Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Daring Rescue On El Capitan

This just in from The Mother Lode.

"Rangers say a 40-year old man from British Columbia, Canada, was forced to spend the night approximately 230 feet below the summit in a hanging tent on Sunday due to bad weather and a stuck climbing rope. They say when he tried to open a rainfly to shelter him from the storm he slipped and fell nearly 15 feet down the side of the rock. Rangers say he was able to get back into the hanging tent. However, during the night between four and six inches of snow fell with temperatures in the mid-twenties exposing the man to possible hypothermia."

Hmmm...let's see; do ya think we should check the weather forecast? Does it ever snow in California?

The climbers were near the top of the Muir Wall, which is to the left of the Nose route.

http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Yosemite-Valley-El-Capitan-Muir-Wall

Doing SAR a little north of there (Reno area) We've been busy the last couple of days, partially because of your reasons partially because of other decisions/circumstances. But as I read this, it sounds like he was trying to get up before the storm, but the stuck rope caused forced an extra night. Could easily happen to anyone.

And how many times do you check the forecast and it turns out differently? Just before the first snowfall, which was supposed to happen on a Tuesday, my friend and I spent Columbus Day climbing in the sun in Tuolumne. Clouds built, nothing more. Storm finally came in much later that week.

Acceptable risk: different for everyone.

Falling off your hanging tent on El Capitan in a storm: priceless.

The Canadian climbers (a long way from home) might have had a limited time frame in which do their climb, regardless of the weather forecast. All went well until one little slip-up...or should we say "slip-down."

You're right - "acceptable risk" is different for everyone. Perhaps there is an additional "challenge" (whatever the hell that means) in the face of approaching danger. Mother Nature is not a respecter of our activity schedules.

Fortunately for the second man, YOSAR was ready to go, as usual.

In mountaineering one man's prudence is another man's poison.
HW Tilman, Two Mountains and a River, page 585