Khruangbin and Lord Huron to headline Outside Festival. At pitch 23, high up on The Nose VI 5. He admitted to me later that he was bonking.
But Scott was in a hurry. Scott was going for it alone, and making good time. It had only taken him 13 hours to get up 23 pitches. But then, just below the ramp to Camp 5, he sat back on his yellow Alien, and it ripped.
His ladder flipped him, and he fell, inverted, down the face of El Capitan. He furiously smacked at his Grigri in an attempt to catch his fall, but its release lever was tangled in his rope system. As he picked up speed, the rope uncoiled, burning through his pants and palms. Scott found himself swinging, bruised, and bloody, 2, feet up in the air. He remembers the shock of still being aliveβand wanting to be on the ground.
Tom texted the SAR Site immediately after. The SAR Site is a tiny village of tent cabins nestled between the boulders and pines in the back of Camp 4. They must be willing to go up anywhere, at any time. They do the backbreaking work of litter carry-outs for the injuredβand for those not as lucky.
A few minutes after 4 a. Later that evening, after his fall, Scott jugged back up to his high point and continued his climb. Two pitches from the top, he realized he was still on track to make the solo NIAD. It was a feat that maybe 20 people had accomplished at the time.
