12/31/2023 0 Comments El captin rock fall before amd after“It is a different situation being my life partner instead of someone I never met before,” he said of tending to Harrington. “We were shivering a lot, I think that might have been the biggest danger,” Harrington said.Īlthough they knew Harrington was in danger, there wasn’t much anyone could do other than to keep her spine immobilized and try to keep her warm.īallinger, who as a guide is trained to respond to backcountry injuries, said he kept calm by focusing on the task at hand. Harrington had regained consciousness and was experiencing neck pain so even though she could move her extremities spinal damage was a major concern. The ensuing hours were agonizing for the entire group. “All it said was Emily had fallen and it wasn’t OK,” he said. Meanwhile, Ballinger got a text about the accident. Sports: Climbers set speed record on Yosemite's Nose of El CapitanĪfter the fall Honnold was able to lower her to a ledge. Since the wall wasn’t completely vertical it meant Harrington was slamming into the rock as she fell. “The next thing I know I was in the air,” Harrington said. She remembers moving from one crack to the next and then things get fuzzy. “I couldn’t really feel the rock, which is pretty hard for a rock climber.” “Your feet aren’t standing on much, you are really trusting the rubber on your shoes,” Harrington said. The temperature was below 30 degrees and Harrington said the cold might have made it more difficult for the rubber in her shoes to grip the rock. Harrington doesn’t have a clear memory of exactly what happened, but she suspects she just slipped. She was about 20 to 25 feet above the last piece of protection she placed, meaning that she had about 50 feet to fall before she her rope would catch her. “I always thought of that part of the route as being a little slippery … but I had never fallen there,” she said. Harrington was ascending a spot that’s considered relatively easy for her skill level but one she knew could be slick. Life: Two Tahoe mountaineers just skied planet's sixth-highest peakĪfter starting around 4 a.m., Harrington had barely begun climbing when she fell. “I was just placing a lot less gear … in order to have enough to cover more ground.”Īt the time of the fall, Honnold was belaying Harrington. Ballinger was hiking another route to the top from there he was planning to rappel down and take over for the top third of the route. “You are covering much larger distances than you normally would,” Harrington said. Simul-climbing reduces the time it takes to ascend but it also adds additional risk. Typically, the second climber, or belayer, is in a stationary position. To save time the two were simul-climbing, which means both climbers were ascending together on the same rope. “He is very fast and competent … you really need someone who is not going to slow you down,” Harrington said. She was climbing with Honnold because to complete the route in a day, speed was important. Her team included Alex Honnold, one of the most well-known climbers in the world, and Adrian Ballinger, an Everest guide and Harrington’s boyfriend. “I had come really close a couple weeks ago and I wanted to give it one more try before the end of the season,” she said. Her most recent climb was an attempt to do the same route in less than 24 hours. The earlier climb, however, took place over six days. Life: Reno mom Emily Reese, who publicly and honestly battled cancer, has died at age 44 It’s an expert route that entails about 3,000 vertical feet of ascent and one that Harrington completed in 2015. “This was definitely the worst fall I have ever taken,” said Harrington, 33, who had been practicing for the attempt for about a year.Īmong the most accomplished climbers in the world, Harrington was on what’s called the Golden Gate route. 24 while attempting to become one of just a few people – and the first woman – to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan in a single day. The rope burn mark on pro climber Emily Harrington’s neck is a visible reminder of how much worse things could have been. Watch Video: Indonesian ‘Spider Woman’ sets record for climbing nearly 50 feet in less than 7 seconds
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