So, I haven’t posted anything in a while. I was so discouraged by my persistent finger injury that I really didn’t have anything to say. But, I’ve recently been able to get back to the climbing gym. It seems that about 4 months or so of down time was just what my injured pulley tendon needed. I’m still pretty careful with it, and it appears that I will be buddy taping it for the foreseeable future. But, I am climbing again. And any climbing is better than no climbing.
Along with a recovered finger, the time off gave me time to gain lots of new weight, which I will use as a training tool in the gym (sarcasm). Seriously, though, I did take a huge step back physically. However, I gotta start somewhere….again. So, I’m back to V1. Actually, I’m back up to V1. I’ve been gym climbing again for a few weeks. Initially, I was back to V0. Oddly enough, I feel more controlled and my movement is smoother than ever. I’m just a bit on the weak and fat side, but that will change.
As for the gear issues, I do have an experience I want to share. My wife and I have started backpacking a bit, so I decided to order myself a new backpack. I found one a very reputable outlet site for a good price. When I got my new pack, I was a bit surprised to find a few “extras” inside of it. Oh….and it was filthy as well. Needless to say, the backpack that was sold to me as new was, in fact, used.
These were the "extras" I found in my "new" backpack.
Of course, getting an obviously used backpack when I thought I was buying a new one ticked me off a bit, but it is just a backpack. What scared me was when I realized that I buy safety gear from the same site. What would happen if, instead of a backpack, I had bought a rope or draws that were, unknown to me, used. A rope can look clean and still have been seriously compromised by a foreign substance like the acid from a car battery in someone’s garage or car trunk. The only way I would know that there was a problem might be as I lay at the bottom of a route. Scary!
I wrote the company an email asking about their policies on used gear. I really like the company, so I won’t name names until I get a response from them. I bring it up here, just to point out that everything you buy, as far as safety gear goes, must be thoroughly inspected–as if your life depends on it. And, a great deal may not be that great. I am hopeful that the company can assure me that this would never ever happen with safety gear. I’ll keep you posted on what I learn.
******** Update*********
No sooner than I had hit “publish” on this post, I had a response from the company in my email. They profusely apologized and assured me that it was an unintentional mistake. Also, they reassured me that it is, in fact, illegal to re-sell climbing gear that has been returned for any reason. The speed of the response and the frankness with which they answered my questions makes me feel confident in ordering from them again — even on climbing gear. I’m a happy camper, now.
