Community News and videos Alex Puccio Climbs After Accident

Alex Puccio Climbs After Accident

I fell at this weird angle, and all my weight came down on the inside of left foot. It was pretty nasty. I heard all the pops. Everyone around me heard the pops too. I was on the ground screaming and crying almost instantly. I tore my ACL, meniscus, and partially tore my MCL.

August 19 2015

Bouldering

Following the Outdoor Retailer Tradeshow the Petzl America team was able to take a break and enjoy sunny granite with Petzl athlete Alex Puccio. Alex was six weeks out of surgery following an awkward fall that tore her ACL and MCL. Thanks to her base and dedication to physical therapy she was still able to send Euro Trash (V12) on her first day bouldering outside since her injury.

Petzl: What happened?

AP: It was thirty minutes before I was supposed to compete in the second world cup of the season. A friend and I were warming up by inventing problems. We were trying this sideways dyno. And, I guess… I just didn’t fully commit to the it. I grabbed the hold, and my feet swung out as they usually do on a dyno. But, as my legs were swinging back in, my hand slipped off. I fell at a weird angle, and all my weight came down on the inside of left foot. It was pretty nasty. I heard all the pops. Everyone around me heard the pops too. I was on the ground screaming and crying almost instantly. I tore my ACL, meniscus, and partially tore my MCL.

Then about six weeks ago I had surgery to repair my ACL and meniscus, the MCL had healed on its own. It’s been a long process. But in the last ten days I’ve started “climbing” again. I don’t really use my left leg, and I try to either climb roofs so I can fall on my butt, or just climb part way up the wall so I can step off and have a spotter catch me.

It feels really good being outside. One of the biggest bummers of this whole thing has been missing the RMNP season. I finally managed to hike up there last week, but it feels even better to be actually bouldering here in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

My leg’s at about 40% percent. I can’t put weight on it laterally but I can still push with it. This problem, Euro Trash, is a perfect fit for me right now. Most of the leg work is pushing your hands into underclings. Pushing straight on my leg doesn’t bother it. And Euro Trash low enough that I can either step off or fall onto a pad. There was one move that I had to do differently. The usual beta is to heel hook with your left foot. But I can’t heel hook right now. So I had to do a small jump to the lip and throw my right foot up. Maybe it was a little harder that way, but I was still able to do the problem.

Included in this article

CIRRO Large crashpad for bouldering

ALTO Crashpad for bouldering

NIMBO Supplementary pad for bouldering

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