Broken ankle in Nobe Young Creek

Broken ankle in Nobe Young Creek
Date	2016/06/20
Location	Nobe Young Creek
Severity	Injury
Canyoneering-related	Yes
SAR involvement	No
Navigation problem	No
Swift water problem	No
Environmental problem	No
Communication problem	No
Planning problem	No
Skills problem	No
Body movement problem	Yes
Rigging problem	No
Rappel problem	No
Insufficient gear	No
Gear failure	No

Summary

A canyoneer sustains sprains of multiple ankle ligaments and a bruised talus bone on a slide into a pool.

Accounts

I was with a team of three and went ahead to set the next anchor. I sat down at the top of a low angle, 15-20 foot slide into a shallow pool and began to move. I realized I was picking up too much speed and put my hands down to slow myself. This altered my trajectory and I moved to the left a little. My right foot went into the pool but my left foot hit the rock wall at the end of the slide. The foot hyperflexed dorsally, spraining ligaments on the inside and outside of the foot. It hurt quite a bit but was not debilitating. I took off my shoe to check for damage, soaked my foot in the cold pool for a bit, wrapped it in cohesive athletic tape, and continued on. With the exit hike, there was about 2.5 miles left to walk. It was mildly painful but the adrenaline helped. By night, it was swollen and very painful. When the ankle failed to heal according to a sprain timeline, a CAT scan revealed severe bruising/crushing of the talus bone in the foot.