My name is Michelle Xue and yesterday I fractured my back... again.
I'm writing this post because I am incredibly thankful. Thankful to be walking, thankful to have supportive friends, and thankful to be alive.
So how did I break my back for the second time?
I was dropped by my belayer rock climbing at my local gym. It was an easy route I should have sent, but I fell. Part of me wants to believe I could have prevented it by being stronger. I should have just finished the route without falling or just should have been doing a harder route so my belayer would have been paying more attention. The reality is though, it's an inherent risk in climbing. Accidents happen, people get distracted. A belay will never be perfect (even with a grigri).
What I want you to know is that, if you're a climbing partner - you hold the life of your partner in your hands every time you hold that rope. Whether it's indoors or outside, rock or ice, a 5.9 or a 5.13, the environment is independent of the inherent responsibility of a belayer.
We trust one another so easily in the gym; it's hard to imagine anything could go wrong in such a protected environment. But my story is an example of how things can go wrong. I hope this serves as a lesson to climbers to realize the importance of belaying and how immense that trust/responsibility is.
Looking forward, I hope to be back and training as soon as possible. But in the meantime, I think we can all take a few lessons from the world's best belayer.
Peace