SCENARIO
On May 3rd 2018, at approximately 2:00 pm Yosemite Dispatch received reports of a climber fall on the Nose route of El Capitan. The climber reported having fallen about 20’, sustaining at least one broken ankle and one sprained ankle. The climber was unable to rappel the route due to his injuries.
ACCIDENT
On the day of the accident Hans Florine and his partner took off to climb the Nose of El Capitan at approximately 7:00 am. Both climbers were highly experienced. Florine is one of the world’s most accomplished El Cap speed climbers with over 100 recorded ascents of the route. His partner had climbed El Cap multiple times in the last couple seasons, including speed ascents of the Nose with Florine. The two were planning on doing the route in one day and were estimating 10-12 hrs on route.
At some point in the first half of the climb, the team dropped a gear sling which contained some of their smaller cams, leaving them with only a set of small stoppers and Camalots from #.5 and above. The two decided that it was reasonable to continue up the route, improvising in spots with the gear that they had.
On pace for a 12 hr time, the team arrived at the Pancake Flake (pitch 22) with Florine on lead. To move quickly through such technical terrain, the team was employing a technique know as “short fixing”. This technique involves pulling up the excess rope at the end of a pitch and fixing it for the second to jumar. The leader then self-belays into the next pitch until he runs out of rope or his partner arrives at the anchor. This is an advanced speed climbing technique which saves time but can increase risk to the leader.
After climbing the initial hand crack on Pancake Flake, Florine arrived at “Triangle Ledge,” a small ledge mid-pitch that marks the start of a thin crack just before the next anchor. Not having the ideal gear for the pitch, Florine started up the corner, aiding on small stoppers. After placing 3 nuts and one cam, Florine placed and weighted a nut that failed. He fell approximately 20 feet, striking Triangle Ledge in the process. His fall was arrested about 4 feet below the ledge by the Camalot he placed lower. He was still self-belaying at the time.
RESCUE
Florine immediately recognized the extent of his injuries and pulled himself up on to Triangle Ledge. He had his phone on him and had called 911 for help by the time his partner arrived at the anchor below. Yosemite dispatch diverted YOSAR from a training to the SAR cache to prepare for the rescue.
Due to the non-life threatening nature of the injuries as well as high winds, it was decided that a “top down” rescue (as opposed to a helicopter short haul off the face) was the safest option for accessing the patient. The plan was to shuttle the SAR team and gear to a landing site on top of El Cap using a helicopter. From there the decision to access and raise the patient to the top, or lower him to the bottom would be made based on environmental conditions at the time. The shuttle of rescue personal to the summit was slightly delayed due to the park helicopter being unavailable in the early season. An outside CHP helicopter was contracted wand brought into the park, re-arranged for the specific mission, but only had the capability to shuttle 3 personnel at a time to the summit (as opposed to 6-8 as is typically possible with the parks larger helicopter).
While talking to the SAR team on the phone, Florine asked about trying to rappel down to Dolt or El Cap Tower, approximately 1000’ lower, and wait for rescue on a larger ledge where pain management would be easier. He was advised against doing so due to the additional difficulty it would put on the rescue team in the event of a hauling operation to the summit as well the added technical difficulty of accessing a patient outside of the routes upper dihedrals. It was decided by both parties that rappelling to the Grey Ledges, about 300-400’ below the site of the accident, was the best option.
Overview of the “Pancake Flake” area on the Nose. Red arrow shows the location of the fall, blue arrow shows the location of the anchor below the Pancake Flake and the green arrow shows the approximate location that the team rappelled to awaiting rescue.
Once all team members and equipment had arrived on the summit, they rigged for the operation and began lowering 2 rescue personal over the top of El Capitan at approximately 6:00 pm. By 7:00 pm the rescuers had reached the patient, and around 7:30 pm the decision to raise him back to the summit due to high wind conditions was made. After being briefly treated for pain and packaged into a litter, a long hauling operation began and at approximately 10:00 pm Florine and the two rescue team members arrived at the summit.
Due to the rescue going well into the dark, Florine spent the night on top of the Nose with the SAR team, receiving medical care from paramedics throughout. At first light the next day, Florine was carried in a litter to the landing zone on top of El Cap and was taken back down to the El Cap Meadow via helicopter. He was then brought to a Fresno hospital via ground ambulance.
During the rescue, it was decided that Florine’s partner was capable of self-extricating from the wall. Flroine’s partner rappelled down to Dolt tower (Pitch 10) that evening, bivouacked for the night, and continued down to the ground in the morning where he met with SAR personal, debriefed and collected the gear removed by the rescue team.
TAKE AWAYS
- Protect yourself over ledges – While a 20’ fall in overhanging terrain or on a blank wall can be little risk, any ledge or protrusion can introduce serious consequences. If climbing above a ledge, place gear early and often to reduce chances of striking it in the event of a fall.
- Reassess risk during a climb – The choice could have been made to turn around after dropping the gear sling with the team’s smaller Camalots. Although the two were very knowledgeable about the terrain above, the loss of those pieces of protection greatly enhanced the seriousness of the upper part of the climb.
- Speed climbing – Speed climbing techniques, as well as mindset, can put climbers at greater risk. Less gear, non-standard belay techniques and haste increases risk and consequences to already difficult climbs.