FALL ON ROCK, INADEQUATE SELF-BELAY

California, Santa Barbara, San Ysidro Rock

Excerpts of an account sent to us by a climber (27) may be instructive for solo attempts on rock:

I was climbing the 5.9 variation of Face Lift on San Ysidro Rock. It was a hard move, but I'd done it before with no problem. I fell once, going over backward, but got back up. I tried again. When I fell again, I was coming close to hitting a tree. I didn’t want to do that. I put my foot out to stop myself, but it didn’t stay. I rested a few minutes, then, with a sprained ankle, finished the climb and limped out to the Emergency room. In the future, I will be attached by two ropes when doing high exposure climbs, one to belay me and another tied to the back of my harness so that if I fall, I won’t go over backward like I did this time.