the 'mountains' giveth, the mountains taketh away

i had a freak snowboarding accident yesterday.

heading into my last run at keystone, i hit an ice patch and went flying (fast) into a padded light pole near a tree line. it was one of the scariest experiences i've ever had. thoughts of paralysis rushed into my head as i laid in the snow.

the doc initially told me that i had broken my back. two hospital examinations and a few xrays and ct scans later, it looks like i'm going to be ok. my back isn't broken. no compound fractures either.

today, i'm sitting up in the mountains. in dillon, colorado to be exact. the pain meds are nice. so is the music from a group that goes by the name 'mountains.'

brendon anderegg and koen holtkamp, co-founders of the apestaartje record label, are the musicians that make up 'mountains.' the music can be generally described as mellow electronic. the group has a 2005 self-titled cd as well as a 2006 cd entitled sewn.

from the nyt in reference to the self-titled cd mountains:

"'mountains' is a mesmerizing – and very quiet – cd on which the main instruments are a softly plucked acoustic guitar, ambient electronic sounds and, to quote the liner notes, 'field recordings.' ... it’s also, in an odd way, likely to be much more useful than most cd’s you own. the densest book, the thorniest task, the hardest night, the gentlest morning: this diffident-but-never-bland disc can accompany just about any activity, or inactivity. you can lose yourself in the constantly shifting sounds (elegiac chords, glimmering tones) and textures (fine mists of white noise, whirring rhythms). or, just as easily, you can ignore them." 08/25/05

you can listen to some of their tracks on the other music website. definitely worth checking out.

if climbing is so safe, what's with the news stories about deaths?

a few days ago i blogged about a recent german report that concludes that climbing is a relatively safe injury-free sport.

so what's with all the news stories about people finding death on the rocks? maybe it's the hidden fear we all have about falling to our death that makes for a good news story? it definitely adds to the intrigue and mystique of climbing. "geez, if even the experienced climbers fall..."

here's an associated press / san jose mercury news story from today:

rock climbing legend falls to his death in yosemite -san francisco- "a renowned rock climber and author who scaled peaks around the world fell 500 feet to his death in yosemite national park, a spokeswoman said tuesday. todd skinner was rappelling monday after he and a partner worked on pioneering a new route near bridalveil fall, said adrienne freeman, a park spokeswoman. it was not immediately clear why skinner, who claimed on his web site to have set climbing records in 26 countries, fell."

nerd alert: indoor climbing safer than soccer?

yup. according to german researchers.

the study, injuries at the 2005 world championship in climbing, published in wilderness and environmental medicine, looked at injury rates per hour during the 2005 world championships of climbing in munich and compared those numbers to other sporting events. pretty interesting.

so the next time your friends are reluctant to join you at the climbing wall, embrace your inner nerd and whip this neatly folded PDF report out of your back pocket.