on the Coleman on 10-9. First of all, I'd like to extend my sincere gratitude to all there that assisted with the rescue. There must have been a dozen that all worked together to get me, a complete and total stranger, back down to the car. It was quite the experience.

 

Yeah, I was down-climbing a moderate slope when I lost my footing a slid for a bit. My right crampon caught in the ice as I was sliding (I'm too in-experienced for the instinct to keep the feet up ). My body kept moving and my right leg was stuck so it got torqued around. To add insult to injury, the left crampon created a decent laceration in might right calf and three other puncture wounds in my right buttock. Nice.

 

I broke both the tibia and fibula in my right leg. I also tore some tendons and ligaments in the ankle. The docs screwed and stitched everything back together and I can't bear weight on the right leg for at least three months (but, I'm one month in now).

 

Honestly, the thing that sticks out in my mind the most was the consideration that total strangers had for a climber just trying to learn. It's hard for me to truly say how thankful I am for all that help. It meant a lot to me, It means a lot to me and it's something I will carry with me forever.

 

 

Oh, throughout that whole mess, I seem to have acquired some one's blue REI soft-shell jacket, Size large. It's quite nice. PM me and we can see how about getting it back.

 

Attached to the post is an X-ray that shows that right leg in the ER in Seattle This is what we really all want to see, right?

 

"A" shows the tibia break.

"B" shows the fibula break.

"C" shows dislocated foot.

[out_for_a_while]

That was crappy photo in that last post. Ya'll let me know if you want the gory pics.

[robert]

Thanks for the update. I hope that your recovery goes better than expected and you can get back into the hills.

[iain]

I wonder if there has ever been an ice climbing accident that did not involve a ankle/tib-fib fx/sprain.

[Alpinfox]

"A" is your fibula fracture, not your tibia.

 

"C" hard to tell, but looks like a fracture of the malleolus of the tibia.

 

"B" fractured or dislocated tarsal bone. Maybe the Astragalus?

[Dru]

I wonder if there has ever been an ice climbing accident that did not involve a ankle/tib-fib fx/sprain.

 

You mean like massive head trauma?

[iain]

I bet it was massive head trauma plus a sprained ankle