I just set the Speed Injury Record on The Nose of El Cap

Heres the blog post but ill post it here as well.

My first time on El Cap’s “The Nose” was short and painful. I made The Speed Injury Record on The Nose by taking a 20 foot fall onto a ledge on the first pitch. Im extremely embarrassed by how quickly and low on the route I fell. But theres nothing I can do about it besides find a silver lining and let my ankle heal.

Doug and I have been training for a few months in preparation for this Yosemite season. We were gonna do a trial run on The Nose up to Texas Flake and rap down just to get our feet in the cracks on the granite giant. We woke up in our usual El Portal spot at 5am, made coffee, a quick bathroom stop and were on the trail by 6am. About 15 minutes later, I started up Pine Line as a quick warm and clipped the tree at the top. Doug quickly followed, we flaked our ropes and within a couple minutes I was running up the 4th class scramble to the ledge at Pitch 1 intermediate anchors After clipping them, moving through the bolts, I placed my first cam of the day. I mantled up to a slab sloping section at the base of the cracks (about 5 feet over my piece). Placed another cam, pulled and bounce tested it and it seemed “bomber”. Clipped it, stood up on the aid ladder and was reaching for the piton where I found I was just a tad short of clipping it. I sat back in daisy chain and then a second later, I hear the dreaded sound of a cam popping.

I fell down about 5 feet and saw the slab go by, then about another 15 feet saw the intermediate anchors and finally the ledge. I think the rope caught about 2 feet off the ground so it barley slowed my fall (not enough to make a huge difference but something is better than nothing). I fell directly on my feet and my right ankle took the force of the fall. I collapsed as I hit the ledge and my vision blurred for a quick second. I felt my ankle burning but other than that I felt okay. Doug yelled up asking how I was and I replied “Okay, but my ankle is fucked.”  Doug lowed me down and after a quickly assessing the injury, I tried aiding back up but my ankle couldn’t bare any weight. We decided to bail, not even up the first pitch of El Cap. Doug lead the rest of the pitch, cleaned it and then helped me abseil down. After a shameful & painful decent paired with very generous groups of climbers asking if I needed help, we made it back to the car. My ankle was about twice its size and throbbing, but I did set the Speed Record for the fastest El Cap injury.

Picture added from where I fell. I was about 30' from a negative ascent. 

Not a record, ya got to the base. Others have not even made it that far. But cheer up, once healed, you can try for it again.

Yea, the approach is bound to twist some ankles especially with a heavy haul bag. I’m just hoping it’s 100% healed before I go for it again this May! 

Did you get it X-rayed? You're lucky it wasn't broken! Thanks for the story and the guts to post it.

Thanks for sharing your story. You'll recover!

Ankles are one of my least favorite parts of the human body.

No X-Ray yet. I’m waiting till Tuesday but ice and aspirin having been helping a lot. I’m sure it’s just a gnarly sprain. Ankle injuries are the worst! 

Oh Alec!
Get well soon and fast. 

Bummer.

When it comes to the Nose's first four pitches,     I've always followed Chris McNamara's advice he wrote on his topo.  Something to the effect that, "Devious aid or easy free.". I'm continually surprised at how mellow some of those devious aid moves are when done Free/FF.  

After Pine Line and the tree, did you go straight up the 11.c-ish moves with bolts on the left of the crack or did you go right of the pitch and then up on 5.6/7ish moves up to the two bolt anchor? I'm trying to picture where you fell.  Best wishes for a speedy recovery! 

I went up the bolts and aided through them to the cracks. Then I got up onto the super small slab/sloping ledge and was making a move to the piton. I feel at the piton all the way to the bolted anchor. 

Alec Sluser wrote: No X-Ray yet. I’m waiting till Tuesday but ice and aspirin having been helping a lot. I’m sure it’s just a gnarly sprain. Ankle injuries are the worst! 

It's likely that you are wrong about it being a sprain.   There's a good chance it's a medial malleolus break:  VERY common in climbing falls.  Get the Xray.

You should get an X-Ray to be safe.  I broke my wrist several years ago and went over a week thinking it would be ok before I got imaging done that confirmed a fracture.

Sorry to hear! Hope you heal fast, and keep your humor through the recovery process.

Hey Alec - We met at the base. My partner and I were heading up the nose as you guys were bailing. Glad you guys made it back alright. I found an alpine draw just sitting on the ledge where you fell, not attached to anything. Was that yours? If so - let me know how I can get it back to you. Cheers. Hope you heal up soon. 

Sorry to hear that. Although I have to say the term "negative ascent" gave me a chuckle. Rest up and I hope it heals quick!

Heal up bud, get ready for early June. #passiveonly #hexes

Dang man. Rough go, but I heard a rumor that rock is sticking around for a while. Heal up and get back at it!