Feel the Pressure

Kevin Gillest, East Vail, Colorado

I was working Feel the Pressure (M8) in Vail's Firehouse area. At the third bolt, a huge block of rock came loose and dropped directly onto my head, knocking me to the ground and pulling my belayer way off the deck. My helmet shattered and cut my forehead, and the rock cut the back of my head. The worst part of the injury was when the first responders were irrigating the wounds, due to the foam from the helmet that got under my scalp. I got 25 staples in the back of my head.

I am really hard on helmets. If it does not have a hard cover, it will not last very long with me. There have been a few close calls in my 28 years of climbing, but I guess it comes with the sport.