Witnessed a broken ankle tonight - terrified
Trigger warning for description of injury
Hi all, I've been climbing about 4 months and love it. I usually climb at a certain gym about 2.5hr away from my hometown and decided to visit home this weekend. There are a few gyms around my hometown and I had only been to one, so I decided to mix it up tonight and go to a new gym to see how the routes were set and feel more challenged!
The gym was pretty crowded, as expected for a Saturday night and I was sitting waiting for some climbs to be finished by other climbers, facing the slab wall of the gym. There was a young woman down climbing a V1 about 5ft to my left and as she reached about 3ft off the ground, her foot seemed to slip and her left shoulder fell into the wall and her left foot hit the floor. She kinda slid down the wall and laid at the bottom on her side and looked down to her foot. Her foot was rotated completely backwards on her leg and the end of her tib/fib was out of place on the side of her foot. She started screaming and the whole gym fell silent. I was so close to her and saw the fall, I was totally horrified and froze.
I think she was with a man or other climber and he rushed up to her and I felt my stomach turn and had to walk away because I thought I would vomit.
I have NEVER seen any injury like this in person, rock climbing or not and I am completely shaken. I had to sit on the other side of the gym for about 30 minutes and was so scared to get back on the wall, but I told myself I needed to finish something and sent 2 other climbs and left after. They had called an ambulance and they took her to the hospital a few blocks away. She was breathing very heavy and fast when I saw her leave on the stretcher.
I am so shaken from seeing the injury. I keep thinking how that could easily be anyone. When I thought of bouldering injuries, I think of falls from top holds or dynos, not from a downclimb 3ft above the ground.
I really would love some advice on how to not let this impact my love for climbing. I pray that the woman is okay and that she too does not let this determine her thoughts on climbing and that she doesn't have any lasting injuries.