The Day I Broke My Knee / Castle Peak; Donner Summit, CA 10/29/17

Late October I felt my life was going just a little too smoothly so I decided to break my knee.  I went bouldering with Amanda at Castle Peak west of Truckee off the 80.  The drive in wasn't too bad, just barely bottomed out a couple times but not the worst road I've seen.  The hike in was gorgeous and the trails were pretty easy to follow this time of year, plus no bugs.  Warmed up on a V1 slab, followed by a VB highball.  Tried a V3 sit start called Porcupine but wasn't able to do a highstep move that put me really far from the wall on small small crimps.  Then we hiked in further to the main area called Treasure Cove.  We ran laps on the highball VB before we were joined by a very friendly group of Bay Area climbers.  This time of day I was good and warmed up so I set my sights on Treasure Chest Left, the obvious V4 going up out of the cave on the most impressive prominent boulder.  Using a couple pads from the group that joined us I felt I had adequate coverage of the fall zone and I got to work.  Sent the start and moved through the climb, there was a cruxy move that involved standing up into kind of an undercling but once you execute that move you have really great feet to get you to the top out.  Personally I did feel the top out was the crux to be sure, and I knew I wasn't quite above my pads anymore at that point so I was clearly in a No Fall situation.  I was working on the mantle and did a bump to a crimp when either my foot slipped or I just came up short on my bump, not sure, and I came straight down about 10FT just inches from my crash pad.  I full on tore my calf muscle, strained my PCL and MCL, sprained my Tibia, sprained my Thigh Bone, and completely tore my ACL.  That was some of the worst pain I've felt in my whole life and it really took some effort not to pass out or puke.  After some heavy breathing I stood up and started forming my plan of how to self evac.  Using large branches, my hiking boot, and some shoestring I made myself a crutch and hiked like 2miles through steep difficult terrain on one leg.  Two days later I was able to stand and walk on my bad leg with no supports, but I would later come to realize that doing so is not diagnostic of anything.  After some really abrupt and exacerbated swelling on day 5 and a serious scare of a possible blood clot I knew no personal approach would possibly solve my problem and that I would require surgery to essentially go on living, the MRI confirms this.  I do have insurance fortunately, but the recovery process for an ACL tear is 6months to a year depending on the individual and the extent of the damage.  I'll continue to post updates on my progress and goings on between now and then.  For the first time in my life I can honestly say I am less frightened by the prospect of heights and lead falls, trusting gear and equipment.  For the first time in my life I am more concerned with busting my shit on a little boulder fall, because they are unexpected ground falls and the human body has it's limitations, I'm not 20years old 150LBS anymore, this injury reflects that.  I polled a number of guests recently at my job on ACL surgeries and found that about 1 in 10 of the guests have had this surgery with a full and healthy recovery, did not come across one guest that had a bad result from their surgery.  I even meet a man that was working out in the gym with two titanium knees at 74, so it can be done, there's nothing else in the equation.

Personal Review of Area:  Rock/Climb Quality 9/10 - Size 8/10 - Accessibility 4/10
Public Information:  https://tinyurl.com/y7bqgssj
Approx. Location:  https://tinyurl.com/y7wxkqjv
Contact Info @ Bottom of Page.

Fall Toproping / Twin Crags; Tahoe City, CA 10/22/17

Late October I spent the day in North Tahoe enjoying warm conditions and exciting basalt rock on the Twin Crag formations just East above HWY 89 between Tahoe City and Alpine Meadows.  Amanda and I got up to the cliffs around noon and set up a top rope anchor on the 4Star 5.7 Chris's Toe.  This was a trad route that wanders just a little bit, looks as though it protects well with a rack up to size 3, and has chains at the top you can rap off.  When we return I'd love to lead this route.  We also climbed on By Any Fair Means off the same anchor, a 10- trad route climbers left of Chris's Toe.  The beginning of this route climbs like 5.8 but the crux comes as you do a very steep virtually completely inverted roof hand jam traverse followed by a hand jam mantle about 1/2way up the climb.  I felt this section went at about 10+ and the folks we were climbing near that afternoon seemed to each agree that it could be sandbagged.  Amanda had an opportunity to do her first "guide mode" belay using the ATC and we really enjoyed just spending the day together.  Afterwards we got an early dinner at Tahoe Brewing Company and took a walk near the Lake.

Personal Review of Area:  Rock/Climb Quality 6/10 - Size 6/10 - Accessibility 8/10
Public Information: https://tinyurl.com/ycg7cxny
Approx. Location: https://tinyurl.com/ybfj8r7g
Contact Info @ Bottom of Page.

October Festivities / Redding, CA 10/13-10/14 2017

Mid October Amanda and I took a small vacation up in Redding, CA to enjoy our 4th Halloween together and celebrate her promotion coupled with finding my place at Mesa Rim.  We left on Friday the 13th early in the morning and made the drive by 11AM.  We first stopped at Turtle Bay to see the beautiful sundial bridge above the Sacramento River, walked through public gardens, and saw the animal exhibits.  My favorite animal was probably the Bobcat, Amanda's was the Parrot.  We had a relaxing night at our room and enjoyed the hot tub.  Saturday we woke up casually and ventured out to Shasta Lake and Shasta Dam, we did some shopping, ate at Redding's Ultimate Pizza, then on to the main event, Dreams of Darkness Haunted House!  45Minutes long, and it did not disappoint.  Amanda's favorite part was the simulated crashing elevator scene.  My favorite part was a tie between the swamp area we had to scramble through towards the beginning and the exploratory graveyard areas outside.