Double Bum

You'd better like that photo, because it involved a lot of pain to take. That's a Vizcacha right there, a relative of the Chinchilla and native to South America. They look a bit like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel who's had too many nuts.

See that rock it's stood on; looks unstable doesn't it? Looks like the sort of treacherous rock that might shift under an unsuspecting chap, pitching him headlong down the slope, his expensive camera and lens banging along behind him like an over-enthusiastic puppy. Well, if that's what you're thinking, then you'd be right, except it wasn't that particular rock, but one much like it. Miraculously my camera and lens survived with only (fairly major) cosmetic damage. If only I could say the same for me; my legs are pretty bashed up and my finger is the size of a watermelon. I think I bent my finger back trying to stop my fall, and it got crushed under the rocks that were pitching down the slope with me. It hurts a lot. If I had to guess, I'd say I've sprained the collateral ligaments pretty badly. Hurts more than any climbing injury I've ever had and I've almost totally lost mobility in it. At least it's on the same hand as my other injured finger.

Something tells me this years season is going to have a pretty slow start....