Finger Injury - WARNING - Graphic Photo

[rcwild]

The photo below appeared on a canyoneer's Facebook page. It very graphically illustrates why you should never put your fingers inside a bolt hanger. A fall while your finger is in the hanger can result in serious injury or, more commonly, loss of the finger.

A guest from Nepal experienced a near amputation of the tip of his right ring finger in Arizona when the rope below his rappel device whipped up and wrapped around his finger just as he was dropping off the end of the rope into a pool of water.

Let's be careful out there.

[Branin]

This photo made the rounds on twitter recently, with the don't put your finger in a bolt disclaimer. I went to the blog where it originally came from, and with my (mediocre) spanish skills discovered that the culprit was a ring he was wearing, not a bolt. If you look close you can see the bottom of the ring poking out from beneath his skin. However, the lesson still stands. In fact, I imagine a bolt might suck worse, seeing as how it is attached to the cliff... You'd probably leave your finger with the bolt.

[rcwild]

As I understood the story, it was combination ring and finger in bolt.

[Branin]

Either way, I think the moral of the story remains the same.

[BackofBeyond]

my (mediocre) spanish skills discovered that the culprit was a ring he was wearing, not a bolt.

Kyle how would a ring alone cause this to happen? It does not make sense, please explain. I imagine the man with a ring stuck his finger in the bolt and the ring got jammed.

[Branin]

Kyle how would a ring alone cause this to happen? It does not make sense, please explain. I imagine the man with a ring stuck his finger in the bolt and the ring got jammed.

A persons body is a lot of weight to hang on surface as small as the corner of a ring regardless of what the ring is caught on. In my recent EMT training we were taught that the two most common deglovings are limbs in auto accidents, and rings that get caught on things. Searching for ring degloving on google will deliver a ton of results, including lots of fun pictures.

[rcwild]

Kyle how would a ring alone cause this to happen? It does not make sense, please explain. I imagine the man with a ring stuck his finger in the bolt and the ring got jammed.

It has also happened with rock climbers whose ring gets caught on something when they fall, i.e. doing finger jams.

[Branin]

As I said, regardless of what the ring was stuck, or whether it is a ring or bolt that did the damage, the lessons remain. Don't do dumb shit.

[BackofBeyond]

Thanks for the clarification Kyle, it sounded to me like you were saying the ring did it period. It makes sense that he was hung up on something. I guess I better quit wearing my ring while rappelling.