UKH

So I'm lying here, leg raised with some frozen peas strapped to my thigh full of regret...

It all began last Sunday with our ascent of Midnight Cowboy (HVS 5b) (an absolute belter of a route by the way). At the second belay (semi-hanging) I tried to make myself a bit more comfortable by putting my left foot up high on a foothold while bringing my second up. It seemed pretty innocuous at the time, but as soon as I began climbing again I felt some mega twinges in the back of my thigh whenever I weighted it (fortunately the top pitch was a doddle). Upon topping out, it slowly came to dawn on me that I'd done something to my hamstring.

Fast forward a few days and it had reduced to a minor niggle, only bothering me on the stairs really. Naive 20-something male numpty here then decides that it would be a good idea to play some football...

And now I'm lying here with a pretty bad hamstring injury.

This tops off an ever growing list of pointless, avoidable climbing injuries that I've had - it began when I jumped off a route at Stanage from about 3m up a few years ago, deciding I didn't fancy it, and badly bruised my heels. 3 weeks of painful walking eventually put paid to that.

So having pulled my hamstring myself belaying a second up a multi-pitch trad slab, my question is:

What's the most stupid, avoidable climbing injury that you've had?

P.S. I would almost argue that it was worth it for a route of that quality - thank f**k I didn't do it in some quarried hellhole in Lancashire...!

In reply to fuzzysheep01:

Minor burns after standing on an electric railway line just outside Chamonix.

In reply to fuzzysheep01:
A friend jumped from about 2 feet up while bouldering.
Broke bones in both heels and in plaster for months.
Nowadays he'd land on a big, fluffy bouldering pad and be fine.
But then he wouldn't have a good story for down the pub!

In reply to fuzzysheep01:
"Ooo what are those for? "


"They're campus boards, you climb them with just your hands."


"You'd have to be so strong to do that!"


"Watch this..."

POP!

Not my proudest moment (and yes I was on the smallest rungs).

In reply to fuzzysheep01:

Best bit of kinetic advice I've ever had was:":Think first"

In reply to fuzzysheep01:

We were playing 'hold elimination' while in font and people had eliminated all the lower down foot holds. I pulled a muscle in my arm while trying to lift (yank) my foot up to a usable foot hold..... I'm very inflexible!

In reply to fuzzysheep01:

I fell off and sat on my toothbrush while I was bouldering. By 'sat on' I mean it went through my kecks and right up my anus.

My long (at the time) hair got caught as I was abseiling to retrieve a mate's gear when he'd fallen 60 ft and just missed decking. I still have a patch of scalp where no hair will grow.

I slipped on some mud on the way down off Tryfan and sat on a sharp fin of rock. By 'sat on' I mean it went through my kecks and cut my anus. Another couple of fins managed to cut my arm and introduce me to sub-cutaneous fat, blood and muscle. Which was nice. Ahem. I wasn't that bothered about my arm though as my anus was, quite literally, in bits.

I dropped off the top of a bouldering wall and landed on the edge of the mat. When I arrived at the hospital the doctor had a look at my ankle and couldn't believe the strange colours that the bruising had caused. Much of my foot was purple and black. He looked very concerned until I told him I had been wearing new rock shoes and the dye had coloured my feet due to having awfully sweaty feet. He didn't seem convinced.

One time on Crib Goch in the winter I slipped and sat on my crampons. When I say 'sat on'...

In reply to Morty:

Do you still have a rectum after all that? We could make a sci-fi film called total rectal from this (I'm sure the title has already been used for other purposes but...)!

In reply to Morty:

You sound like a right arse.

In reply to fuzzysheep01:

My shoulder feels a bit tight today

My shoulder is a bit sore

My shoulder is a bit sore

My shoulder is a bit sore

My shoulder hurts a bit when I climb

My shoulder hurts alot when I climb

My shoulder hurts alot

Rotator cuff injury 6 months recovery because I didnt listen to myself

In reply to fuzzysheep01:

Got scared on the top out of Crunchie (full route) (E2 5c) and decided to jump off. Just as I landed I looked round at a cow and twisted as I landed giving myself a back spasm that lasted weeks.

The top out's about 4a...

In reply to fuzzysheep01:


Easy!

In reply to fuzzysheep01:

Nipped out to Limekilns for a bit of soloing last summer. All was wet and greasy under the trees from the previous days rain. For some reason I did the first move of Red Flag and in stepping back down left my ring finger (I'd forgotten to take my wedding ring off) in the crack. I managed to take my ring off before it swelled up but I still can't bend the finger nine months later...dumb.

Similar, but worse. A mate was trying to retrieve a jammed nut from the lip of an overhang just off the ground. He was using one of the big old nut keys with the Friend-retrieving hooks on it to jump up and jab the nut out. Of course the business end of the key hooked over the nut, the two Friend hooks in the handle caught the meat of his middle finger and his falling weight ripped the flesh off....ouch.

In reply to fuzzysheep01:

Forgot to clip the autobelay on the last climb of the night.
Fell from the chains at the top of the wall.
Tried to grab the fixed rope to save myself.

Broken ankle (tibia), stripped my fingers and palms down to the gristle.
Hands took 3 weeks to grow skin and scars, ankle still not right, 5 weeks later.

Muppet.
Never climb tired, stressed, and without a partner.
Can't even go walking now!

In reply to SiGregory:
And, er, I said I was ok, walked out, drove home (thumbs were ok) and refused to go to A+E because I was worried they'd keep me in overnight.