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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Jul 14, 2016 - 09:44pm PT
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Why, was Pete in the haul bag?
As of two days ago, he was fishing in Ontario. His usual MO doesn't include moderate free routes at the base of El Cap, in July.
The injured climber is named Pete, but it isn't an unusual name.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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Jul 14, 2016 - 09:49pm PT
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Sending thoughts out to both Pete's....rj
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Jul 14, 2016 - 10:13pm PT
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that's fuct' up
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Jul 14, 2016 - 10:15pm PT
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hey there say...
wow, as to this... i was surprised, as, too, i saw he was fishing...
whew, glad he is okay, then...
but wow, sad to hear this... and yes, as jody said:
Jul 14, 2016 - 09:45pm PT
Well, even if it wasn't PTPP, still praying for the Pete it did happen to.
sure will!!!
going to read what happened, now...
thanks for sharing... any climber, down, needs our support...
oh my, :(
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Mei
Trad climber
mxi2000.net
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Jul 14, 2016 - 11:29pm PT
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On Sunday June 16th at approx 12:30 pm Yosemite dispatch received a 911 call of a climber injury on El Capitan in the vicinity of the Heart Ledges rappels. Last time June 16 landed on a Sunday was in 2013. Hope Pete's arm is all healed up by now.
It's a good lesson to be learned by all at Pete's expense.
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rwedgee
Ice climber
CA
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Jul 15, 2016 - 12:20am PT
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Tough crowd....funny too.
Hope everyone is OK
As previously stated....for Pete's sake
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enjoimx
Trad climber
Yosemite
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Jul 15, 2016 - 02:29am PT
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The injury happened on Little John Right.
You guys really think PTPP would be free climbing on el cap?I dont think so......
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couchmaster
climber
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Jul 15, 2016 - 06:19am PT
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Wish this Pete well. That had to be pretty damned painful to have a loaded haul bag hit you from such a long distance up. The accident report from the link upthread is one of the better ones I've read. Accident reports usually screw up plenty of details and you're still left wonder what occurred. Not this time.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jul 15, 2016 - 06:50am PT
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"Dang it! We missed him. Obama's not gonna be happy this time!"
See, who needs accident reports?
Just blame the prez.
Seriously, glad Pete will live.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
Valles Marineris
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Jul 15, 2016 - 08:39am PT
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That is a pretty severe injury. Hope this guy regains full use of his arm.
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Denver CO
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Jul 15, 2016 - 08:44am PT
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Good luck with your arm Pete. The explanation for how the haulbag unclipped itself makes no sense.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Jul 15, 2016 - 10:19am PT
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The explanation for how the haulbag unclipped itself makes no sense.
Amen. I thought the same thing while reading the article.
Better to say something like, "Have no idea how this happened" than to invent some fantasy where magical fairies lift the bag enough to unweight it from the 'biner, while another opens the LOCKING 'biner and slips the slings out of it, and then the heavy-lifting fairies let go. Not buying it!
Vibration? Uh, no.
It would be good to get to the REAL story of what happened. And I do hope that Pete is recovering and will suffer no long-term effects!
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Jul 15, 2016 - 10:27am PT
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Better to say something like, "Have no idea how this happened" than to invent some fantasy where magical fairies lift the bag enough to unweight it from the 'biner, while another opens the LOCKING 'biner and slips the slings out of it,
the slings became unweighted when the bag hung on a ledge. This allowed the slings to come off an apparently unlocked biner. When the bag was freed fromthe ledge it dropped. Sounds like bad luck with the bag dropping, good luck that it only broke an arm.
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Jul 15, 2016 - 11:01am PT
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This allowed the slings to come off an apparently unlocked biner.... Sounds like bad luck...
Sounds like really bad luck. Locking 'biners don't just unlock, and if it was unlocked, they don't just magically open. I certainly struggle to imagine what events caused not one but both slings to just pop out of a locking 'biner, even given just the right sort of unweighting due to the ledge, or that both non-locker 'biners/slings got unattached simultaneously.
Everything comes down to the phrase "somehow unclipped," and that's where the magic happens. Unpacking that magic would be valuable indeed, although it's probably never gonna happen, sadly.
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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Jul 15, 2016 - 11:44am PT
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agreed, nothing really to be gleaned that is of value due to the apparent PTSD symptoms from the 'chaos of the moment'.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jul 15, 2016 - 12:31pm PT
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The analysis was crystal clear and written in plain English. Slings unclip from biners all the time. A little too wordy would be my only complaint.
WTF is with the thread title? There's only 1 Pete I know on ST.com, must have been him - as if the group here [and it's views on things] represents more than 0.0001% of the climbing world.
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Radish
Trad climber
SeKi, California
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Jul 15, 2016 - 01:28pm PT
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And then there's the other part. The Park probably won't charge for the rescue, but is the climber who dropped the bag liable for Pete's medical bills?
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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Jul 15, 2016 - 02:16pm PT
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uh oh, Jillypees' feathers are ruffled
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sween345
climber
back east
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Jul 15, 2016 - 03:35pm PT
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After packaging Pete’s arm, Jeff rigged for a tandem rappel using a modified version of a rescue spider.It should also be noted that this is the exact same method Jeff had been using to rappel with the dropped haul bag,
Do you think they told Pete about this before blast off?
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madbolter1
Big Wall climber
Denver, CO
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Jul 15, 2016 - 03:48pm PT
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It should also be noted that this is the exact same method Jeff had been using to rappel with the dropped haul bag
Good thing that no part of Pete got even slightly unweighted by any ledge during the descent. Wouldn't want to see that magic trick get repeated with a living soul.
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overwatch
climber
Arizona
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Jul 15, 2016 - 04:10pm PT
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The road kill T-shirts girl on my sidebar right now, oh man!
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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That guy was lucky that bag didn't hit him square on the head. That ledge at the top of Little John is only about five feet wide, but about twenty feet long. With a long tether, he might have been able to dodge the bag. If he was clipped in short to the bolts, he wouldn't have had any ability to move out of the way.
The two climbers who dropped the haul bag were safety experts: a Wilderness First Responder and an EMT. But, the guy with the haul bag was rappelling above the other guy. I would think the first guy down should always take the bag.
As long as PTPP has somehow become entangled in this horrific story, I will mention that PTPP suggests attaching the rappel rig to the haul bag, and then attaching yourself to that with your daisies. The back-up prusik knot above the rappel device is clipped to the haul bag, too. That way, you don't have the stupid thing hanging off of your harness, limiting your range of motion. And it's nearly impossible for the pig to get loose from the rappel rope. Also, you can unclip from the haul bag, and leave it dangling on the rope.
PTPP also suggests using big, heavy-duty auto-lockers for haul bags.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
SLO, Ca
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I don't like hanging around the bottom of El Cap and have never done any cragging there for fear of falling objects. I'm not the paranoid overly cautious type, but a lot of stuff comes off of those walls..
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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I hope Pissed Off at the Haulbag Pete recovers well.
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Lambone
Big Wall climber
Ashland, Or
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Ironically enough, Pass the Piton Pete has dropped his haulbag off El Cap on numerous occasions. Including one time by accident where it "magically" unclipped itself from the anchors...
The other times it was just kicked off the top. In his defense I think he has abandoned this practice after being called out on it for over a decade. ;)
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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I was thinking about PTPP this week, since I finally saw some Boeger Wines in a Boise wineshop.
Pete has repeatedly said that he has visited the winery, bought some bottles and thinks his Boegers are a good pick.
I picked a couple Boegers and look forward to trying them.
Pick some Boegers & give them a try like PTPP!
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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I don't like hanging around the bottom of El Cap and have never done any cragging there for fear of falling objects.
Agreed. A dangerous place to be.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Ironically enough, Pass the Piton Pete has dropped his haulbag off El Cap on numerous occasions. Including one time by accident where it "magically" unclipped itself from the anchors...
There was no magic when that haul bag accidentally was dropped. I was there, five feet from PTPP when it happened.
We were leaving he Poison Pill bivy ledge about one third of the way up on Scorched Earth. I had gone up to the belay above, to get ready to haul. PTPP was cleaning gear from behind the long, thin horizontal flake, and his ratty old #4 rigid Friend got stuck.
Since I had put it in the night before, PTPP insisted that I come down and get it out. Well, I knew there had been some play in the cam when I put it in, but now the heat-expando Poison Pill had closed up on it overnight. So, it wasn't going to come out.
This irritated PTPP, and he became distracted. His haul bag was connected to a haul rope, ready to be untied and lowered out. But, his clouded mind was consumed with that #4 Friend, and he absent-mindedly untied MY haul bag that was not clipped to any rope at all. I was doing something else, and looked up, then down, when I heard a strange noise:
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH
BOOOOOOOOOOM
The entire SE face of El Cap went silent for a very, very long moment as climnbers on Mescalito, Sea of Dreams, Zodiac, etc. tried to figure out, "What the hell was THAT???"
The haul bag never touched the wall after the first five or ten feet. It hit the trees about forty feet from the base of the cliff and disappeared from view. Other climbers started yelling back and forth, wanting to know if anybody saw anything.
PTPP, in a loud voice, assured everybody that it was a pig, not a person, that had cratered from 700 feet up. He then apologized for creating a ruckus. I was laughing my ass off, not at PTPP, but at the idea of trundling a bag, right there, in front of everyone. I was jealous that I didn't get to do it.
PTPP then set about getting ready to retreat off the wall. I reminded him that we had just crossed severely overhanging terrain, including a giant roof. I pointed up to the fixed ropes leading up the next pitch, and that was the way we went. We finished the route on half rations. I used dirty clothes, storm gear, ropes, whatever in lieu of a sleeping bag. I still had my portaledge.
PTPP would lead and short-fix and I would haul and clean and we got off the wall in a rather short time (two-three days), considering how difficult the route was. PTPP says that he can climb fast when he wants to, he just normally doesn't want to climb fast. And that was true.
PTPP had dropped my bag of big cams, so we had to divert around the wide Leavittator Crack and go up a copperhead seam on Aurora. That was my only disappointment on that wall. I really, really wanted the Leavittator.
Those other times that PTPP dropped his bags it was from the ZMDZ down to the ZMLZ. Using radios to coordinate to ensure the LZ was clear, and to ensure there was no wind, we would FEDEX a pig package using a rainfly as a parachute. The package would be delivered to the ZMLZ, the steep talus and scree field about 200 feet from the base of Zenyatta Mendatta. The launch window was typically 2am to 4 am.
It was part of a bygone era. PTPP was just the last to cling to that age-old practice. Many, many climbers before him had chucked their bags off the Mescalito Diving Board (bad place to do that) or off the ZMDZ (better place). I learned how to properly use water bottles with their caps just barely on, as cushioning, from Walt Shipley.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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and a post by beatrix kiddo!
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Wow, thanks everyone for all your concern, but it wasn't me - you'll never catch me free climbing, that's for sure.
Best wishes to the other Pete for a full recovery.
I was indeed away fishing up in northern Ontario in the Chapleau - Missinaibi area. We paddled and portaged for six days and caught some great lake trout, walleye and northern pike.
In spite of it being the middle of July, the lake trout were amazingly easy to catch, down fifteen or twenty feet. I had my portable depth finder with me, which allowed me to troll along the dropoffs without losing any lures to snags. This laker hit my brand new lure, my "Missinaibi Special" - a silver #8 Shad Rap deep diver. The silver/blue deep diving Reef Runner was the other killer lure.
This was the first laker I caught, and he went on the stringer and ultimately into the frying pan. About 3 lb 8 oz x 22"
Here's a couple walleye from the next lake we stayed in, a mere 200m portage from the lake trout lake, but completely different - shallower and warmer. The fish are 20" x 3 lb 6 oz, and the smaller one is about 18". The little guy got live released, and the big guy was supper in a delicious beer batter.
Cheers to all who messaged me and asked how I am! I'm having fun hanging out with Anita in Montreal this week.
And never forget Boeger wine - Boeger is a great pick!
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Lake trout and walleye; yum yum.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Nice looking fish, Pete. Am glad you are ok, and wishing the other Pete a quick recovery.
Tom, great story! Am wondering how your "bag of big cams" fared upon landing?
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say... prayers for the hurt-pete... and happy to see the fish-pete...
you are both, wished the best, and--
a happy good eve...
:)
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Glad you're alright, was worried there for a minute until I, like many, read that he was free climbing and deduced it was not our beloved PTPP.
<3
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Aw, shucks, you guys .....
Tom's big bag of cams lay splattered at the base of the wall - in the trees below Scorched Earth just left of the Trip - unmolested for days. There were six or eight Valley Giants just lying there, I think maybe even Tom's plywood 16" cam was there, too.
I remember when we went to collect them afterwards, that some of the canned food had exploded all over everything, but I don't think the bears had dug in.
Maybe Tom can come up with a link to a photo of the carnage?
After the pig went flying, I was truly horrified. I was beating myself up all over the place, but Tom really took it in stride. I am not sure I would have been so compassionate had the roles been reversed! Still, we hauled ass to the summit.
I remember someone talking to us on the bridge afterwards:
"We were watching you and Tom up there on Scorched Earth for days, enjoying your customary pace of a pitch a day. Then one day we looked up, and you were gone from the wall. 'They must have bailed,' we said. Then someone pointed high towards the top and said, 'They haven't bailed! They're gunning for the summit!' "
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Tom, great story! Am wondering how your "bag of big cams" fared upon landing?
All the big cams, including the plywood VG16, were in a separate haul bag, hanging on a catch line. That homemade oversized bag was the Blue Whale, and on the way down, it reached its catchline out and grabbed a tree branch.
When I got there, the Blue Whale, still full of cams, was about six feet off the ground, swaying in the breeze. It had probably bent the branch to rebound off the ground, but was otherwise intact. There was almost no damage to the cams. I think the plywood cam had to be repaired, and I later used it in the flared bombay chimney/offwidth on P7 of Bermuda Dunes.
The haul bag itself totally blew out the bottom seam and cans of clam chowder totally exploded all over the place. It didn't look like bears had been there, but the place was covered in ants. The haul bag was easily repaired, because the stitching, not the fabric, is what blew out. I just had to resew the seams using the old holes.
Watching PTPP go out fifty feet on hooks, while belaying from two rotten 1/4" rawl bolts, made me decide to repair belay bolts on our next obscure wall, which was Bermuda Dunes.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Hope all is well Pete. Health and lots of walls for the future!
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eagletusk
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Mar 15, 2017 - 02:54pm PT
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An update on my progress so far:
Do to the bag falling so far and being a fully loaded haul bag it pretty much hit with the impact of a vehicle slamming into a wall at 60mph. My arm and hand were shattered, compound fractured. I was incredibly lucky, 4 inches over and it would have hit a my head, or a major organ and I would have only lasted a week or less.
I was helicopter evacuated to the closest trauma unit in Modesto, where it was confirmed I had compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome causes extreme amount of swelling In my case it would also have been fatal if I was to have stayed on that ledge for ~ 50 hours.
Within 6 hours I was under the knife in Modesto.
The next day they mentioned it was 50/50% if they were going to have to amputate.
Undoubtedly, I owe my arm to YOSAR, who orchestrated the rescue and evacuation to whom I am extremely indebted to. Thank you guys, what you do is amazing, I believe no less than 10 people from YOSAR were involved in my rescue, amazing.
I proceeded to spend the next 35 consecutive days in the hospital, and the next 6 months in and out. As of last week I have had 8 surgeries on my arm, but there will be more. I currently have ~5 hours a week of physical therapy.
I have had an amazing amount of people come together to help me get back, thanks to all family and friends, nurses, doctors, pilots, and hand therapists. (and possibly secret service agents as this was the weekend that Obama was in Yosemite and the helicopter had to get permission to fly as the POTUS had a NO-FLY zone over Yosemite for the weekend.)
During the process I got involved with Paradox Sports, who have a mission to get people with disabilities out climbing. They are all fantastic people, and collectively have some of the most inspiring stories around, they have helped me get to where I am now.
I have made a significant recovery, and I can now type and have been working full time as an engineer. Climbing related, prior to my latest surgery I was able to lead a 5.8 climb over at Boulder Rock Club.
As of right now my wrist is basically fused with no extension. I have a pretty decent amount of hardware in my arm, There is still some hope things will continue to get better, time will tell.
And there are the medical bills ...
The person who dropped the haul bag has not contacted me and during the event offered no remorse.
This accident was written up in Rock and Ice which is great for awareness. If you are planning on doing some big wall climbing in Yosemite please remember it's more than you out there, get some training, and be careful.
There is some precedent for people to purposely droping their haul bags. In that very same issue of R&C the gear guy talks about doing just that back in the 80's. Please do not do this. Please try not to drop anything while climbing.
-Paul
Friends of YOSAR
https://www.friendsofyosar.org/
Paradox Sports
http://paradoxsports.org/
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Mar 15, 2017 - 03:09pm PT
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wow Paul, what a story. Glad you are making it through this life-changing ordeal with a great attitude. Hope you continue to heal up.
Hats off to YOSAR and all the countless other personnel
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Mar 15, 2017 - 03:19pm PT
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There is some precedent for people to purposely droping their haul bags. In that very same issue of R&C the gear guy talks about doing just that back in the 80's. Please do not do this. Please try not to drop anything while climbing.
Yes, this is important. Thanks for sharing your story and it is a good place to remind to people to donate to friendsofyosar!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Mar 15, 2017 - 03:41pm PT
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Peter or Paul, that's one hell of a price to pay for what used to be "cheap thrills," a phrase we uttered with tongue in cheek.
There was one of those disappearing threads here which addressed "dropped" pigs, but it vanished one day.
Mr. Brennan wrote:
"The physics and result of a thrown haulbag connecting with a human on the ground is an inexcusable no-brainer."
The party who is responsible for your injuries is a classic example of what I would call a super-dickhead. They are above responsibility for their mis-deeds. They will surely burn in hell.
WBraun offered his pithiest comments in this post (verbatim):
We used to huck our bags off the top all the time.
We used a parachute. The bag floats to the ground.
Stooopid modern climbers with no brain huck haul bag off without parachute.
They probably would jump off El Cap without a parachute too.
Stoopid modern climbers .....
:-)
Some might say you were lucky it was not a chicken. They can get pretty feisty after a 3,000' "flight."
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Mar 15, 2017 - 04:28pm PT
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Thanks for the update, you have an interesting story to tell. Perhaps you should start another thread....the title of this one is misleading and people who would be interested might not open it.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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Mar 15, 2017 - 05:26pm PT
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hey there, say, paul...
thanks for the update...
sad to hear about the 'dropper' never wanting to
check up or help you... :(
thanks for sharing and getting back to us all...
good to see you coming along, the best you can...
job well done, to those that YOSAR wonder-crew, that helped you
so tremendously, >:D<
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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Mar 15, 2017 - 05:45pm PT
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What Donini said. Worthy of its own thread
Susan
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jaaan
Trad climber
Chamonix, France
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Mar 16, 2017 - 01:51am PT
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I'm confused now. Did the bag accidentally become detached or was it deliberately dropped? I may have missed something here...
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Tobia
Social climber
Denial
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Mar 16, 2017 - 03:27am PT
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Paul, wow a lot of surgeries and PT to save your arm. Your patience and hard work, tell me what kind of man you are, especially considering the record of the accident, i can visualize the nasty wound and overwhelming pain, but only on the ground floor and not tied into a ledge.
Hopefully, the responsible party will see your post and send some kind of message of regret, sympathy and some other essentials.
On the lighter side.
PTPP, did your beloved #4 Friend get recovered? Those are some pretty fish you caught.
As for Werner's posted quote, how does his satire escape everyone? As long as he has been with YOSAR, his comment could only be offered up in this manner. At least that is my belief.
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i-b-goB
Social climber
Wise Acres
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Mar 16, 2017 - 08:11am PT
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^^^^
Right on!
Paul sorry!!!
Pass The Pipe Paul = (PTPP) - delete already taken!
Edit: Pass the Pipe Paul = (PtPP)
vvvv
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Mar 16, 2017 - 11:40am PT
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Be careful up on the walls. Mistakes happen all the time which can lead to accidents like this one, and stuff is falling everywhere all over El Cap!
Funny how a pseudonym in an article got translated to initials rather similar to mine. ;)
From the Rock & Ice article:
"Dropped Haulbag Strikes Climber in Yosemite
At around noon on June 16, a party of three climbers—Pete, Mark and Vlad (all names are pseudonyms per Yosemite National Park protocol)...
...The haulbag had detached from a setup rigged by Jeff, part of a team rappelling from Heart Ledges directly over Pete, Mark and Vlad....
Jeff’s “best guess” was that the locker holding the runners opened, allowing the bag to detach....
...This accident might have been prevented if the haulbag had been backed up with true redundancy. When the single locker holding both slings failed—by either unscrewing or because it was accidentally left unlocked—the bag dropped."
There is an excellent analysis of the accident in the R & I article linked below. BE CAREFUL when rappelling, especially with heavy pigs. Double- and triple-check your system, making sure your lockers are actually locked, and especially check for gate loading.
http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-accidents/dropped-haulbag-strikes-climber-in-yosemite
Glad to hear you are getting better, Paul. Stop by at the Bridge for beers sometimes, eh?
Cheers,
PtPP not PTPP
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ec
climber
ca
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Damn...a steady and 'quick' recovery to you Paul!
I've witnessed the breeze spinning the connection of a non-locking (that shoulda been a locked-locking) that twisted and released a Curry Cot from about 700 feet up Mesca-Dawn. Scary sh*t for those below, as unlike a pig, the cot flew randomly back and forth like a leaf and landed under the Salathé...
 ec
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eagletusk
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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I am the "Pete" from the accident, my name is actually Paul.
I have indeed survived the incident.
Some of my story can be read here: http://themountainfold.com/?page_id=1071
My story is one of amazing people coming to my aid in a time of need. I am extremely grateful and very fortunate for my life and my arm.
The person who dropped the haul bag has not reached out to me since the incident.
I have written an open letter to Jonathan who dropped the haul bag here:
http://themountainfold.com/?page_id=1059
If anyone is interested to hear more about my story or help in some way you can contact me here or via my website.
At one point I decided to to a gofundme page to attempt to recoup some of the financial losses, I took it down as Jonathan did not have an opportunity to let me know his intentions.
As you can maybe understand it has taken a lot of time and conversations to put down on paper my letter.
I will update my site with Jonathan's response on my website if he decides to have his response open.
I have contacted several lawyers about my case, they have informed me that the case hinges on whether or not Jonathan had insurance that covered him for negligence. It is unclear if he does or not and I have asked him to answer this question in my letter. If you are a lawyer or have some insight you would like to offer me please reach out to me.
An accident like this is incredibly complicated and hard to commit to paper. Since this accident played out here on SuperTopo, in Rock and Ice and in Accidents I thought it would be useful to the climbing community to make my letter to Jonathan an open letter. A respected figure in the climbing community advised me to read Michael Kennedy's open letter in Alpinist 38 hisson Hayden called The Sharp End
You can read the letter here: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP38/11-the-sharp-end
While the topic of my letter is not the same as Michael's perhaps there is something to be gained from making my letter open as well.
I do not know what lessons one can learn from any accident. It is my intention with the open letter to give one example of what to do and to reach out in a significant way.
Thank you to everyone from Jonathan himself aiding in my rappel off El Cap to my climbing partners, my family, the doctors, my physical therapists, and to everyone over at Paradox Sports who very loudly showed me that injury is manageable, and to the climbing community at large who helped me recover.
For those interested in my physical recovery with respect to climbing I physically can climb. Between surgery 7 and 8 I was able to lead up some climbs in the gym, albeit with a much weaker left arm. When I tried climbing outdoors it became a different story every thing that was abovet that fell or had potential to fall or was someone yelling from above me would cause me to flash back to the accident. I have been diagnosed with PTSD from it, luckily my PTSD is related to a very specific activity and I have been able to manage it mostly by not going climbing.
Thanks for your time.
-Paul
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