Finally, I climbed today for the first time since the fall. Let's see, . . . from Thursday, June 30th 2016 until Sunday, March 31, 2019, . . . that's two years and nine months off the wall. Oy Vey!
Well, it would have been "only" two years had it not been for two bike wrecks. The second and more consequential happened mid December 2018 (previous posting), and I'm just now recovering after being on crutches through the end of January. The first happened in June 2018, when I landed on a shoulder and blew a rotator cuff; those things take forever to heal. Knocked a tendon loose and so now I have what the doctors call a "Popeye muscle" with my right bicep unnaturally balled up, which looks pretty goofy but still works. I was just about ready to re-start climbing in December when the femur fracture occurred. So I'm thinking maybe spend a little less time on my bike?!
Gotta' say, climbing the outside wall at The Mountaineers Program Center in Magnuson Park (and then rapping down) was more than a little freaky. I climbed to the top of one of the towers as a volunteer instructor at a Basic Climbing Course rock field trip and I was there for several hours ensuring that once students arrived at the tower top, they safely transitioned from climbing to rappelling. It was a simple pitch so I climbed fast and tried not to think about it, . . . someone else was belaying me afterall, . . . what could possibly go wrong?!
Chilling at the top of the tower throughout the afternoon was welcome, however, seeing students rap off the top of the tower was harrowing, and I quadruple checked their set ups as soon as they arrived until they were "on rappel!" and off and away. At the end of the day when it was time to come down, I simply sent that little voice in my head way down deep, set up for rappel and went for it.
Live to climb another day!
