Risks worth taking?

I've fallen on a VD multipitch getting away with a bruised waist and a temporarily busted ankle... http://www.happykat86.blogspot.com/. Plenty people climb that route without a rope...if I hadn't had a rope on that day I would have been very seriously injured or have died....

I've taken swims on Alpine grade 4 rivers and thought...."wooow i'm lucky I got myself to the bank before that strainer", had a little too much down time for my liking where I've wondered if I can breathe under water, or thought I was going to break my legs whist swimming. I've decked out from the 2nd clip on a route, hitting the ground before the rope caught. I've fallen on blue ice on a glacier and watched my ice axe chink off the surface as I try to stop; kicked my crampon through my gaiters and trousers (but luckily not my leg) and caught my fall with a crampon that luckily didn't catapult me rapidly down hill.

I've fallen down a cliff in Turkey onto rocks and bruises and gashed pretty much every part of my body except my head, eventually wrapped in bandages like a mummy. I've come round a corner and slid in my car on ice towards a wall and stopped within inches of it... had my breaks fail whilst down hill mountain biking, had a total blow out on the road, broken down on the motorway going 70 - 10 mph very rapidly and of course in my uni days been so drunk I don't know how I ever recovered consciousness.

But I have been lucky (touch wood).

I pick my outdoor friends carefully and trust them with my life....

It feels like for every activity I do I sign on the dotted line to say I understand my hobbies carry the risk of serious injury or death......but I don't think I have ever fully comprehended this.

On Saturday some friends I was climbing with last week witnessed a horrific incident involving a climber at Stannage who couldn't get another piece of gear in, backed off the route but fell pulling out her runner, landed on her head and died at the base of the crag, age 32.

It's the fact that every lead climber has done similar. Every lead climber has at some point down climbed, everyone has had that hairy moment where it doesn't quite go to plan...and at some point, everyone falls. Such an outcome makes me feel very mortal, but also, so far, very lucky. No one expects such a serious incident to happen at the crag; yeh, we all know falling is possible, but when I think that I sign on that dotted line; it's incidents like this that make me question my love for something I do for pleasure, that can have such serious consequences.

My brain is hurting as I try to comprehend how that lady went out to climb in the same way that I do with friends, to climb, to feel alive....but unlike everyone else there, she didn't make it home...
(Condolences to her climbing buddy, friends, family, witnesses, mrt and all who dealt with his young lady).

*sigh* - What do they teach em' these days?

I walked into a Oakley sunglasses store today looking for a pair of category 4 sunglasses, I.e the least light passes through the lens.

After some wandering, I am approached by the shop assistant...

Shop Assistant: Can I help you?

Me: Yer...I'm looking for some catorgory 4...cat 4 sunglasses.

*Long uncomfortable silence*

Shop Assistant: "Ummm Cat 4, catorgory 4...."

*He looks thoughtfull for a moment* then adds:

"Um...we only sell Oakley glasses here, see..."

*He points to the big sign on the front of the shop, which does indeed have Oakley emblazzened in hugh letters* and adds:

"Can I help with anything else?"

I sighed, and left.

goodbye Isle of Man

Paddling across The Sound

I glance over my shoulder and fix the image in my head…where I don’t want to be.

Then I look across to the eddy forming behind the lighthouse (the building that isn’t a house and has no light). I face into the flow and making sure my nose doesn’t stick in the water or that I’m leaning too far back to send me backwards into the chaotic breaking waves, I pick the wave and glide down its ever changing face onto the next wave, surfing and ferry gliding across the funny water.

…and as I find my line a little bit wrong, and glance again at the messy waves breaking behind me, a surge of adrenaline curses my veins…and in that moment, that rush, I don’t care about the world.

All the things that make life complicated, the stresses, the gossiping of those around me, who have no regard for who it effects....all those things don't matter now!

100% concentration on what i'm doing....

I think about where I am and where I need to be.

I’m totally focused on my line to the next safe haven….and with the cries of seals echoing around its impossible not to appreciate the beauty of life… this is what life is all about.

Maybe I can pat myself on the back and say, I did well today, maybe I can afford myself a compliment, normally I would say it was a good day considering I’m a crap paddler. But today was a good day and I paddled well.

The get in:

A steep slippy descent.

Arctic Norway 2009

Hello



A few weeks ago I applied for a place on a 4 week expedition to Arctic Norway.



I have just been accepted on said expedition, which is awesome.



However, I'm now trying to raise money for said expedition.

Freedom and Wheel chair adventures

15th June 2008

My brother moved out just before Christmas (he is 24)
My parents are now retired
I live away from home and just visit usually (about every 4 – 6 weeks).
Therefore me breaking myself is slightly inconvenient as I can’t work at all (I can’t take kiddies for a walk in the woods let alone take them caving, gorge walking or climbing).

My parents being retired also means that after 40 years of working, 20 something years of which they were bringing up me and my brother so they are now enjoying their freedom and often go away for short breaks. Plus retiring mid fifties makes sense when my grandpa retired at 65 and died at 68. Not really much freedom.

The problem is that mum and dad booked a week on holiday just before I got broken. I can’t go with them because they are going on a walking/exploring/cultural holiday and they have possibly chosen the least accessible location for anyone with a mobility disability.

My mum wanted to cancel but I told her to go. I’ve lived away from home for 4 years now including Uni. A week alone without the ability to walk is just another challenge. I also have the cat to keep me company.

In a spark of independence I went to the village in the wheelchair. This is a general up hill for about a mile maybe a bit more. I don’t know how people do it, maybe because they have to.

Anyway I had a few moments like;

• Going down kerbs and faceplanting into the road.
• Dropping all the stuff on my lap on the floor in a supermarket and being watched my increasingly impatient members of the public whilst I tried to pick everything up…nobody offered to help.

Of course people can be helpful and open doors for you, and pick things off shelves for you. But I also felt like I got talked to like I was special in some way, or maybe that's just me. Plus, EVERYBODY stares at you, it's creepy!!!

• I nearly broke the door on the pharmacy because the ramp was so steep going up it forwards nearly backflipped me and going up it backwards meant I couldn’t reach the door handle.

What is the point in having a wheelchair ramp, if when you get to the door you can’t open it any way?

• I also found that where I usually cross the road, where they’ve put the sloping kerb, because they’ve made the roadside pretty with hedges you can’t see the cars coming until you are mid way across the road. I never noticed this when I was walking. This must be a problem for kiddies too. Maybe town planners should spend a day in a wheelchair…
  

Fracture Clinic

Wed 11th June

I went to the fracture clinic on Wed 11th June and they cut off my cast which is good because showering was a right pain, trying to keep it dry. I put a bin bag over it but try and secure a bin bag to your leg when you are allergic to duck tape, selotape, plasters... The only thing im not allergic to is micropore and thats not waterproof and generally falls off when it gets wet. Also the cast was killing my hip. I never realised how heavy and cumbersome those things are.

My foot/ankle was also marginally swollen. *sarcasum* I should have a picture of my normal ankle in comparison really but it is not hard to see that my foot is swollen. I have the boniest ankles normally. And my toes look tiny in comparison. Bruising has started too.

I was marginally disapointed because I wanted a blue cast. Blue being my favourite colour and all. But then I got this robot foot which is awesome. Soo comfy too. I googled how much they cost... £105 !!! I wonder how many people fail to give them back (like crutches) then complain about the state of the NHS when the NHS must loose loads of money with the things they lend out!!!

My funky new robot boot. It is padded with foam and inflates with cushionning also.

Except i've broken the deflator thing already but the cartridge of a pen works just as well as it depresses the valve.