A Painful Learning Curve

A Painful Learning Curve

Anyone who has seen the recent edition of the Reel Rock Tour has no doubt been transfixed by images of Alex Honnold free soloing routes in Zion and Yosemite and Kevin Jorgeson highballing soloing in Bishop.  While I was as impressed as the next guy, there were times during the film that watching something so dangerous made me a little uncomfortable.  While I have tremendous respect for the mental control it takes to solo, it seems only a matter of time before something really bad happens while the cameras are rolling.  Which brings us to an accident that took place recently in Rumney, NH.

Rumney is well-known for it’s hard sport climbs, many of which are not terribly tall.  With this in mind, Max Zolotukhin set out to attempt a free solo of the 30 ft. tall Supernova (5.14b).  The cameras were rolling, but unfortunately things didn’t go as planned:

During my previous highballing exploits I have never thought about the fall; every time I was so zeroed in on what I was doing and so confidant in my abilities that I knew with absolute certainty that I was getting to the top safely. The difference this time was not obvious to me until it was too late. As I pulled on for the second time, my mind seemed to be elsewhere. Instead of having that singular focus that I’m so familiar with, I felt disconnected from my body. By virtue of my past experiences I just assumed that I was going to be fine. As I got to the crux shoulder move again, I set feet, hesitated for a split second, and went for it. I hit the pocket accurately but for reasons unknown, my body sagged out and I helicoptered off. Without the ability to control my fall as I did the first time, I came down several feet to the right, grazed the edge of the pads, and landed with all my weight on my left ankle on a small jagged boulder 5 feet below the slab. The second I hit I knew things had gone wrong. My foot was facing due west instead of straight ahead like a normal foot should. Strangely, there was a pronounced lack of pain and merely an extreme discomfort in my left ankle. As my friends carried me down steep hillside to meet the ambulance I was completely lucid. I did not feel like I was in shock; I did not feel like I had sustained an extremely traumatic injury (which the doctor later convinced had certainly occured). All I could do was rack my brain to find the reasons I had fallen.

After racking his brain in the days following the injury, Max wrote a very interesting post about the whole incident that I highly recommend reading.  While the story doesn’t necessarily make him look that good, I think it’s an insightful read.

To give you a better frame of reference, here is some video of Dave Wetmore trying Supernova, a route he recently redpointed:

*Image used for this post is not an actual picture of Max’s ankle

Update: Here is the video of what happened:

Update #2: Here is some video of Dave sending:

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25 Responses to A Painful Learning Curve

  1. Maxim October 26, 2009 at 2:16 pm #

    I am in possession of a password protected vimeo vid of the accident, but i need the owner’s go-ahead before i can share it.

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  2. John Knoernschild October 26, 2009 at 2:29 pm #

    OUCH!

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  3. Narc October 26, 2009 at 2:31 pm #

    Dougald MacDonald has an old post related to the topic of free soloing that is relevant to this story as well:

    http://themountainworld.blogspot.com/2008/09/el-cap-free-solo-only-matter-of-time.html

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  4. Maxim October 26, 2009 at 2:43 pm #

    also, just gave it one more edit.

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  5. B3 October 26, 2009 at 2:48 pm #

    Narc, you could just provide a link to my original post instead of rewording it.

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    • Narc October 26, 2009 at 2:55 pm #

      I’m actually glad you mentioned this.

      I actually wrote most of this post, specifically the first paragraph, earlier this morning which made me chuckle quite a bit when I saw what you wrote. You could have just provided a link to my mind instead of rewording my thoughts. Or something…

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  6. Maxim October 26, 2009 at 5:50 pm #

    http://vimeo.com/7200883

    not sure how to embed it, feel free if you know how to Narc.

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    • Narc October 26, 2009 at 6:17 pm #

      It looks like he has the embed option disabled

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  7. 2tall2climb October 26, 2009 at 6:29 pm #

    should work now

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  8. peter October 26, 2009 at 6:35 pm #

    I am disappointed that, when someone dies free soloing we all just kind of sit back and say “well at least he died doing what he loved” instead of dealing with the reality of those s/he leaves behind.

    I’m glad that the stance I’ve taken on soloing from the beginning is finally coming out. Thank you for the words max, well thought out and spot on. I’m glad you’re friends called you on it and that you were big enough to see it was out of caring for you not out of restraining you. All best in your recovery, you represent your sponsors well.

    Thanks for the writeup narc and Jamie.

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    • Narc October 26, 2009 at 6:57 pm #

      I find the “they died doing what they loved” argument hollow for just about any activity. Sure, a person may die doing something they enjoyed, but in the end they are still dead. It’s doubtful they left the house that day expecting to die and most likely they would prefer to still be alive, as would the many many people their deaths affect.

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  9. GAVIN HEVERLY October 26, 2009 at 11:35 pm #

    http://gheverly.blogspot.com/2009/10/ayn-rand-was-fucking-dumb.html

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  10. AB October 27, 2009 at 8:55 am #

    I feel bad that Max hurt himself, and I don’t think he deserves to be criticized for his motives. He was open about them, which sets him above most people, in my opinion.

    However, I feel like the topic of discussion is being diverted by the inopportune fact that this route is really a highball with bolts. Therefore, I think it’s a little bit of a stretch to call what Max was doing “soloing.” … I mean, he was basically trying a 30-foot V12, with pads, spotters, etc. This happens all the time elsewhere and no one thinks twice about it. He took a bad fall, rolled his ankle, and that’s that. It definitely sucks for him, and I’m not trying to diminish the boldness of what he was trying to do or anything like that. I’m simply pointing out that just because this 30-foot V12 (and I don’t really know if that’s the grade; I’m just guessing) has bolts in it, we call it “soloing,” which is a word that evokes extreme connotations and feelings for most people–not to mention invocations of Ayn Rand.

    Soloing is part of climbing and it will be forever. Every time we go out and go up, there are moments when falling would have a really bad consequence. A highball topout can be just as dangerous as pulling up slack to clip the second bolt of a sport route and then falling. This summer, a man from Boulder fell 15 feet to the ground, hit his head and died. Just 15 feet! It doesn’t take much, and we should be thankful when we avert injury, and compassionate to those who don’t.

    Max, and Gavin: I really liked your blog posts about this incident. The writing was great–open, honest, emotional. Thanx for sharing your feelings with us. Max, here’s to a speedy recovery! If it’s any consolation, all of the climbers I know who have sustained ankle injuries have returned to the sport twice as strong after 6 months of hangboarding and pull-ups.

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  11. Narc October 27, 2009 at 9:05 am #

    After seeing the footage I would be inclined to agree with what AB said with regard to it being more a highball than a solo. I think the fact that Max was able to jump down safely from the same height that he eventually fell from probably contributed to his falling since in the back of his mind he knew that he wasn’t going to die if he didn’t stick the move.

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  12. Maxim October 27, 2009 at 10:37 am #

    I believe it is probably somewhere in between. While the route itself only covers 30 feet of climbing, it has one of the worst/weirdest multi-tiered talus-filled landings I’ve ever seen. There would really be no way to have enough pads to make it anywhere near safe.

    Also, the route is capped by a four foot roof and involves maybe a V3 mantle to top out. If one were to come off cutting the feet (a mandatory move) when matched on the lip or on the mantle itself, you would actually pitch off the steep hillside and probably roll an extra 60 feet after you hit the ground. A fall from the top would very much be life threatening.

    Glad I didn’t get to test that theory.

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  13. Maxim October 27, 2009 at 10:44 am #

    P.S.

    @AB, Gavin and I are the “New England hipsters who are probably wealthy, bored, and uninteresting.”

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  14. Sean October 27, 2009 at 1:20 pm #

    I feel a little cheated since I bought Progression but didn’t attend the reel rock tour…what movie is all this honnold footage in? I thought the only movies showing at RRT were progression and a sneak preview of the first ascent series?

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    • Narc October 27, 2009 at 1:32 pm #

      The Honnold piece was an episode from the First Ascent series. Unfortunately, the show will not be airing in the U.S. unless something has changed that I’m not aware of.

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  15. thedirtbag October 27, 2009 at 4:43 pm #

    I have to say I think it’s pretty cool that people are talking about this. I remember an older climber telling me “Soloing in our sport seems to come in waves. A couple people lead the way. It becomes fashionable. Then people die. The enthusiasm for soloing goes away.”

    I do have to say — it’s not as black and white as some people want to make it. We all make choices with how to express ourselves with our passions. Some people push. Others pull back. As climbers we will do both in our lives. Remember that when your looking at other peoples’ decisions. I’m a reformed soloist. I gave it up not because of a close call, but because I saw how clearly impacted the people I loved. It was my call. I was good at it — maybe I even did it better than anything else in my life. But I just walked away and once I did that for a little bit, I just never felt like having to relearn that skill. Looking back, some of those days were the most important moments in my life. They were my own. They were definitively me.They were incredible. Would I be the person I am today if hadn’t soloed — I don’t think so. Were my solos selfish? — maybe, but isn’t okay to do things in life that are for ourselves? Would I encourage my child (hypothetical at this point) to start soloing. HELL NO.

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    • Justin October 30, 2009 at 7:39 pm #

      I’d like to echo thedirtbag’s sentiments. Soloing to me is colored, not unlike most interesting things in the world, in shades of gray.

      I haven’t soloed much if at all in recent years, at least nothing more than a few highballs, but it was definitely an passion of mine in the past. In fact, one of the greatest days of my life was spent soloing in Tuolumne Meadows. Would I try and recreate that day by re-soloing those routes? No, but there are a lot of things in my life that I wouldn’t repeat, but I wouldn’t take them back either if given the opportunity.

      While I would never encourage people to go soloing because of the potential consequences, I will also never deny that I did it, or may do it again in the future. Passing judgment upon another for soloing is difficult and not something I’m particularly keen to do, but I will say that ones motivations and ones responsibility to the needs and emotions of others should be the leading factors when deciding whether or not to solo. On the other hand, if one needs someone to tell them this its probably best to stay at home.

      -Justin

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  16. Andrew from Nickolodeon October 27, 2009 at 9:41 pm #

    You know Max, I don’t know why you wear traditional palestinian kafias. You don’t throw rocks, you climb them. You are so wealthy it offends me.

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    • Mark October 28, 2009 at 12:42 am #

      A better approximation would be keffiyeh or kuffiyeh (the prior being close to a different Arabic word). If you can read this it as follows:
      كوفيّة or Anglicized, ka-wau-fa-ya (with sheddah)-tarmarbuta.

      To make this a little less non sequitur…

      Rock climbing is cool. Hurting yourself is not. That is all.

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  17. Eggbert October 29, 2009 at 9:55 am #

    Gravity and the camera. A terrible combination! Heal quick.

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  1. Soloing and Risk. (Part 2) « Adventures in Dirtbaggery - October 26, 2009

    […] be you, you never know what can happen”.  The rant heart felt feelings below come via The Climbing Narc. You should read the post, then read Max Zolotukhin post on his accident, then I would suggest […]

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