How To

What's up with those rock climbers who look honed as hell, but the minute they step off the rock, they turn into the Hunchback of Notre Dame?

On August 23, Brad Chum Carter and Boyd Fackler walked up to climb on the Sport Wall at Index's Upper Town Wall near Seattle. Carter chose the techy, vertical Calling Wolfgang (5.12b), bolted in 1990 by Greg Child. Carter climbed to the first bolt and paused to check it out. I knew the route was old and had not been inspected for a while, he said. The bolt seemed OK so I figured they were all the same.

Some of the possible side effects of Antibiotics are tendonitis and tendon rupture, with some cases occurring months after treatment. Strenuous physical activity is a risk factor. How great is the risk? Should I delay my return to climbing or start off slowly?

I have numbness and pins-and-needles in my left forearm. The first time it happened was last March while climbing in the Red, and it happened again this past June at Smith Rock. Both times I didn't notice anything until I was finished with the route.

I'm 26 and for the past two years I have been unable to bend my fingers into a complete fist. I've started doing the finger stretches that you suggested [No. 173 or drjulian-saunders.com] as well as ice baths, but nothing seems to improve the range of motion.

When Cri Boratensky heard a “pop” as he lowered off the Rigid Designator, a classic Colorado ice climb, he assumed his rope had slipped over a small hump above, and thought nothing of it.

Last year my knee exploded while during a heel hook. I ruptured my lateral collateral ligament, tore my posterior cruciate and arcuate ligament, the medial meniscus, as well as disrupting the posterior capsule of the knee joint. How is it even possible to do so much damage?

Most climbers take carabiner integrity for granted, but a common mistake can snap biners at low loads.

Several years ago I attempted the Southwest Couloir route on Mount Huntington in Alaska in some oversized Koflach boots. After I'd led many pitches of steep ice my left toe began cramping and hurting so badly I could no longer frontpoint and was basically climbing the last pitches with only my right foot.

About a month and a half ago I was working a project that involved a serious left-handed pinch using just the pointer and thumb. The next day I noticed that my thumb clicked whenever I extended it. It still does.

I broke my leg bouldering and had a titanium rod installed. I have heard mixed reports about leaving the rod in, one problem being irritation by the screws. Can the rod increase the chance of the leg breaking in the same place under similar circumstances, since the bone cannot “weld” itself together on the inside?

Today when bouldering, I went up for a two-finger crimp with the middle and ring finger of my left hand. I'm pretty sure I heard the tiniest pop, then my ring finger went out and I felt pain in very specific spots.