That was pretty grim. Thanks for sharing. I so often see folks break out with the helmet only when the rapping starts. Not for down climbs on both sides of the rapping. More rarely still, is using them on scrambling approaches. This choice to wear it on approach saved your life.
For those that don’t know Doug…he is huge. He is strong. He is athletic….now add lucky and smart! Tough? Walks out to go to the ICU? Yeah, that too. Glad you are still with us
townsend
Wow. So thankful that you are still among the living. Thank you for posting — you were doing the right thing, I’m sure experienced and climbing carefully, this could happen to any of us.
This real live experience is a clear illustration of how a fall is survivable, but without a helmet, it is not survivable. Think about it. The only organ in the entire body that is encased entirely in bone is the brain (or the skull, AKA cranium in anatomy class). It is so encased because it is delicate and important.
The brain would die without oxygenated blood flow. So arteries carry blood up to the brain, and veins bring it back down to the heart (where it eventually is shunted over to the lungs and re-oxygenated). Wash, repeat, and rinse.
Blood is not “loose” in the brain — it is confined to the circulatory system. When
1) the skull is fractured, the arterial vessels may be lacerated (“torn”), blood is no longer confined to the circulatory system. A hematoma (pool of blood) develops. This is known as a epidural hematoma.
2) head trauma can cause a rupture of the bridging veins. The brain floats freely in cerebral spinal fluid, and when the veins are stretched out, they may tear, and again, a hemotoma develops. This is known as a subdural hematoma.
See this excellent article: http://casemed.case.edu/clerkships/neurology/NeurLrngObjectives/Epidural and Subdural.htm
subdural hematoma
Mortality Rate
1) epidural hematoma: 5-10% if treated w/in the few few hours.
2) subdural hematoma: 50-90%.
Remember Liam Neeson’s beautiful and talented wife, Natasha Richardson? She fell and sustained a head injury while taking beginner ski lessons in Canada. She died of an epidural hematoma.
Considering the remote locations where most accidents happen . . . serious brain trauma is a death sentence.
Wear helmets whenever there is the slightest risk of possible head trauma (not just in the canyon).