FAULTY USE OF EQUIPMENT—California, Yosemite Valley. Shary McVoy (28) stated that she and Jeff Hall (29) arrived in Yosemite on March 20, intending to climb The Nose route, a Grade VI, 5.8 A3 climb on El Capitan. The following is McVoy’s account in substance of their climb on El Capitan. At 1 a.m. on March 21, Hall and McVoy began The Nose route, Hall leading the first and third pitches and McVoy the second and fourth. They reached Sickle Ledge at the end of the fourth pitch and rappelled to the ground, leaving fixed ropes.

At 10 a.m. on March 22, they jummared up the fixed lines to Sickle Ledge. Hall led the next pitch, ending at the steep portion of the Sickle. McVoy led the next pitch up the Sickle which ends on the face just to the east of the Sickle at a bolted hanging belay. The haul sack was left at that point and McVoy rappelled down leaving a fixed line. They continued to the ground, arriving there at 4 p.m.

At 6 a.m. on March 23, Hall and McVoy jummared back to Sickle Ledge and ate a breakfast which consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheese, yogurt and milk. They continued up the Sickle to the hanging belay point and Hall led by doing a pendulum to Dolt Crack and on up to Dolt Hole where they consumed some fig bars and some nuts. Hall then attempted to pull the haul sack up but it became lodged in Dolt Crack. McVoy then traversed to Dolt Crack, freed the haul sack and continued up to Dolt Hole. McVoy let the next pitch up Dolt Crack and then did a tension traverse east to Stoveleg Crack. The weather began turning bad so McVoy and Hall decided to return to Sickle Ledge rather than to continue three and a half pitches to Dolt Tower. McVoy proceeded back to Dolt Hole and the trailing rope became lodged. They decided to leave it since it had begun to snow and rain. Hall moved down Dolt Crack and experienced much difficulty in doing the reverse traverse to the hanging belay adjacent to the Sickle. Hall made the traverse after attempting to do so for approximately one hour. McVoy subsequently joined Hall at the hanging belay and the rope again became lodged when they tried to pull it. Hall decided to attempt to free the rope and anchored part of it into the protection and tied himself into the end of it. Hall then began to move laterally hand-over-hand on the portion of the rope which was jammed. The rope dislodged from the point where it was jammed and Hall fell approximately 20 feet and was momentarily stopped by the end which he had tied into. Hall suddenly separated from the rope and fell approximately 600 feet to the ground to his death.

McVoy said that after they experienced difficulties with the rope, Hall indicated to her that he intended to use the self-belay described above. She suggested to Hall that he wait until she could put him on belay, but Hall did not wait. As she turned to face the rock so that she could clip into the rope and put him on belay, Hall began moving out onto the jammed rope. She did not see the initial fall, but she heard the rope come free and the sounds of the initial fall, she turned and saw the rope which Hall had used for protection stop his fall momentarily. She said Hall was facing the rock as he stopped and in an instant she heard a sharp sound and saw Hall fall to the ground. This area of El Capitan is nearly vertical.

McVoy said Hall uttered no sounds during the fall, and that she did not attempt to communicate with him after the fall. She immediately began screaming and did so for approximately 20 minutes. She then untangled the ropes and observed that the portion of rope which Hall had tied into was not broken and observed that a figure eight knot which had been placed in the rope was still intact. McVoy then tied the haul line and that rope together and rappelled to the base of the steep part of the Sickle. It was still daylight when she reached Sickle Ledge. It had continued precipitating throughout the accident and for quite a while afterwards and the wind was blowing very hard. McVoy said she continued screaming until she was contacted by James F. Byers sometime after dark.

McVoy said she did not observe the manner in which Hall had tied into the rope prior to the fall, but stated that Hall generally utilized figure-eight knots. McVoy did not recall Hall having any waist belts or similar apparatus which could be tied into in addition to what I/R removed from Hall. McVoy also stated that Hall usually tied the rope into a locking carabiner on his waist and locked the carabiner. The locking carabiner which rescuers observed on Hall’s waist loop was not locked. McVoy further said that after her arrival at the hanging belay she observed that Hall was very cold and very anxious to free the rope and get down to Sickle Ledge, but that Hall was not shivering, was coherent, and appeared to be functioning normally physically.

She said that she and Hall were aware that a storm had been forecasted but were under the impression that it would only last a day and they had planned to endure it. They had attempted The Nose route approximately four weeks prior and had had to come down because of the weather. (Source: Fred Hempill, Yosemite National Park.)

Analysis: It appears that Jeffrey Hall’s death was due to anxiousness to retrieve a jammed rope at the end of a frustrating day. Hall did not wait for a standard belay to be set up but rather wanted to use a self-belay system as he hand-over-handed on the jammed rope. Hall also appeared to use a figure- of-eight knot on a bight and locking carabiner to tie himself into his harness/ swami belt.

Once the jammed rope freed itself, Hall fell much further than if he had a normal belay. It is speculated that during the fall, his carabiner somehow opened, causing his subsequent fall to the ground. This speculation is based in part on the fact that the portion of rope Hall had tied into was not broken and the figure-of-eight knot was still intact on the end from which Hall had been tied into. (Source: Tim Setnicka, Yosemite National Park.)