My Health

by Mikael Fredholm

September 2005

There are still a couple of months left to enjoy the Romania’s vast playground for outdoor summer sports. The wilderness and mountains are excellent for hiking, mountain biking and climbing – some of my favourite summer sports. However, the last two summers I have spent my vacation climbing in France and this summer I decided to do it again. With its 400 metre vertical walls, Verdon is one of the best places in France for climbing and it was here I spent my vacation.

The first day of my vacation we decided to do a short climb. After having repelled down 200 metres it was time to eat a small lunch before starting our climb back to the top. It’s a special feeling having lunch while hanging by rope 200 metres above the ground – there are few restaurants in the world that can beat the view! But this time was different. Memories from a climbing accident the summer before recurred and I began to feel nervous.

It had been the final day of my climbing trip last summer when it all happened. With 300 metres to the ground my friend was secured to the vertical wall by two bolts and it was time for me to lead climb one of the more difficult passages on this particular route. It didn’t take long to realise that something was wrong. I couldn’t find any bolts to clip my quick draws into and I started to think that I had climbed the wrong way. My climbing partner double checked the map and ensured me that I was on the right track. Six metres above him I was still not secured through any quick draws and a potential fall, which would be 12 metres, would put enormous pressure on the rope and on the two bolts to which my partner was secured. I decided to climb to a crack three metres above and from there I could rest and decide what to do. Having your last and only secured point 9 metres below you while climbing 300 metres above the ground is not a pleasant feeling. I finally reached the crack and found a rock that could be used as a nice grip. I gripped the rock with both of my hands and with all my weight I pulled myself up to the crack. Suddenly the rock came loose and I was falling upside down.

Falling 18 metres takes a while and you have time to think a lot. My main concern was to protect my head and hope that neither the two bolts nor the rope would break by the enormous pressure that an 18 metre fall brings. Luckily neither the rope nor the bolts broke and after a long fall I found myself hanging freely 300 metres above the ground with only a dislocated shoulder and an injured knee. I was too injured to climb so we had to call a helicopter which transported me to safety.

Back to the present and with this accident in mind I was now preparing to climb the 200 metres to the top. I was not feeling very confident but managed to hold my nerve and started to enjoy myself. After two weeks of great climbing in France it was time to go back to Romania where, besides climbing, I can enjoy some safer forms of sports at World Class.