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snapped leg 7-Jan-2005 At 7:20:04 PM matt

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g;day all (ps my spelling sucks so bare with me)

well i'm new too the climbing thing and was just getting into it nicely... I had people replying to my climbing partners responce things on the websites, and was climbing with a friend at camels and was having fun with new gear... As you can see, i'm currently board, as for the next the next few moths, i'll be lying on a couch, leg elevated with the computer on me board as hell...

monday the 3rd i went to camels hump with my mate micheal (aka franga), and we had scrambled upto a place called greesy grass gully at camels... and scramble was hard, there isn't really a track but we went there because there wouldn't be many climbers to busy etc...

we had done a warm up on a 10 (mainly for me) and on the scramble down to the gear both my feet slipped out on a rock, i slide off it, landed feet first on another rock (about a 5 foot drop) and heard the snap... sounded cool... afterwards anyway...

the next part was the problem, its fairly steep, and i started sliding down the gully, all i could see was grass whipping past my face, i grabbed i chunk of grass and stopped. My mate franga asked me if i could walk, i surgested not, so he lowered me down to a flat spot (not really flat, bigger tough of grass) and called the ambo and climbed out to go guide them in...

the ambo said he almost had a heart attack going up the scramble because franga legged it... franga is a little more fit then most... they ran because i was yelling the mountain down. Some tourists came down but i told them to stop because they were coming down right where i slipped...

morphine came and i was happy... the ambo was a climber too, so he didn't cut my harness or shoes, although, i think one is still up there... at this stage my ankle was wider then my foot...

The SES desided that they couldn't get me out, and one of the members from the SES team had an asthma attack getting up to the site... but the ambo fixed her up...

that happened at 1500h, and around 1800h the chopper came! all on health insurance!!
They lowered a guy down, he put a strap around me (would of prefured my harness, then i could of waved to the camra)... they cleared out, and the chopper came back... that was fun, got winched up, they dragged me inside and landed about a 1km away at sanaturium lake, where they strapped me in, shut the door etc etc... then flew me to the royal melb...

in the time i was in emergancy, my knee was pointing up and my foot had twisted 90 degrees from gravity... it was pointing sideways... the first plaster was ok, the did i few xrays, but the second cast hurt like hell... the had to straighten my foot, and by this time they had fiilled me up with enough morphine to kill an elephant. Well, it wasn't enough, i disagreed with the idea, so they gove me more and more pain killers, until i passed out and my blood oxygen levels dropped...i needed oxygen at that point. I woke up 2 hours later in another ward feeling quite good...

they oparated the next day, i got a metal plate and some scwers... the verdict was i snapped the fibbia (tibbia, i forget, the main shin bone on the front) just above the ankle, clean snap, 1cm gap in the xray... the other bone i fractured near the near the knee... why up there i dont know...

5 days in hospital, they reckon 3-4 months before i can walk, so yeah... But i have figured out a way to tie my cast (i reckon its 5kg's worth, heavy) up to the back of my harness so my leg is behind me, and if i climb a indoor top rope so if i fall i swing away from the wall i'll be set... i'll have to learn to climb with one leg though... anyone interested in belaying me at a melbourne climbing gym in a few weeks?
My parents disagree with that idea...

anyway, i'll stop ranting now... cheers all