Accident on Antelope Island 11/23/13

[whansen]

On Saturday at 10:00am some friends and I started hiking from Frary Peak trail head on Antelope Island. By 11:30am we had made it about 2.5 miles and 6000 feet and were approaching Stringham Peak. At this elevation there was a little snow on and off the trail and the trail was traversing across the side of the mountain. I unclipped my GPS to check our location and relationship to Frary Peak. As I was looking at the screen I accidently stepped off the trail with my left foot and slipped down the hill. In a split second decision I shifted my weight to my right foot and tried to jump back on to the trail. My right foot then also slipped and twisted underneath me. As my weight came down on the side of my foot I heard a pop and had feelings in my ankle I had never felt before. It took a lot of deep breathing like they teach in Lamaze class to get through the pain. If someone would have hiked passed me at this point they might have thought this guy was having a baby on the side of the trail. The guys I had been hiking with came over to see what had happen. One of them handed me my GPS that I had spiked down during the fall like a football in the end zone. After I got my composure back I took my boot off and looked at my foot. It looked like someone had replaced my ankle bone with a baseball. At this point I knew I was not going to bag this peak today and was wondering if a visit from SAR was in my near future. I have always wanted to be part of that elite group but not in this way. So I downed a fist full of Ibuprofen, (you gotta love that stuff), and had one of my friends find a walking stick. He came back with a dead tree but it was all he could find. I tightened up my boot and started hobbling down the mountain with my friend caring my pack. We passed a lot of hikers coming up the mountain, or maybe I should say, a lot of hikers passed us. All of them very concerned and willing to help in any way they could. My friend and I just kept moving motivated by the fact that every time I would stop the pain would spike up. At one point we passed 3 bison standing on the hill above us very close to the trail watching us move down the trail. As I was hobbling the thought hit me, “I wonder if they are looking and me and thinking that’s the one we want to stomp he is injured and weak”. So I told my friend where and how to use the can of bear spray in my backpack just in case. He asked me, “Do you think it will really work? I told him “if it’s got eyes, a nose, and a mouth bear spray won’t kill them but it will make them think they're dying”. We continued on without incident and made it to the trail head. What took us 1.5 hours to go up took 3 hours to get down. I’m very thankful for good friends and Ibuprofen. We drove home and I went to the clinic. I came out with a broken fibula and all the tendon and ligament damage that come free of charge with it. Now 4 days later my foot, ankle and shin have stopped swelling bigger and they might start returning back to their normal size someday. My pride is starting to heal from the stupid mistake I made that has cost me many things; one of them being a fun canyoneering trip we had planned next weekend. But on the bright side of it all I think I can tell the story and laugh about it now. Hopefully you got a laugh too and enjoyed this TR. I don’t like to write, I like to hike!
Lessons learned: Just like you don’t text and drive you should not GPS and hike. And hikers are great people.

[hikster11]

That was just some bad luck. You will be back on your feet soon and we will be out for more fun. I got to say now that we know you broke it. Your an animal for walking out on your own.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[Sombeech]

Yeouch! Get better!

[whansen]

Thanks man, this isn't to bad siting in my lazy boy with my feet up and a frozen bag of lima beans on my ankle. Along with using the pain card to get whatever I want. I'm set.

On Rappel

[whansen]

That was just some bad luck. You will be back on your feet soon and we will be out for more fun. I got to say now that we know you broke it. Your an animal for walking out on your own.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

I sure hope so. Have fun on the trip next week. Thanks for believing in me.

On Rappel

[whansen]

I had forgotten until this morning that we had also joked about riding a buffalo down the mountain like the "Guy on a buffalo" episodes. They're pretty funny. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Lmkm5EF5E

[accadacca]

Dang dude, that sucks! Your ankle was seriously swollen. Heal up man!

[whansen]

Thank you, I'm doing much better today.

On Rappel

[accadacca]

I had forgotten until this morning that we had also joked about riding a buffalo down the mountain like the "Guy on a buffalo" episodes. They're pretty funny. Here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Lmkm5EF5E

Just got a good laugh outta this one. I gotta repost it...

[Painted Horse]

Sorry to hear about your injury. Hope it heals quickly.
Question. Did the Doc's say anything about you taking the handful of Ibuprofen? When my brother came off one of my horses and shattered his forearm. I gave him some to ease the pain. When I got him to the emergency room. The doc scolded me for giving an anti-inflamatory. Said the dose probable increase the amount of swelling.

Just curious, Since most of carry IB in packs, it's easy to give in cases like this. But I'm a little nervous to do so again.

[whansen]

No they didn't seem to care that I took it. I took 600 mg. And they actually prescribed 800mg of IB to me as I left to help with the swelling. I don't know if I could have got down the mountain without it. It made the difference.

[whansen]

Sorry to hear about your injury. Hope it heals quickly.
Question. Did the Doc's say anything about you taking the handful of Ibuprofen? When my brother came off one of my horses and shattered his forearm. I gave him some to ease the pain. When I got him to the emergency room. The doc scolded me for giving an anti-inflamatory. Said the dose probable increase the amount of swelling.

Just curious, Since most of carry IB in packs, it's easy to give in cases like this. But I'm a little nervous to do so again.

Well I ended up having to have surgery last week. They installed a plate and some screws In my leg. I'll attach a pic of my new hardware. But I did learn something new about your question. They told me to stop taking IB and any other anti-inflammatory 24 hours before surgery. The surgeon said because it causes people to bleed more when they cut them open. And he said I have to wait sometime before taking it again because it can slow down bone healing. So maybe that was the problem with your brother injury.

[ratagonia]

That was just some bad luck.

Perhaps you did not read his story. It was not bad luck. He walked off the trail because he was not paying attention.

Tom

[hikster11]

Perhaps you did not read his story. It was not bad luck. He walked off the trail because he was not paying attention.

Tom

Tom when canyoneering or hiking do you look at you feet the entire time? Not taking time to look at the scenery, just looking at exactly where you are going to place your foot next. I was there you were not. And yes I did read it and see how you could read it and think he was not paying attention. The fact is he slipped on snow that was on the trail and then went of the trail. This was just bad luck and could have happened to anyone.

[ratagonia]

Tom when canyoneering or hiking do you look at you feet the entire time? Not taking time to look at the scenery, just looking at exactly where you are going to place your foot next. I was there you were not. And yes I did read it and see how you could read it and think he was not paying attention. The fact is he slipped on snow that was on the trail and then went off the trail. This was just bad luck and could have happened to anyone.

I look at where my feet are going 100% of the time when a fall would result in injury.

I think we have a philosophical divide here, Trailmaster Hikster. I believe that (most) accidents have a cause that can be revealed, and that we can learn from these accident reports to improve our management of the risk.

The original poster took responsibility for creating the accident, something that I think you should allow them the privilege of. They were not looking where they were going. They were in terrain where falling could result in injury. There was snow and ice on the trail. Presumably, the patch he slipped on was not the first patch seen all day. Yes, there was some bad luck involved - but the causes of the accident were not paying attention to where he was putting his feet on hazardous terrain with some patches of snow. Yes he had bad luck, but he also had good luck. He did not strike his head on a rock and get a TBI. He did not break his collarbone and have the broken bone pierce his lung.

You guys did an excellent job of evacuating him without involving public resources - as a tax-paying member of the public, I thank you.

But my point is, the accident was not caused by bad luck. It was caused by not paying attention, as the OP stated in his report.

When we take people out on trips at ZAC, part of our safety talk involves looking where you are going. We tell people it is fine to look around and enjoy the scenery, but when you are moving, you want to look where you are putting your feet, because in the desert there are places where you do not want to put your feet due to cacti, sharp rocks, cliffs, slippery sand, etc. Of course, 2-3 times a year we have a teenage boy walk into a cactus. I have learned with teenage boys this message needs to be stated 3 times.

Tom

[ratagonia]

Well I ended up having to have surgery last week. They installed a plate and some screws In my leg. I'll attach a pic of my new hardware. But I did learn something new about your question. They told me to stop taking IB and any other anti-inflammatory 24 hours before surgery. The surgeon said because it causes people to bleed more when they cut them open. And he said I have to wait sometime before taking it again because it can slow down bone healing. So maybe that was the problem with your brother injury.

Good to know, thanks for following up on that.

For joint injuries, swelling causes injury and should be managed with RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/kb/conten...w4354spec.html

For most joint injuries and broken bones, other than "reduction" (manipulation back into place without surgery), actual surgery is delayed for several days until the swelling has gone down; therefore, at the time of injury taking ibu is appropriate because surgery is not imminent.

Good luck with your recovery. Patience is a virtue, and so is vitamin D which enhances absorption of calcium.

Tom

[whansen]

Thanks. I hope I get feeling better soon too. I don't know how much more RICE I can take. I think we can all agree that some accidents can be prevented and some accidents can happen to anyone at anytime. That is why we wear helmets and other gear to protect us and lessen the damage. The surgeon told my wife after surgery that because my boot covered my ankle it kept my bones together better. But what surprised me today was how aggressive you were to my buddies opinion. I also think my accident could have been avoided. It haunts me everyday. Along with the fact that I don't know the extent of all the damages yet. So you may be right a lot but you can be nicer in your rightness. People will take it better that way.

[ratagonia]

Thanks. I hope I get feeling better soon too. I don't know how much more RICE I can take. I think we can all agree that some accidents can be prevented and some accidents can happen to anyone at anytime. That is why we wear helmets and other gear to protect us and lessen the damage. The surgeon told my wife after surgery that because my boot covered my ankle it kept my bones together better. But what surprised me today was how aggressive you were to my buddies opinion. I also think my accident could have been avoided. It haunts me everyday. Along with the fact that I don't know the extent of all the damages yet. So you may be right a lot but you can be nicer in your rightness. People will take it better that way.

Thanks W.

I am at war with the attitude that poopoo just happens, which seems to be prevalent on Bogley, at least in the canyoneering section.

Yes, I could be nicer.

Tom

[Slot Machine]

Yes, I could be nicer.

Pfffft!! Leopards can't change their spots!

Tom is right 100% of the time (unless he is talking about fiddlesticks or show-don't-tell, then 0% of the time). You will remember the stuff he yells at you about, and that is usually a good thing. Learn to hang and you will be better for it.

Good thread. Get well soon. Welcome to Bogley.

[whansen]

Pfffft!! Leopards can't change their spots!

Tom is right 100% of the time (unless he is talking about fiddlesticks or show-don't-tell, then 0% of the time). You will remember the stuff he yells at you about, and that is usually a good thing. Learn to hang and you will be better for it.

Good thread. Get well soon. Welcome to Bogley.

Thanks.
Bogley is a great place to hang when you can't be outside. Love your TR's.