You might save a life

[sgtroyer]

My story, in brief...

I'm a very skinny guy that decided to finally do something about it and get bigger and stronger. I haven't been doing the program long, probably arguably haven't even been fully doing the program, but I've seen some results over the last few months: BW up by 20 lbs, lifts up from where I started even if they're still not all that great.

So anyhow. One of the reasons I did this is because a hobby of mine is hiking, climbing, backpacking, etc. Strenuous activities in the great outdoors. Having kids has meant I haven't been able to do much of this, but as my kids get older I want to do more again. And I want to make sure I'm strong enough when that time comes that I can actually do that stuff and not just sit on the couch.

Well, this past weekend I had the opportunity to head out to Colorado to climb some peaks with my friend who lives there. I wasn't sure how I'd do: previously I was the one who lived in Colorado at 5,000', so I always did fine at altitude, but now I was coming from sea level. I was hopeful that my increased strength and possible increased level of conditioning would let me get away with heading to 14,000' on my second day in CO.

As it turned out, I think it did, but that's not the half of it, and that's not what this testimonial is about. Near the summit of the peak we were climbing, at around 14,000', my friend took a bad fall, tumbled 100' or so, and badly hurt his leg. We learned later that he had shattered his femur. After getting him stabilized, I had to climb up to the top so I could call 911, and then climb back down to him to wait for rescue. We were on a fairly steep slope. At first he seemed to be in a pretty stable place, but as the evening (and then night) wore on, every time he moved he seemed to slide down just a little. Pretty soon I needed to dig myself into the slope and push against him to keep him from sliding further. We didn't know how long this would last. We figured the rescuers would be showing up any time now.

As it turned out, it took nearly six hours from when he fell until the (incredible) rescue team got to us, and during much of that time I was braced against the few stable rocks I could find, braced against his weight, keeping him in place. For a good portion of the time my back was to him, with some of his weight against the small of my back, while I pressed with my legs. Sounds a little like a squat, no?

There's no way to know what would have happened if I hadn't been able to support him. We don't know how precarious our situation really was, but it felt pretty precarious. There's no way to know how much of a factor my newly increased strength and weight played in my ability to support him that night. All I know is I was, and am, incredibly grateful that I had that strength and the confidence that came with it.

Being stronger makes you harder to kill. As it turns out, it can make your friends harder to kill, too.

I'm going back to the gym this afternoon.

Here's a newspaper account of the rescue:

http://www.thewatchmedia.com/climber...copter-rescue/

[Mark Rippetoe]

Your buddy is lucky that his friend was strong. Glad we could help.