OH what a beech

[jerseygirl]

Hello all.

It was a great day to climb, so another climber and I got into the Beech along the river. As we were at the height of our first tie in point, we decided to talk about redirects, something that I wanting to understand more about and do a little practice with using them. I was standing in a big V crotch and wanted to move out on to the limb. I had a nice 3 point stand and was leaning back and trying to figure out just where my feet needed to be, whether to turn and go up facing the branch or not, when I leaned a little bit to forward, the beech being a smooth barked tree, my feet slipped and took a short swing, no more then 5 feet towards the truck. I braced with my leg out and when I came in contact with the tree I did not bend at the knee. OOPS… . . . . .

I felt something happen that was not right and knew that something was wrong. I felt a pop. I was hurt.

I then swung to neutral where the other climber and I talked about what happened. I did a mental check of my body and it was a simple decision, the climb was over, so with his assistance we got to the ground.

I ended up with an injury to the calf muscle and possible pulled some ligaments.

On the ride home we talked about what happened, I did nothing wrong, other then get off balance and slip, there was no slack in my line, I was on a good branch, I just braced wrong with my leg. Maybe if I has not stiffened up, maybe I might not have hurt myself.

So, an Ibuprophen, some ice, a nice soak in the tube and staying off my feet for a few days and I will be as I was.

I learned something today and I am a little bit smarter.

Thanks and Enjoy the trees you climb, keep your balance and relax.

JZ

 

[Tom Dunlap]

JG,

Glad to hear that nothing more happened. Whew...

Have a nice 'soak in the tube'...maybe tub???

 

[moss]

Sorry to hear about that. Ironic that you were talking about a redirect when it happened. Roughly how far was your TIP above you when the swing happened? The further you are down from the TIP the more gentle the ride. The higher the angle of your rope, the more severe the swing. It's amazing how quickly force is generated on a swing towards the trunk.

Whenever I'm on a branch I make sure I'm leaning back with support from the rope. I'm more likely to have my feet on the side of the limb than on top of it. Definitely a game of working the angles of force to keep you on the branch, kind of like surfing or taking a hard corner on a bicycle or motorcycle (in slow motion).

Hopefully this doesn't take you out of the Rendezvous end of the month.
-moss