My friend, Matt, and I flew out to Nevada to visit friends and climb rock. Red Rock Canyon is only a few miles outside of Las Vegas and provides some of the most beautiful rock climbs in the World. It is quite special to have such a unique setting only a few miles from an international airport.
An experience today drove home the fact that no matter how close you are to a trauma center and no matter how good the cell reception is, help may still not be that close.
A young climber took a spill…a combination of bad circumstances that led to an unfortunate event. He sustained a serious laceration to his head but luckily did not have more life-altering injuries. The paramedics were excellent but even with perfect execution, it took the team over an hour to mobilize and negotiate the difficult terrain. Hard to imagine the task of instrumenting a rescue in a more remote setting.
Climbing is a sport requiring important choices and difficult decisions. Most of all, it requires acceptance of personal responsibility. No matter how close you are to civilization, you may not be close enough.
Luckily, today, this was not the case.