The "All About Conan's Ankle" Thread

[peter]

Although I share the concern about Conan's ankle, how about hijacking this thread to talk about ankles and bouldering?

[tracstarr]

well, he got off lucky. On friday Ben Smith completly fractured his and now has pins in his ankle! Aparently he was on Adrenaline Junkie on the Twin Sisters of Pain boulders. ouch. i've also heard that several other climbers have recently been hurt. Think i might stay off the rock for a while. bad carma out there.

[pulldown]

Which Ben?

[seanT]

welcome to the club Ben. I have a plate and 8 screws holding my tibia together after my accident last year. Dont worry to much the crutches will keep your arms strong and you WILL be climbing again in most likely 4 months. But as for bouldering....well im still scared to fall from anything high and i pretty much down climb everything at the gym now. Mabye its time to think about sport climbing at least then you wont hit the ground when you fall.
Good luck stay positive
SeanT

[martha]

Mabye its time to think about sport climbing at least then you wont hit the ground when you fall.
Good luck stay positive
SeanT

hahaha...I think you meant 'it isn't as likely to hit the ground when you fall sport climbing'

I think we've all seen lots of sketch at sport crags!!!

[The Teth]

Definitely stay off the rock longer than I did. When I sprained my ankle in a breakdancing competition on a pub crawl in 2000 (still gives me trouble) I went climbing the next day even though it was another four days before I could walk on it. It was pathetic. I did not want to use my crutch on the gym padding, so I had to crawl to the wall.

I stopped bouldering for five days after breaking my arm. To the credit of the person who reset the bone, I did not end up having to get pins.

From my experience a leg injury is harder to protect than an arm injury when you are bouldering. It helps to climb roof problems so you land on your back rather than your foot. Although I have never re-injured myself bouldering (other than tendons), I do readily admit that my approach to recovery is crazy and stupid and would definitely not recommend it. Stay off the rock as long as you can stand to wait.

The Teth

[dcentral]

So this thread isn't about Ice climbing?

[mathieu]

When I sprained my ankle in a breakdancing competition on a pub crawl in 2000

Wow that is gold... would you care to elaborate or just leave it as such, either way that sounds like a good story

[peter]

Four well-dressed climbers together on a cruise ship, trying V0 bouldering problems on the cruise ship climbing wall.

Sean One: Ahh.. Very passable, this, very passable.

Sean Two: Nothing like a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier wine, ay Gessiah?

Ben One: You're right there Obediah.

Ben Two: Who'd a thought thirty years ago we'd all be sittin'here drinking Chateau de Chassilier?

MP: Aye. In them days, we'd a' been glad to have the price of an old boulderin' pad.

GC: A rotted pad.

EI: Without handles or graphics.

TG: OR padding.

MP: In a filthy, chalk covered carrying case.

EI: We never used to have a case. We used to have to drag our pad by butchers' string fastened to our piercings.

GC: The best WE could manage was to fall on a piece of rotten sea weed.

TG: But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.

MP: Aye. BECAUSE we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money
doesn't buy you happiness."

EI: 'E was right. I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to
climb on these tiiny little high ball problems with greaaaaat big holes in the landing.

GC: Problems? You were lucky to have problems! We used to climb public buildings, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no spotters, half toe mortar was missing; we were all huddled together on the same route for
fear of FALLING!

TG: You were lucky to have a buildering problem! *We* used to have to climb historical statues!

MP: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of climbing historical statutes! Woulda' been an indoor gym to us. We used to drag ourselves along the sidewalk by our fingernails for lack of vertical rock. We got tossed off of every problem by having a load of rotting garbage dumped all over us! Statutes!? Hmph.

EI: Well when I say "statutes" it was only the "Wave" surrounded by pea-gravel, but it was a statute to us.

GC: We were evicted from *our* statute; we had to go and climb at Eagles' Nest!

TG: You were lucky to have Eagles' Nest! There were a hundred and sixty
of us climbing on the ocean, just above the tide line.

MP: Above the tide line you say?

TG: Aye.

MP: You were lucky. We climbed for three months on a mythical isle in St. Margaret's Bay. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, find the island, which had floated away in the night, eat a stale power gel, go to work climbing for fourteen hours a day week in-week out, and when we got home, our partners would thrash us to sleep with a belt!

GC: Luxury. We used to have to swim out into the ocean at three o'clock in the morning, find a seagull flowers splattered rock, eat a handful of hot gravel, go to work climbing the rock for sponsorship at the rate of tuppence a month, come home, and and our partners would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!

TG: Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of bivy sac at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK our car clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, climbed twenty-four hours a day on submerged rock for sponsorship of fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our partners would slice us in two with a bread knife.

EI: Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night,
half an hour before I went to bed, eat a lump of cold poison, go climbing twenty-nine hours a day on the ocean floor, and pay the sponsors for permission to wear their gear, and when we got home, our partners would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."

MP: But you try and tell the young climbers today that... and they won't
believe ya'.

ALL: Nope, nope., they won't.

[The Teth]

Mathiue:

At the previous stop I had thought I would try ordering a foreign beer and ended up ordered a Fosters. I had not realized that the Australians prefer to put the whole six pack in a single can. I think that may have contributed to my injury. That and the fact that I learned breakdancing when it was cool the first time, and had not practised it much since.

The Teth

[tracstarr]

i will pay to see you break it down another time.

[Richard Eh!]

Kids taday! Humph! Why, when I was yer age we had too many irons in the fire, chasing the brass ring with our eye on the ball, nose to the grindstone, our shoulder to the wheel, tryin' to put bread on the table ta feed the wee ones 'n keep the wolf from da door ta have nuthin' better ta do den go out playin' on da rocks!

[Zamboni]

Come on guys, this thread sapose to be about my ankle!

lol

[peter]

When I was a lad, my leg was not broke, like wee Conan's, but severed above the knee, bouldering a V15. Fortunately, it grew back. Praise be God!

[seanT]

All you bahstahds should shut yer pie holes and feel lucky at least you hurt yourselfs climbing I did myself in walking down the street!!!
o and my tummy is upset from the breakfast of gravel i just had but dont worry i liked it. Time to walk to work now thru the snowbanks with newspapers on my feet for shoes.

[nsintros]

i don't know about this dudes ankle but my ankle is sprained back in august bouldering is bothering the sh#t out of me today. it comes and goes. some days its fine others its like this. from what i understand it could be due to poor rehab, scar tissue or something was actually broken an didn't heal right. my advice to you is don't slack on the rehab it could come back to bite you in the ass.

[Guest]

I'll be the wall doing up downs in one week.

Conan.

[E.Sko]

ahhh HAAAA!

Peter, i had a fantastic laugh at that little piece of literature. It would make a great play. There were probably inside jokes i didn't get but "a handful of hot gravel" did it for me.

good on you brother, very funny.