Taylor Roy was at the last move of the steepest wall at Movement climbing gym in Boulder when he missed a hold and fell off. What should have been a short, routine fall turned into a violent crash to the floor 35 feet below. His belayer, who'd just learned how to use the belay device on her harness, accidentally held the cam open as he fell. He didn't even slow down.
If you've been to Movement since last summer, you may have seen two footprints eerily etched into the thick floor padding. "I was a gymnast before I was a climber," Roy said Friday in an interview in Las Vegas, where we've been climbing together for a week. "I tried to stick the landing."
And he succeeded........But his feet plunged through the pads -- designed only for short falls -- to the underlying concrete. He sustained spiral fractures in both ankles plus debilitating cartilage damage. But the first thought that crossed Roy's mind as he lay motionless on the floor was how bad his belayer must feel.
Today, just seven months after his accident, Roy, 33, is back on the rock. He's doing his best to stay positive in light of an uncertain and tedious recovery. Within 24 hours of the fall, Roy underwent surgery and now has a total of 13 screws in both tibias -- all of which may be permanent. After six days in the hospital, he moved into a wheelchair for 10 weeks.
What is prison for some became an opportunity for Roy. He was back at Movement -- in his wheelchair -- lifting weights just two weeks after leaving the hospital. By week four he resumed finger strength training by rolling himself underneath the campus board and hanging from his fingertips until he fell back into his chair. He recorded his workouts in detail, setting goals along the way. Once he could hang for 10 seconds, he strapped 5 pounds to his waist. "I looked forward to training twice a week," Roy said. "I needed something to focus on."
Week 11, he began small tasks like standing up, washing dishes or walking slowly around his house. Sometimes his baby steps were too big. "I'd have to get down on my knees and crawl back to the chair." His tenacity paid off, and by November he was back on the lead wall facing a different challenge: a visceral fear of falling.
"I have a mental block when I reach the height where I fell, especially in the gym," Roy said.
Strong and stocky, Roy has a shaved head and kind, azure eyes. Like me, he grew up in Seattle and moved to Boulder in the early 2000s. We've been friends and climbing partners since he began climbing in 1995. As far as I can tell, Roy is dealing with fear as courageously as he dealt with his initial recovery. Ten days ago, we hiked and scrambled for an hour to reach a cliff called Mount Potosi. The approach alone was the hardest he'd pushed his feet since August. Then we roped up for seven hours of steep, powerful sport climbing. Though much more scared to fall than I've seen him in the past, Roy still climbed a 5.12a, a 5.12d and a 5.13a -- each on his second try. "I'm super psyched," Roy said. "It's a relief to know that I can still do that."
For perspective, most climbers -- even in the Bubble -- will never climb that well on their best day. But with two more days at Mount Potosi came fear and frustration. He couldn't push himself to the point of falling, so he gave up on climbs prematurely; he limped from doing the hike repeatedly; he soaked his feet in ice water at night. For him, 5.13 feels like starting over, and it showed. "I go back and forth through times of hope and times of despair," Roy admitted. "I still feel scared that today will be the last day I get better." After a pause he added, "But that's not even worth thinking about. You just have to keep going."
And he is. Roy continues his aggressive training and recovery with hopes of climbing a 5.14 (his fifth) this year in ifle. "Climbing makes me happy," he said. "And some things are worth fighting for."
Chris Weidner: Boulder Daily Camera
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