Escape

I’ll admit, I am horribly behind on my blog.  I have so much to say!  I started writing this post several weeks ago, but got super busy and never posted it.  So here is one of hopefully a bunch of new posts going up this week.

Climbing is thought to be dangerous by those who have never done it.  But to climbers, it is exactly the opposite.  Climbing is my safe space.  The place where I go when I want to escape reality, to get away, to pretend that everything is right in the world.  Climbing is what feels right when everything else is wrong.  In my happy little climbing bubble, all I have to think about is the present time.  The past isn’t weighing on my mind; the future isn’t looming like a dark cloud in the distance.

In climbing, I have a certain amount of control.  I can take steps to make it safe, to minimize risk.  I double-check my knot, my harness, my anchor.  I check my partner, bring way too much gear, use two locking biners on my daisy chain.  Calculated steps, precision, repetition. 

Lo Pat it's a 60 foot 5.6, are you really going to bring all that gear?

If only I could control the real world in this way. 

On Monday, May 2, I biked to school for my midterm.  I took a slightly different route and ending up running over a big rock and popping my tire.  It seemed like a bad omen for the test, but I ended up answering the 40 questions at my normal sprinting pace and finished within 20 minutes of receiving the test. 

After the test I received a text from Chelsea.  She said she had fallen off her bike and her neck kind of hurt.  Obviously, I was concerned, but it was a text, not a phone call, and it was written in Chelsea’s normal nonchalant manner.  I decided to call her though and ended up getting a ride from a friend to where she was. 

Chelsea says, "wear your helmet, ALWAYS!"

Well, where she was, was sitting on the sidewalk next to the road, holding her head up with her hands.  Still rather calm about the whole situation, she explained what happened (went over the bars and landed on her head) and that her neck was a little sore, but probably fine.  We decided to go to the ER just to be on the safe side.  Having spent my fair share of time in the ER, I was no stranger to the waiting process we would have to endure.  We sat around while I made jokes and harassed the nurses to deliver Chelsea’s catscan results.  Finally someone came in with a huge neck brace and put it on Chelsea.  He said he didn’t know the results but he had been instructed to put it on.

Still, we were not completely concerned and took funny pictures with the neckbrace.  Eventually the doctor came in and told us that Chelsea had fractured her C1 and C7.  At that point we looked at each other with more of a ‘woops this actually might be kind of a problem’ expression.  Chelsea got moved up to the main hospital where we spent the night and the following day.  I kept us entertained by practicing my wheelchair antics, popping wheelies and crashing into walls in between pestering nurses to let us out. 

Chelsea handling it like a champ!

Finally, on Wednesday, the 4^th, Chelsea was let out with a soft neck brace and went home.  She has since seen the doctor again to make sure everything is healing straight, but we still don’t really know when she will be fully recovered (aka riding her bike and climbing again!)

Throughout this whole process Chelsea was a champ.  Actually she is probably the most badass person I know.  I’m pretty sure that if I broke my neck I would have been crying and blubbering and snotting all over the place and hyperventilating and all sorts of other stuff.  Chelsea, however, was joking around, posing with her neck brace and keeping a great attitude the whole time.  She didn’t complain once and denied all the pain medication offered to her.  What a boss. 

So the moral of that story is: wear a helmet- Chelsea’s saved her life, and send good thoughts to my partner in crime! 

So that was Monday through Wednesday.  Thursday was May 5^th.  One year since Tim passed away.  I spent the first part of the week in the hospital, having weird flashbacks of being there with Tim so many times before and Purrell-ing my hands into a chapped oblivion.  Thursday I just sort of existed and went through the motions.  After the week, I was completely drained and decided I just needed to leave, so I hopped in my car on Friday morning and headed for the Valley to clear my head.  Climbing is my escape and after that week, I needed to duck away and pretend that everything was just fine. 

Eric and I simul rapping 

It was refreshing to spend the four hour drive to the Yosemite with someone I often forget to spend time with- myself.  Just me and my thoughts and my beautiful singing (ha!) all the way to the Valley.  I instantly felt better when I got there.  I went on a quick solo boulder mission and then met up with some friends from Reno and Tahoe- Eric and Chris.  Eric and I simuled up Jam Crack on Friday and took on the Direct Route on Reed’s Pinnacle on Saturday.  The Direct Route is SWEET!  Super cool offset crack for the first pitch and a funky crack that gets real wide for the second.  I’m pretty sure the climb keeps going but that’s all we did.

A silly picture of Eric and I at the top of the first pitch of the Direct Route

 I had my traditional Its Its and met up with Fabien, Tyber, Mitch, and Sam for some bouldering later in the afternoon.  The next day we climbed Moby Dick, an awesome climb at the base of El Cap.  It starts at fingers, goes to hands and then gets wide at the top.  I had fun practicing my hand stacks and heel-toe cams.  The weather turned a little nasty, we bouldered a bit, and then headed to Curry Village for some pizza.  I finally left the Valley around 8 PM on Sunday, had a lovely conversation with my mom on the way home and made it back to SLO sometime after midnight feeling much, much better about things.  

Moby Dick.  So awesome!

 It is important to deal with your emotions, but I also believe that there is no harm in running away for just awhile and getting lost amongst never ending granite walls.  Climbing is the ultimate healer for me, cleansing my soul, clearing my mind, and bringing a smile to my face.