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Thanks for the help @ bushrangers bluff.. 6-Jul-2006 At 4:55:47 PM Spanky

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Hi everyone, thanks so much for your good wishes.

Ok, here's what happened.....

Arrived at the crag and jumped straight on to Orange Crush. Grade 14 is about my limit for leading and so the first point to note in hindsight is that I should have warmed up on something a little easier... or seconded something a little harder first.

I was using double ropes and had placed a piece of gear on each rope in the first couple of metres. Then when the climb traverses to the left a little I was struggling to find good gear. My middle finger of my left hand had mysteriously gone numb which started to freak me out. I placed some gear that I knew was marginal, and thought I saw a good placement a little higher up. However, the second point in hindsight: the marginal gear would have held a slump or rest, but nothing more, and climbing higher than that placed me at risk of a ground fall. I should have backed off at that point. Alas, I climbed a little higher and started to panic, got a massive flash pump in both hands & forearms due to vice-like panic grip and still had no feeling in my left middle finger.... and off I came. The marginal gear held for an instant and then ripped and down I went. Andrew managed to catch my upper body in his arms but my leg unfortunately landed across a rock which broke it clean through. I also sprained my right ankle somehow, not sure what happened with my right leg. The next piece of gear came into play just as I reached ground level. The length of the fall would be around 4m.

So that's the goss on what happened.... Still don't know what was up with my finger but it's the least of my worries at this point!