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Another Arapiles Accident 9-Dec-2008 At 3:50:38 PM prb

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On 8/12/08 freesolo wrote:

>not wearing a helmet is pretty f;;;;ng stupid. not that i'm glad or anything that he got hurt

Thanks for that advice.

OMG time flies! Looking back after some years, the main reason for my downfall was attitude. We'd
had a good trip and had shot up to ML on the last day for "only" a 17. I got off course, headed up but
not far enough R for the big wire, and pfaffed around with gear. I know exactly where I came off - a
good 10 metres up so I'm a very, very lucky boy. Should have taken a more careful, more analytical
look at the route beforehand but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I must say I'm glad I was unconcious
for a while as they say things were a bit messy...

The plaster came off 3 months later and that evening I went up to Morialta and self-belayed a couple
of 6's and 8's. It was a bit emotional, I'd missed being out there. My R hand didn't have the strength to
flip open the gate of a krab and coiling a rope one-armed is tricky! But the arm, ribs, etc. came good
over about a year and my composure for trad leading took maybe 18 months. I set myself to become
a better climber than pre-fall and this proved to be a useful psychological "tool". Of course I couldn't
have done this without the support of my climbing mates.

I waltzed up ML a couple of years ago quite happily. I've certainly been on far more dangerous routes
than that. Some of my old new routes in the Flinders, for example, were horror shows. But what M9
says is true:

>As I get older I am learning that one can never be too careful ...

The trick is to guard against complacency, but that's easier said than done. M9 took some air, simey
had moments of excitement the other week in the Gramps, I could certainly fall off something like ML
again. Danger in climbing is a good thing, and dealing well with the danger is even better. It upsets me
more to see people get hurt than getting hurt myself so however you climb and whatever methods you
use to stay safe, take 'em seriously as if your life depended on it.