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After taking a 20-foot fall from an art installation at Burning Man, causing her spine to fracture, a festival attendee surprisingly shares her eagerness to return.
Rachael Gingery ended up with a fractured spinal column, broken ribs, a bruised spleen, and a punctured lung after she landed on her back from a tall wooden ship exhibit in the Black Rock Desert.
The San Francisco resident described her eighth visit to Burning Man as the most terrifying experience of her life, as she regained consciousness surrounded by medical personnel, unable to move or breathe.
“I recall lying on the ground, feeling waves of pain surge through my body, and being immobile as they loaded me into an ambulance,” she recounted to the Reno Gazette Journal last year.
But, despite leaving in an ambulance, she told the outlet that it had been her ‘best burn yet.’
Now, Gingery said she plans on returning to the festival for the ninth time this year.
‘I appreciate that Burning Man is a little bit dangerous,’ she told SFGate. ‘It’s kind of what makes it exciting.’
She narrated to RGJ how she climbed up to the crow’s nest of the wooden structure, following guidance from someone stationed below, before her grip failed.
Rachael Gingery was left with a broken back, broken ribs, a bruised spleen, and a punctured lung after falling 20 feet onto her back from a wooden ship exhibit in the Black Rock Desert.
Burning Man is a known danger, with many suffering from dehydration and desert exposure. Attendees also commonly use drugs and alcohol which can further contribute to injuries and medical emergencies
Gingery told the outlet that her fall ‘miraculously’ avoided much more serious injuries, and that her backpack and hair clip prevented her from being paralyzed.
She had previously told The Daily Mail that ‘the fall was an accident that happened when my backpack shifted, causing me to lose balance and flip around to the underside of the pole that was a to a 60-70 degree angle to the ground, so I was unable to maintain my grip.’
‘I understood the risk and don’t blame the artists,’ she added.
Her injury was one of dozens at the festival, which had around 70,000 attendees to the desert.
The festival is a known danger, with many suffering from dehydration and desert exposure.
Attendees also commonly use drugs and alcohol which can further contribute to injuries and medical emergencies.
Gingery had fallen from an ‘art car,’ which killed a 29-year-old woman in 2014 and another person in 2003.
Dylan Hogan, Gingery’s partner, said many new to the festival aren’t fully aware of the ‘dangers that they’re walking into.’
Gingery said she has been very aware of the dangers of Burning Man and warns other festival goers that ‘it’s not Disneyland’
Gingery posted from her social media that she returned to the festival this year, which is being held from August 24 to September 1 and has been hit with dangerous dust clouds
Gingery’s partner Dylan Hogan said that many new attendees can get blinded by the ‘whimsical nature and the grandiosity of some of the art’
Hogan added that many can get blinded by the ‘whimsical nature and the grandiosity of some of the art.’
But more frequent festival goers are aware that the fun comes with ‘real consequences as we have learned the hard way.’
The festival even requires attendees to agree to an extensive waiver which includes taking on the risk of injury or even death as a condition of taking part.
A spokesperson for Burning Man told SFGate in a statement that ‘participant health and safety in Black Rock City is a top priority for Burning Man Project.’
Gingery told the outlet: ‘If you choose to engage in dangerous behavior out there, there are real consequences for those choices, and those consequences fall squarely on your own shoulders. It’s not Disneyland.’
