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My very first ground fall. 10-May-2010 At 11:20:14 AM ado_m

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Egosan

I enjoyed reading your post, glad you're ok.

I had a pretty nasty fall on Squeekezy last year, when a piece held then popped and flipped me upside down. Broke my arm, in plaster for 4 and a half months.

I was totally pushing my limit, and was so pumped and determined to get the onsight that at the crux that I placed some a very quick marginal piece rather than a good wire (I didn't see it) or downclimbing .

The lessons that I learnt were:

- if you're climbing at the limits of your ability and haven't seen the pro and it's not an obvious line with clearly bomber gear, then rap down the line and inspect it rather than trying for an onsight, or be very conservative and downclimb if you get into trouble.

- cams aren't as bomber as I thought they were - the piece was absolutely destroyed, one of the lobes pretty much sheered off.

- the grade I thought I could climb safely was a bit high. I've dropped it down, and enjoying the trad more now rather than regularly being scared stupid. I go and climb bolts now when I want a real workout.

Ado