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Chockstone Forum - Accidents & Injuries

Report Accidents and Injuries

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 22
Author
Slip at Eurobin Falls - Mt Buffalo
Casper
24-May-2010
11:48:25 AM
Scrambling at top of lower slab, walked across path of water (about 1mm deep), slipped and slid/bounced the 30-40m down to bottom, hit large boulder at bottom sideways. Carried out by SES and choppered out to RMH. Chipped spine, fractured skull, broken ribs, pelvis smashed into 8 bits.

If anyone has ever looked at Eurobin and thought it would make a good slippery dip, well it was for the first few metres, after which I was unconscious and missed out on all the fun.

3 months later still not walking, going to take about a year until I'm back at work. Rehab is pretty awful. Going to make a full recovery apart from nerve and circulation damage to parts of my legs.

Don't know why I tried to cross the stream where I did (steep, smooth rock with water running over it). I'm normally pretty careful on edges...this was pretty dumb.

Be careful when walking on slippery wet rock. duh.

nmonteith
24-May-2010
11:51:26 AM
Wow - sounds epic. Best wishes for a full recovery mate!

MonkeyBoy
24-May-2010
11:55:20 AM
WOW - hope you have a speedy recovery.

Thanks for the reminder, its easy to get lazy but stories like this keep the reality of what a fall can mean in the front of your mind.

O

climbingfool
24-May-2010
12:08:29 PM
post the pics of all the hardware holding your pelvis together!!
mikllaw
24-May-2010
12:22:13 PM
I think there's a sign saying how many people have died there.
Low angle death for sure
Wishing you a speedy recovery, physio is hard painful work
Casper
24-May-2010
12:27:10 PM
4 weeks into rehab after the fall, 5 of the screws decided to rip out of the bone, so had to go back in to get surgery re-done and start all over again. Second pic is the newer, more reinforced, version. They only screwed and plated the right side, the left side had 2 fractures that they were happy to leave alone to heal.

When I asked the surgeon if the second ones would be better than the first, he said "well I thought the first lot would do the job, so I'm not sure anymore..."



jkane
24-May-2010
12:28:31 PM
Wow, best wishes with the recovery.

Reality check for everyone. Also a recent article in Argus about accidents and rescues made mention of the Author (Iain Sedgeman I think) tripping off the edge of a cliff and I believe a very experienced climber sadly lost their life in a similar way years ago, at Arapiles.

BTW, were you wearing a helmet at the time? Not a judgement either way, just curious to know if you still managed to fracture your skull while wearing a helmet, where on your skull the impact was? E.g. through the helmet or lower down?
Casper
24-May-2010
12:37:35 PM
No helmet, was swimming in the pools at the top of the falls at the time. Didn't see any sign about deaths but did walk over a downed fence, and past a 'slippery rocks' sign. So it's totally my fault.

In regards to helmets, 5 or so years ago I was whitewater paddling and fractured my skull whilst wearing a good quality paddling lid (sweet brand helmet). The helmet dispersed the shock over my whole skull, forcing it onto the spine, where the top of the spine fractured the base of my skull. The helmet was designed to do that (disperse the impact). Impact was on upper right forward part of skull, while fracture was at lower left back part of skull.

From what I understand, climbing helmets are more designed to absorb impacts from falling objects rather than actually falling? I can't imagine my petzl climbing helmet doing much for me in this case - I fractured the front of my skull at the forehead, above my right eye.


jkane
24-May-2010
12:52:49 PM
Ah, I see. Thanks for that. Interesting (scary) story about the previous fracture too.

I'll share my injury story in the hope it helps someone. My first real lead fall was on a granite slab. At the 4th bolt (I think) on a route at Mt.Teneriffe. I had the bolt plate on the bolt and was reaching back around to get a QD off my harness when I started sliding. Here's the stupid bit. I turned around - presumably to get a better view of where I was heading and also attempted to stop myself by standing on the third bolt as it whizzed up to meet me. Needless to say, it didn't stop me. All that happened was that my ankle got badly sprained and took many weeks to recover. Also, I got swung into the side wall and bruised my @ss. If I hadn't -done that- attempted to step on the bolt, I probably could have finished the damn route! So if you are new to falling, my advice would be maybe practice falling. Make sure you know how to do this safely though first.

[Edit]
Good point (below), probably best to find some vertical territory or even start at the gym - see http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1838

and yeah, that's what I was getting at - have clarified.

wallwombat
24-May-2010
12:59:59 PM
On 24/05/2010 jkane wrote:

>So if you are new to falling, my advice would be maybe practice falling.
> Make sure you know how to do this safely though first.

I'm not sure I'd recommend practice falling on granite slabs, unless you're wearing a kevlar body suit.

I think attempting to stop yourself by standing on the third bolt may have been a bit of a boo boo.
Olbert
24-May-2010
2:47:25 PM
On 24/05/2010 wallwombat wrote:
>On 24/05/2010 jkane wrote:
>
>>So if you are new to falling, my advice would be maybe practice falling.
>> Make sure you know how to do this safely though first.
>
>I'm not sure I'd recommend practice falling on granite slabs, unless you're
>wearing a kevlar body suit.
>
>I think attempting to stop yourself by standing on the third bolt may
>have been a bit of a boo boo.

I think taking your first lead fall on a granite slab was a bit of a boo boo.

Paulie
24-May-2010
4:15:34 PM
heavy story mate, thanks for sharing, gives me goose pimples just thinking about it...hope you have an easier road to recovery now the screws are holding!

IdratherbeclimbingM9
24-May-2010
8:37:45 PM
On 24/05/2010 Paulie wrote:
>heavy story mate, thanks for sharing, gives me goose pimples just thinking
>about it...hope you have an easier road to recovery now the screws are
>holding!

I second Paulies comment.

>Carried out by SES and choppered out to RMH.
Also interesting that this did not seem to make it to the local news(?), even though the SES and a chopper were involved.

gordoste
25-May-2010
10:14:21 AM
On 24/05/2010 IdratherbeclimbingM9 wrote:
>>Carried out by SES and choppered out to RMH.
>Also interesting that this did not seem to make it to the local news(?),
>even though the SES and a chopper were involved.

I'm pretty sure I saw an article about this in the local paper.

climbingfool
25-May-2010
11:09:29 AM
>In regards to helmets, 5 or so years ago I was whitewater paddling and
>fractured my skull whilst wearing a good quality paddling lid (sweet brand
>helmet).

I think this story is much better than the falls episode, especially the car ride to hospital part and that annoying water in your ears!

bel
26-May-2010
3:28:07 PM
holly crap thats the most impressive x-ray i have seen in a long time!! you have my sympathy. Remember us physio's dont really enjoy hurting people - honest we dont

gordoste
15-Jan-2015
12:26:55 PM
http://www.bordermail.com.au/story/2812889/girl-14-falls-off-waterfall/
kieranl
15-Jan-2015
12:34:33 PM
"Girl, 14, Falls of Eurobin Waterfalls"
Cutting back on those pesky sub-editors is really paying off for Fairfax

IdratherbeclimbingM9
15-Jan-2015
1:13:31 PM
Well spotted gordoste.

From the link.
>Bright’s Leading Sen-Constable Jason Hewitt said she had been swimming at the falls with family and friends.

>“She has probably fallen 50 metres from the ledge about half way between the upper and lower falls,” he said.

>"It’s just such a dangerous place.”

As a climber I find it hard to visualise where this specifically happened.
To me, the lower falls are known as Lady Bath Falls, located on your right crossing the footbridge to access the main fall, and to climb above those seems like a pointless bush-bash.

I am surprised non-climbers can access the pool on In For A Swim located on climbers right side of the upper fall. Any who do, certainly risk invoking Darwin's Law...

shiltz
15-Jan-2015
1:41:08 PM
There are various points you can walk off the left side of the track after you pass the ladies bath. This would put you above the lower tier of the falls where there are some small pools to play around in. I think there was an accident in this same general area in the past. There are a several signs in place to discourage people from entering this area.

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 22
There are 22 messages in this topic.

 

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