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St Peters Gym accident 10-Feb-2017 At 2:14:33 PM GlebeChris

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I was reaching to clip the carabiner at the roof when I fumbled the clip and lost my footing. My belayer was giving out rope, but I would have expected him to have completed this manoeuvre by the time I fell and should have been back locked off. My belief is that my partner did not keep sufficient tension between the front and back hand to keep the rope in the cleats and to keep the rope already somewhat locked off. When I fell, because I had rope out, I would have fallen 3 meters or so before tensioning the rope. By that point I would have built up towards 30km/h and the rope takes more stopping. I think the rope was running over the side of the device and just pulled free of his hand.

(On a technical point, I have always liked to belay from further away from the wall once the climber is above about the 4th clip - that way I can normally give rope by walking in and never take the rope out of the locked off position. I hear people on these forums criticizing this technique but if my partner had adopted this method I am convinced I would not have fallen.)

I knew when I had fallen more than 3m and not been slowed. I was well aware by about 6m that I was going to deck. I landed on my left leg first and when that broke I went down onto my backside. The shock wave went up my spine causing each vertebra to collide with the one above until it found the weakest link and my T12 vertebra disintegrated. My left leg was shattered through the articulating surface of the ankle joint - just about the worst way I could have broken it.

My belay partner was a doctor and one of the staff at the gym was a newly qualified nurse which helped. My belayer was in a bit of shock but managed to call my wife. The nurse/staff member was fantastic. I knew I had done some damage so deliberately didn't move. The ambos arrived and gave me Ketamine (I've had a bad experience on morphine previously so the party drug Special-K was apparently the way to go though they refused to drop me off at home nightclub) Once on Ketamine I disappeared into 24 hours of geometric mazes whilst being shipped to RPA, churned through every scanner available and then transferred to POWH. About 8 hours of surgery later, my back sports bolts like a meccano set and my leg is much the same. Transferred to the spinal ward I was effectively bed bound for about 3 weeks. Then in a wheelchair and a forearm walking frame. I progressed as fast as I was allowed - getting off painkillers early and then transferring to crutches. I finally shed the crutches just around Christmas and am now walking around like a real boy (albeit slowly and awkwardly).

As to my prognosis. When I arrived at the spinal ward in September they told me I would be there until March but I got out at the start of December (early parole for good behaviour). I have spinal damage that means the muscles in my feet, some of the muscles in my calves, legs and glutes are gone. Some organs are challenged. The doctors are hopefully that I will get most of this back - but it could take up to two years and might not come back at all. I did recently get my big toe back. This was weird. I hadn't been able to move my big toe independently of my other toes for over 4 months when suddenly, one day I took my sock off and curled my toes and my big toe did something different. A bit of practice and I was back to being able to use it. This is a positive result - particularly because the nerves that control the big toe emanate from the S2 vertebra which is right down by the sacrum. I am told that your spine will tend to heal from the top down - if true then this is a really good sign.

My left leg is still quite compromised but physio is helping. I can walk, but I stumble a bit because of the loss of calf muscles and the collapse of my feet due to the loss of muscle power in my feet. Even if everything comes back I have to be careful the rest of my life. Any accident that could cause minor back trauma to anyone else could create shearing forces at the end of the rods in my back and take out my back completely - putting me back in to a wheelchair permanently. So, no more skiing, mountain biking, cycling in traffic, lead climbing or bouldering. I do intend to top rope again (with the right belay partner).

I'm generally in good spirits about it. As I am heard to say, it is all about your frame of reference. If I compare myself to the day before the accident, then life is pretty awful. If I compare myself to the day after the accident then things are awesome - I am home and I can walk, ride my bike, go for a swim, take my kids to their sports and go on holiday. I made it in to the surf at Christmas (but no more surfing allowed) and had a week in Bali with the kids before they went back to school. I consciously choose the positive view of my life.