Journalism Sports Story

Getting Back On The Wall

It has been one year since Michael Marshall, a student at NAU and outdoor rock climber, decided to save some travel time and climb the wall at Flagstaff Climbing Center (formerly Vertical Relief). That day was one of the most traumatic days that any rock climber would have to face.

Marshall started out that day as the lead climber, or the climber who will go up the wall first, trail the rope behind them and clip into the bolts that are connected to the wall, so when you fall and you’re above a bolt you’re going to fall twice as far.

When lead climbing there will always be a belayer below the climber. A belayer is the climbing partner who will allow friction if the climber is not climbing or slack if the climber needs extra rope to continue the route.

That day Marshall was being belayed by his friend. As he was leading inside and continued up the wall about thirty feet up, he missed a notch and fell. Like any other climber he was waiting on the expected friction to be pulled by his friend and his belayer, which would suspend Marshall in the air. To his surprise the belayer failed to pay attention and gave Marshall too much slack, causing Marshall to fall 30 feet.

“It was a very social busy atmosphere and I was leading inside and I was thirty feet above the ground,” stated Marshall. “There was enough distractions going on and the belayer was too distracted. He gave me to much slack on the rope and when I let go and fell there was too much slack so I fell all the way to the ground.”

When a person is climbing and falls it is nearly impossible to tell which way you will hit the ground. Luckily for Marshall he fell near perfectly, but thirty feet is still thirty feet.

“It was a perfect landing,” Marshall remembered. “My heels hit first and I could feel the impact vibrate through my spine and popping out through my head. At first I had no clue what part of my body was hurt, I did not even want to move until I could get...