UKC

as she was slipping off the top hold, she was about 2.5m away from the ground. 

she probably landed hip first at 45 degrees, which resulted in a compression fracture in her spine.

she is going to surgery tomorrow...

I've seen someone broke his ankle but never thought landing on mats can get too serious

I introduced her to climbing a year ago but she is still inexperienced, to be honest

So what I wanna say is that if you bring new climbers to the gym, it is possible to get seriously hurt (it ironically reminds me of what it says about the mat in the waiver form). I know when people have climbed for a while and got strong, falling probably isn't a thing, but that's not the same for others. 

I wish her a successful surgery and thanks to the NHS

I don't doubt that the NHS will look after her well from my previous experience when I had surgery last summer.

It is definitely possible to seriously hurt yourself falling off at a bouldering wall, falling off safely is a heavily undervalued skill. I wish your girlfriend the best of luck in her recovery.

A young lady I used to teach broke her neck in a bouldering wall.  Fell off a steep problem, landed squarely on her arse in a sitting position, and the shockwave ran up her spine and broke (IIRC) T1.  This was on deep, soft mats.

Fully recovered now, but it was months in a body cast and a year until she was back climbing.

I've been at the gym when a girl has slipped and incurred a back injury on two separate occasions. Also had a friend come off and roll her ankle and was on crutches for 3+ months as a result.

If you take a newbie to the gym, bare in mind how rubbish you were when you first started and also that their shoes are rentals or entry level, so probably don't fit as snug or are as grippy as yours. No point trying to get them on anything above their ability.

Being overly aware of falling can feel like a detriment at first, but now looking back feels like it forces you to really ensure your foot placement is good before committing. Perhaps even consider doing some top roping before bouldering, you are generally more aware of the danger due to the height but you don't have as much risk of falling awkwardly.

Hope she gets well soon.

Most accidents at walls happen when bouldering, not on the ropes, despite the crash mats making it look less serious.

I wish your girlfriend well. 

This is an non judgemental question but can I ask was there any spotting? 

Perhaps due to the nature of the top out, height and angle of fall, spotting ‘wouldn’t’ make a difference to the outcome?
 

Again, sorry to be ‘that guy’ that asks - it would help in understanding the accident and nature of the injury better. 

I remember the first time my daughter went to the top of the bouldering wall, she slipped off a hold and sprained an ankle. It took months to get the confidence back. The tips in this video were really useful to progressivly build back up to it. It hasn't dated too badly - apart from that necklace at 28 seconds (I never knew such beauty existed). 

youtube.com/watch?v=Q7gPe34WUR8&

Hope she mends well soon

Spotting in bouldering gyms is a touchy subject (which is why the BMC won't take a stance either way on it). You actually risk far more injuries through people not knowing how to do it properly (and getting landed on). Better to have people take their chances with the foam (obviously there are exceptions e.g. inverting) than flattening each other (as 80%-90% of customers are inexperienced, don't know how to fall, don't know how to spot, barely know how to climb). 

I worked in a busy gym and I'd estimate at least one incident that required a 3rd party (ambulance or straight to a&e in their mates car) weekly. More often than not it was someone very new or a guest of a member. People often look at the mats like a bouncy castle but the combination of climbing shoe and mat is a terrible one for ankle-snapping. 

Agree with all of that. To me, indoor spotting is primarily about crowd control and making sure people don't walk underneath a climber. I find it intensely annoying when random men try to spot me at the wall - I don't want someone to spot me unless it's a very specific move/position and I know them and trust their competence, otherwise I'd rather they just got out of the way.

WRT the dangers of bouldering, I'm always amazed that people seem to treat it as a safer form of climbing than using ropes. When you're bouldering you hit the ground every time you fall off and even with mats, spotters etc it only takes one unlucky angle or skewed mat and you've got a serious ankle injury. Yes, the consequences are much less than a trad or sport groundfall but the possibility is vastly greater.

I'd say that with more experience you can definitely get better at falling and landing safely, and more aware of when a fall from a particular move might be dangerous, but that doesn't make you immune to getting hurt (I speak from experience on this one ...).

And sometimes being more experienced and comfortable with falling can mean you get complacent when you shouldn't be. It's not just newbies who get injured.

No irony about it -- I mean, it's why the waiver says it ...

Hope your gf's surgery goes smoothly and she's on the mend soon!

I had a weird fall where I slipped off a sloppy volume at the top, landed rolling my ankle and my head somehow smacked the mat between my legs. Just a sprained ankle luckily, but showed me how uncontrolled momentum can make you land really badly even from a short height. 

I ended up in hospital having a near death experience after falling flat on my back from a greased up undercling from 5 foot up. Caused internal injury which manifested itself as sepsis a few days later. 

You'd think she'd have learned the first time! 😁

The surgery went well! Thanks

I could've spotted her if I wanted as I was quit close. Very rarely I would feel required to proactively spot anyone in bouldering gyms. It actually seemed to me an OK position to land as I imagined she might roll back, though perhaps there is a way to reduce the severity?

I really wouldn't beat yourself up about this.  I personally wouldn't be spotting people in climbing gyms.  

I can understand why they don't do it, but gyms could make it clearer that (sometimes serious) injury whilst using the bouldering facilities is far from being just a theoretical possibility.  Maybe stick a few fliers up with stories such as yours to drive this home.

When we ran introductory courses at the wall I worked at we absolutely laboured this point because it isn't something new climbers tend to consider. They often associate risk only with height.

Do introductory bouldering courses teach how to fall, out of interest? 

I think a lot of it is knowing how to fall. A lot of us probably aren't conscious of it, we just fall and somehow land okay because we're used to it. But I do find total beginners tend to drop like a bag of bricks onto the mats, they have no concept of how to try and land, how to absorb impact etc. 

I also think over time a boulderer's body strengthens for falling, both from just landing many times and also generally from being stronger from climbing. Combining a weak body and no knowledge of landing and you're asking for trouble. I know I've decked it on all manner of dodgy landings outdoors when you've only got standard bouldering pads draped over rocks and I never seem to get to injured. 

Hope your gf has a swift and full recovery.

I think learning to fall as we boulder is just part of the process, or as we do other physical activities. I used to go to skateparks when I was younger and I'm sure that learning to roll out of falls and dissipate the impact has helped over the years with bouldering and crashing my mountain bike.

I used to boulder with a group a few years ago, one time one of the lasses brought her friend and she had a go on a slightly overhanging jug fest later on into the session. Her feet cut loose about a foot from the ground and she swung outwards, body completely straight and her right foot slapped down hard on the mat. She dropped to the ground and grabbed at her ankle, pain showing on her face. The jarring had sprained it and she required supporting to the car as any weight was too painful to bear.

Dunno what the point of me writing that was, kept me busy for a couple of minutes at least.

We tended to focus on safe spotting and to advise climbing down where possible as it was courses for total beginners and they already had quite a lot to take on board. 

I think it's very much something you learn from a rough and tumble childhood and that it's much harder to learn as an adult.

I agree it's harder to learn as an adult, especially as risk aversion increases. My fear of falling on routes can hold me back, even though I'm aware the system is safe I still have that niggling feeling. I kinda wish I'd started climbing younger so that it would now be second nature, I know it will come with time but I get impatient and frustrated with myself when I stall on a route.

Have you tried the Dave Mac method of taking hundreds and hundreds of practice falls?

Probably the first thing people should be taught how to do. After all you'll be doing it a lot.

The BMC maintain an accident record for climbing walls of all varieties. Despite the apparent lack of serious risk presented by low walls Bouldering venues suffer (from memory) 20 times as many notifiable injuries than do Roped Climbing venues. So I guess, if you or anyone wants to avoid injury then choose to rope climb. 

I learnt how to fall by doing Judo as a kid, and then again doing Jitsu in my 40s. I think they made a real difference to lots of falls off my mountain bike and bouldering.

I think how you land is more important than how far you fall, well within reason. My one bad fall was from less than 1m when I twisted an ankle. Spinning off dramatically can also be very dangerous.

Experience makes a big difference - you know when moves are sketchy, can predict how you might come off, and then ask for spotters or think about how you will land.

The transition to outdoors is also difficult, as you have to use limited pads on possibly uneven ground. I have had a few small tweaks caused by young ones putting pads down over an awkward rock, so I check now and make sure I use a supporting pad to even it out .

Bouldering: Higher risk of injury, lower risk of death.

I haven't, fall practice is not something I've really practiced. I'm worse if I'm leading and above the clip. I know it's all a head game but that doesn't help when I'm gripping the holds like my life depends on it. Need to have a word with my belayer and start doing some falls. I've read articles and watched vids, now I need to have a word with myself and start doing it regularly.

maybe, I don't have the data to hand. Although its seems apparent that in bouldering walls one cannot control the risks whereas by following buddy checks and correct belaying procedure the risk at roped venues  can be completely mitigated/removed.

Basically, make the falls not at all scary. Or minimise the fear as much as possible, for example by starting with sags into the rope from at or below the bolt. Then work up very slowly.

And don’t take “some” falls. Take a lot! 

Thanks for the advice

All the worst injuries I've seen from climbing, have been at bouldering walls. 

I think the expectation of safety tricks people into letting their guard down. 

Fall as if you're falling onto dirt, and you should avoid most injuries. There's still the odd unfortunate ones I've seen though. Like foot just slipping on a slab, and just sliding down into the gap between the pad and the wall. That was one f*cked ankle, and she never came climbing again. 

Tuck and roll is king.