When on a short weekend climbing trip to a new boulder field, I had a tweaky fall. On a right leaning, 20 degree overhanging v4 arete, I reach the "apex" with my right hand. It was a "ham hock" grip, think grabbing the top of a large triangle with your fingers facing away from you and all of your weight on, you guessed it, the Hamate region. The arete came to a sharp point, but was also very slopey, so I had a left heel on to keep me nice and tight on that right hand. My heel slipped. I tried to hold the swing with just my right hand, but as my body swung right and my right hand stayed in that ham hock position - ouch.. I let go. I quickly did the climb second try. At the time I didn't notice much lingering pain. It was the beginning of my day and I went on to send half a dozen harder things.
It actually took me a while to pinpoint this as the start of my injury, it is to the best of my knowledge when the initial fracture occurred.
My advice from here: If you think you may have broken something in your Hamate region, just go get an x-ray. If you discover the fracture within the first week you have a really good chance of the Hamate Hook reattaching by itself by spending only a few weeks in a cast. You DO NOT want to wait, the longer you wait, the worse your odds get for a proper heal.
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