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
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