Free solo whipper(Graphic photos!!)

MountainProject, I've been pondering sharing my injury story for some time. I pray this doesn't come across as being selfish or narcissistic. Just sharing a very hard crux that changed my life.

I was raised in the outdoors by my parents. Hiking, backpacking, fly fishing...Everything! When I was a boy, we took a trip to Yosemite. We hiked over to the base of El Cap and I was astounded to hear climbers yelling, hundreds of feet above me. From that moment, I knew I wanted to rock climb. Due to life, career/deployments, my love for climbing didn't start until about 2 years ago. My climbing partner and I worked together and he was the first friend I met when I moved to Seattle, WA. He taught me all the basics and we climbed often.

I have no memory of the accident, but my partner has told me several times so I can remember it.

October 5th, 2014: We hiked into an area we could climb at, it wasn't our usual "go-to" crag, but someplace new we hadn't tried. We set up a top-rope and climbed for several hours. The rock was about 50ft or so. At one point, my buddy told me we took a break and he started to solo the easier routes. I can't remember why I thought I should solo also. But, I did. My friend thought I did it, because he was. At the end of the day, my buddy soloed up and sat at the summit, I followed him. He told me there was one hard move at the very top where you had to reach up and over the rock to get a solid hold. He was sitting just behind it. So, when I got up there and made the move, the hold broke off and down I went.

My partner said the first thing to hit the rock.........was my head. For whatever reason, we left our helmets in the truck. Partner said i fell 50ft and was still somewhat conscious when he got down to me. He said I was wheezing very heavily and he thought "Oh shit! Colin is gonna die and it's my fault!" He didn't have any cellphone reception where we were. Once he knew I was still here, he got me situated and ran off to get cell service about 1.5 miles back to the truck. Since the climbing area was off the main trail a little bit, he found two hikers to be good samaritan's and show the fire department guys where the rock was at the trail crossing.

When my partner got back to me, he told me I wasn't where he left me. That's when he got very scared. He saw that I had shuffled down the hill about 70ft and just sitting there. He wrapped my head up the best he could and I was still a little conscious. He told me he started talking about all the chicks he messed around and slept with in college, just to keep me engaged. Apparently, it worked! haha. He said we waited for 2 hours before the EMS guys got to us. They didn't bring a stretcher or anything but an EMT kit. My buddy told me he was LIVID at them for not bringing a stretcher. Thats when they called for a rescue helicopter. The unique thing was, it was a Navy helicopter out doing training that heard the call and was close. They had 2 combat corpsmen onboard. I'm in the U.S Coast Guard. The injuries I had were a fractured skull, fractured C7 vertebrae (in your neck) and mild break in my left shoulder. The hardest part of the accident was dealing with a severe traumatic brain injury. I can't really explain in words how scrambled I was between the ears. Mood swings, deep depression, anger....etc. I'm not gonna sit here and tell everyone you can't free solo :)
Just know from a fellow climbers experience, that there is a VERY high price to pay. Use a rope.

When you have a 2nd chance at life, you can truly appreciate things in life twice as much! On belay!? CLIMB ON!! :)

Rescue hoist video: youtu.be/AcOeqmq10hM

Rescue hoist.

skull trauma

hospital room

Crazy story! Glad your okay. Thanks for sharing!

Justin Compton wrote:Crazy story! Glad your okay. Thanks for sharing!

My pleasure Justin. Thank you very much!

Woah...glad you lived to tell the tale!

Wow...almost speechless. Glad you made it, and I'm glad you shared your story with us

Glad you lived! What kind of rock was this that you were climbing on?

Wow, so do you consider yourself fully healed? Really happy that you made it out alive, thanks for sharing your story. Climb on!

You are so lucky to be alive! Thanks for taking the time to post that.

holy fuck dude.

glad you're still with us.

Those medic types that fly around on the whirly things have never left me unimpressed. What luck they were able to respond.

SGT P
COARNG

Royal wrote:Glad you lived! What kind of rock was this that you were climbing on?

Not entirely sure Royal. It was in the Olympic Nat'l park, west of Seattle. Maybe some type of basalt?

BryanE wrote:Wow, so do you consider yourself fully healed? Really happy that you made it out alive, thanks for sharing your story. Climb on!

Not fully. Back in December, I needed vertebrae fusion surgery. That takes anywhere from 8-10 months to fuse completely, they told me. Cognitively, i'm still working on it! Early on, simple problem solving(math, geometry...etc) was an obstacle to overcome. But, overall, It's far better than where it was. Besides my neck vertebrae and cognitive aspect, physically everything's fine. Just not as strong as I was. :p

Oh my, what a crazy story! Thanks for sharing.
I sustained similar injuries from two separate accidents. I had C6 and C7 fused together about 15 years ago from a bad ski accident. And then 4 years ago I gave my self a TBI with a +LOC of about 10-20 minutes, grade 2 kidney laceration and a fractured pelvis. Yeah, the hardest part is recovering from the TBI. Stay positive and do lots of PT and Khan Academy ;)

Best of luck to you, that's quite a story! Aren't broken holds are the top reason for climbing accidents?

Taylor-B. wrote:Oh my, what a crazy story! Thanks for sharing. I sustained similar injuries from two separate accidents. I had C6 and C7 fused together about 15 years ago from a bad ski accident. And then 4 years ago I gave my self a TBI with a +LOC of about 10-20 minutes, grade 2 kidney laceration and a fractured pelvis. Yeah, the hardest part is recovering from the TBI. Stay positive and do lots of PT and Khan Academy ;)

What do you mean by an +LOC, Taylor? Loss of consciousness? There's a common myth about TBI's that a loss of consciousness is imminent/required to have one. I had a hole in my skull, some what conscious and was being told stories of getting laid in college haha. Was your's mild, moderate or severe? Sorry to hear about your injuries buddy!! I know full well what it's like. It's funny you mention Khan Academy. Been doing that often!! I started at 1+1 and been working my way up. :)

Hooyah, Corpsmen!

ColinW wrote: What do you mean by an +LOC, Taylor? Loss of consciousness? There's a common myth about TBI's that a loss of consciousness is imminent/required to have one.

I totally agree that a loss of consciousness is not the determining factor for the severity of a head injury. I had a mild TBI that was probably exacerbated by poor decisions after my week long stay in the hospital. I went back to working in the ER as a Critical Care Tech full time, going to school part time and to top it off I was living in Breckenridge, CO at 9,500ft.
Thanks again for posting. I feel like it is therapeutic to hear and talk to other people that have experienced that "scrambled between the ears" feeling.

Do you remember being restrained to the bed in your last photo? ;)

Taylor-B. wrote: Thanks again for posting. I feel like it is therapeutic to hear and talk to other people that have experienced that "scrambled between the ears" feeling. Do you remember being restrained to the bed in your last photo? ;)

Thanks Taylor! I'm happy to help out in any way I can. As far being chained to the bed.....haha. NOPE!
Apparently, I was a real handful! I was always very active & fit (through crossfit & olympic weightlifting) and for about the week and half i was in ICU, was told they had to restrain me. Even then, I'd manage to escape once in awhile. We all laugh about it now. My sisters & dad told me, I'd even pull out my feeding tubes and try desperately to remove the catheter. Luckily, I didn't manage rip that one out after i was held down. I don't remember anything from the 5th of October till around the 20th or 21st. Had my b-day in the hospital on the 22nd and I could only remember a day or two before that. Post-traumatic amnesia is an interesting thing.

Greg Petliski wrote:You should be dead. But you are not. And that is awesome. Getting to learn from critical mistakes and get a second shot at life has got to be an amazing feeling. Thanks for the share. And always helmet!

Thanks Greg! And to everyone!!! It is fuckin' awesome to come back full circle and appreciate life twice as much after an event like that. I can't justify falling nearly 5 stories, 50ft damn feet and live to tell about it. I was blessed and I will always honor that. It keeps ya humble! YES! ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET! :)

We've never met and most likely never will but I'm truly glad you made it. Good luck on the journey of recovery. Indeed, brushes with death remind us how wonderful (and finite) our time on this earth is. Thanks for sharing your story and thanks for your service

Thank you for your honesty and best of luck in your recovery. Doing a decade of fire/EMS, the initial ricky-rescue(s) should have hiked in a back board. I'm glad the Navy had you in a proper c-collar. Keep up the great work.

Holy shit! Thank god your buddy kept you awake and engaged..that one of the MOST IMPORTANT things with a severe head injury and he did it, it likely saved your life. Im going to assume they had you under heavy sedation for a period of time after this accident right? your lucky stars were all aligned for you that day and helped make it through such a horrific injury.. Good Vibes for a speedy recovery!
Are you still planning on climbing in the future? (with a rope i hope!)