Tib-Fib in the Backcountry.... a bummer TR

Had a less-than desirable trip over the 4th, and will be headed to Gimp Central soon to start that discussion. But first, a story.

Headed from Minneapolis to Denver last Thursday for some backpacking and flyfishing with a good friend of mine. We flew into Denver early Thursday am, and the plan was to drive down to Montrose and hike into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and fish for 3 days. Unfortunately, I never wet a line.

The hike in is a three hour trip, give or take (so I'm told). It starts with some milder up and down for the first hour, and then it gets steep and rocky, with some crazy switchbacks and steep straight descents with plenty of scree and not much in the way to hang on to. My pack was (in hindsight) too heavy, as I was not only packing in wading boots, etc, but I also had some significant camera gear along.

The hiking was taxing on the legs, but nothing I hadn't expected - until I stepped of a 16" rock ledge down onto some other rocks, slightly rolled my ankle, and heard a distinctive SNAP. My first lucky moment of this trip happened, and I didn't put any more weight on the limb, instead falling back against the rock with my good leg down, an essentially sitting down.

I removed my boot and triaged it, and was certain it was a tib-fib. We cut up a fly rod and made a splint and evaluated my state, which was pretty damn good, considering. I'm so fucking lucky that it wasn't compound, there was no blood loss or internal damage other than bone, etc etc. We made the call for my buddy to go for help. Leaving the packs where they lay, he started sprinting for the trailhead. In the meantime, I decided to try and get out of as much of the canyon as I could. I began self-evac, sliding on my butt and my hands, doing the crab walk with my arms for each step, and using my good leg for propulsion. I did this for about 2 1/2 hours, and had almost made it to a saddle in the ridge where the trail took the steep downturn.

My friend had made contact with search and rescue, and they were on the way - it was around 8:30 in the evening and starting to get dark by this point. S&R showed up about an hour or hour and a half after that - they gave me the once-over and let us know that evacuation wasn't going to happen until the next morning, and we'd be spending the night there. It was disheartening to hear, but I wasn't about to argue with the guys who were saving my ass. Another Ranger and an EMT also made his way in, arriving around midnight to help look after me.

The next morning, S&R showed up with a litter and the giant ATV wheel, along with a crew of about 13 people to get me out. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes of work by an amazing group of men and women who I owe my life to. These guys were so professional, so good - I'm so indebted to their service. From there, I was moved by ambulance to the hospital.

X-Rays showed a clear spiral fracture in the tibia with some displacement about 1/3 of the way up from my ankle, and another fracture in the fibula with no displacement, up near the head. Apparently this type of fracture is common and caused from the stress of the tibia breaking. They evaluated it, and brought the orthopedic surgeon in who would be working on me that day. By 3:00, I was in the OR having a rod put down my tibia - ended up with two screws on the lower end and one in the top.

Enter recovery mode. My sister lives in Boulder with her husband, and they came down and hung out with me, along with my buddy. I got discharged from the hospital on Saturday, and spent the night in the Super 8 before fighting traffic back to boulder on Sunday (an epic, 8 1/2 hour battle for what is typically a 5 hour drive). Monday afternoon I flew from Denver back to Minneapolis.

So here we go. Was planning on a move to San Francisco in a month with the job - that will certainly get moved out, among other things. Feeling overwhelmed with the recovery ahead and knowing my wife will bear the burden of taking care of me along with our boys. I'm so very, very, very lucky that nothing worse happened, and thankful for that. But I still can't believe a heavy pack and a misplaced step did this damage.

Anyway, there's the story.

dammit! Glad getting out went well. Generally way better to break bones than twisting or ripping stuff in terms of recovery. And it can happen easily to anybody. My trainer is as tough as they come, Freeride Tour champ, etc...and got a very similar injury just putting a foot down biking [fast] around a corner. But hit the PT plus plus hard and you'll be back in no time...to take some fuckin pictures next time!

Wow. I've always wanted to hike down into the Black Canyon. Looks like it bit you good. Glad you made it out safe and good write up!

Damn, quite scare indeed. Heal up quick - hope your doc was smart enough to prescribe the 3 b's of recovery - booze, buds and bjs.....

Heal up well. Had a kayak buddy who solo'd the Black of the Gunnison, he said never do that one again and he was FUCKING NUTS, to put it nicely.

Maybe one day you will get redemption.

Wow, that was kind of a crazy injury, no? Anyway, heal up soon.

Hats off to the sar folks once again.

Remember that it could aways have been worse, so that's something to be thankful for I guess.

Heal up!

And pics or didn't happen :fmicon:

wow, that sucks. But glad you got out ok, and the injury will heal soon. Take care!

Damn. Heal up. Sounds like a shitty night, but really professional action by the local SAR.

IME you can heal 100% and still be skiing by next season altho the next 10 weeks will be inconvienent for your family

I would get all the HW taken out soon as you can, taking HW out is no where near as painful as having it put in

Shitty way to spend a gettaway - glad to hear you made it out ok. Props to SAR.

If you need anything in MSP area - let me know if if a fellow mn mag can lend a hand.

Thanks guys - will get a few pics up soon, but didn't take too many. I wish I would've taken one of my fly-rod splint! Anybody know realistically what I'm looking at as far as time to at least walking around in a boot and doing airline travel solo? ? I'm trying to figure out how long I'm going to end up pushing my new job out. Thanks for any experiences...

I was 10 weeks non weight bearing for a clean tib/fib

I was 22 weeks nwb for a messy tib fib, I bet you're in the 2-3 month range with no complications.

I began minimal weight bearing six weeks after this happened in January. Full weight bearing four weeks later at 10 weeks total. I've also got a rod in the tibia, but a few more screws (three at the bottom, two at the top).

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Almost six months out now, and I'm still healing slowly. I'm on my feet most of the day at the camp I work at, but definitely get pretty sore throughout the day. Hiking uphill isn't much of a problem, but downhills suck.

6 years ago I first responded to an avie. Guy had compound tib fib and broken femur. splinted the tib fib hung out for a few hours huddled in the snow with the guy till the heli showed. When they loaded him I thought he would be lucky to walk normally again. The dude climbed Everest last year. Better to be hurt in 2014 than 1914. Hang in there you'll be back.

Ugh, that must have been an uncomfortable night. Heal up!

But, but, but you ruined a perfectly good fly rods, that's truly the disheartening part of this story:fm:

Glad you got out okay. After all these years of backpacking, climbing and skiing, I have never had to use the service of S&R, but it is nice to know they are there and do such a good job. I hope of full bottles of single malt is on its way back to Montrose.

Were you using trekking poles? Sounds like not. I almost never go into the back country with out a set of poles, especially as I get older and am not as sure footed as my younger self.

Best of luck with PT, and way to go on the backcountry emergency handling. Glad cool heads prevailed with you and your buddy.

The first week of recovery is the worst. Once it's done, you're almost 20% there (assuming the usual 6-week trajectory, which sometimes isn't met).

Everything got way better the day they told me I could get in the pool.

Even if you're down a leg, you're still very capable. Rest as needed (healing is work), but don't let it stop you. I didn't finish my to-do-while-broken list.

Good luck, and many, many thanks to the SAR and surgical teams that helped you out.

I had a call from my Mom today. She is having knee pain after hiking in their yesterday to fish. It's a beautiful place with some big fish when the hatch is on.