Leg stuck in crack while rope soloing in J-Tree

This was embarrassing, demoralizing and a bit traumatizing, but fortunately ended well. This was my first actual climb after 10 years away from the sport. I went to J-tree by myself with plans to work on rope soloing technique. I had solo TR’d some in the past but never lead.

Granny Goose 5.7 sits right next to the road and fortunately a popular bathroom stop for tourists as well. A fun easy flake leads to a short off-width. I wasn’t that confident on my solo lead system and I’ll use that as my excuse for using poor technique and hugging the rock more than necessary.

I felt my left leg slot into the crack like a textbook nut placement. I realized I was stuck but figured I just needed to remove it the way it went in. I soon realized that it was in there really good and my next thought was, WTF? This can’t be happening.

I knew I needed to stay calm but it was also uncomfortable and my biggest concern was I knew the swelling was beginning…and if I couldn’t get it out before, what chance would I have after swelling.

I had a cam overhead, a good edge for my right foot and I could press my left foot on rock inside the crack so I had plenty of mobility that should have allowed me to move in any way needed to extract myself. And yet, no luck. If you’ve never experience being trapped like this, I can assure you it’s a not a good feeling. My Aron Ralston moment. Why do I like climbing again?

After about 20 minutes I finally decided I needed to yell down to some tourists. I told them I was stuck and if they saw any other climbers could they tell them somebody needed help. Couldn’t remember the name of this climb so I gave them the name of the nearby climb, Uncle Fester.

They said they would call a ranger…of course there is no cell reception so that wasn’t going to work. 

Somebody asked if I had water to pour on my leg so I lowered a bite of rope down and they clipped my Nalgene bottle on. That didn’t help. Next somebody asked if I had a knife to cut my pants leg off, so again I had them clip on my pocket knife from my pack.

They also sent up some sunscreen suggesting I could use that. As much as I wanted to be free from the rock, slathering the crack with oily sunscreen was not something I was ready to do. I can only imagine somebody coming along to solo it only to find a greased up crack. 

So after cutting my pants leg off I was finally able to pull my leg free. 

It is scary to think what would have happened if I was somewhere more remote. Just the week before I was exploring out by the Arid Piles formation and did not see a soul. If it had happened there, things could have ended very badly. Lucky I had a knife, lucky I wasn’t too high up, lucky there were people down below.

I spent the rest of the day sort of wandering around in a daze looking at climbs I had done back in the day, but not being able to bring myself to jump on anything.

The next morning I woke up with the sun and just knew I had to get back in the saddle as quick as possible. If I was to leave the park without climbing anything it would eat away at me constantly. But what should I do? I remembered Lazy Day was another fun 5.7 so I decided I would give that a go. Managed to lead that without any issues and that gave me a bit of confidence back.

What next? There was one obvious answer to that question of course. I had to go back and do the climb that tried to eat me. That’s what climbers do right? We fail but we don’t give up easily. I assessed the danger factor and realized there was virtually no chance that was going to happen again now that I know what to look out for. I knew I could climb it. And I simply was not going to stick my leg in that crack.

So that was the happy ending. Went back and lead the climb cleanly solo. And of course overcoming the setback and failure from the day before only added to the satisfaction of doing the climb.

Has anybody else ever gotten stuck, I mean really stuck like this? Doesn’t seem like it’s a very common occurrence fortunately.

https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/106555556

The name Aron Ralston also comes to mind.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aron_Ralston

Note to self: Carry soap in backpack, or better yet soap on a rope!

So you had a reasonable understanding of the technical risks of your activity, equipped yourself and chose a route appropriate to your skill and the added consequences of rope soloing, climbed carefully enough that your system could handle an emergency, quickly sacrificed your ego to prioritize your own safety, successfully conducted a technical self rescue, and took time to reflect on the consequences of your choices and modify your future behavior 

Sick. Sounds like you've got your head on straight my dude

Edit: AND you didn't grease up the rig with touron juice. Legendary

Double edit: AND you went back and sent the damn thing. This should be in Trip Reports, not Injuries and Accidents. "Great day out rope soloing in JTree"

Appreciate the comments Pat! 

Doesn’t look like I can change the category...will ask the moderators to do it.

The Boysen fissure comes to mind

I think it was blood that allowed Martin to get his knee out 

High on Trango many years ago

David Burridge wrote:

Appreciate the comments Pat! 

Doesn’t look like I can change the category...will ask the moderators to do it.

I'm kidding about that part. ;) 

The name Aron Ralston also comes to mind.

He's the reason I always tell somebody where I'm going and when to expect a call from me (when going solo).

At least you didn't shit yourself and now own 1/2 a pair of booty shorts.

yeah, getting your knee stuck in an OW is always a good time!

I am always worried about this on OW. Got my rope cammed between a cam and my wrist on Super Roof a few years back. I was under the roof. Couldn't go up or down or pull rope or unclip cam. My hubby had to do a rescue on me. Had some nerve damage in wrist for a few months. Still won't go back to it. Worse part, we ran into Locker and Dave Mayville in the parking lot before heading out to Comfortably Numb. The last thing they said to us was, "we'll call search and rescue now." They jinxed us!! No fun, lesson learned, know rope rescue and self rescue. Glad it turned out okay for you.

Both times I've gotten my foot wedged in hard and it doesn't come out right away (been climbing for 47 years, gonna happen at some point), I think of Galen Rowell having to escape his belay to climb up to Layton Kor and literally have to hammer Kors foot out of the rock. Kor was one of the greats and in his prime, and it it can happen to him it could happen to anyone. 

I've always managed to get my foot loose, but that feeling before I get it out.....whew. 

Billcoe wrote:

... I think of Galen Rowell having to escape his belay to climb up to Layton Kor and literally have to hammer Kors foot out of the rock. Kor was one of the greats and in his prime, and it it can happen to him it could happen to anyone. 

Actually it was Rowell who got his boot stuck, and Kor had to climb up to him and hammer it out.

This was on a 5.9 ow on the Salathe' Wall.

Beyond the Vertical, p. 208.

Pat Light wrote:

....Sick. Sounds like you've got your head on straight my dude

This might be a tad optimistic.   After all, after 10 years away from climbing, the first climb the dude seeks out is an offwidth???!  Sounds total sketch to me, lol.  

This was a cry for help in more ways than one!

Not to mention LRS?  Not exactly a great way to ease back into the sport!  Glad you’re ok.

David Burridge wrote:

Next somebody asked if I had a knife to cut my pants leg off, so again I had them clip on my pocket knife from my pack.

I guess you'll be one of us who carries a knife on every climb we do from now on. My "moment" was when I had girthhitched a 2-ft sling to my harness and clipped myself with a locker to a rap bolt. When it was my turn to rap, the locker decided it didn't want to open (dirt in the threads I guess). I have carried a knife ever since.

I was messaging a friend last week who told me he came across someone stuck in a crack at vedauvoo.  They used crisco to lubricate the crack and climber to get him released.  

That’s super cool that you went back and climbed it the next day, huge props for that. Nice read, thanks for sharing, I don’t think most folks would air that out in a public forum.

Isn't is easy enough to grab a partner these days? Soloing is for when you are so dialed you have no reason not to solo.

David Burridge wrote:

Has anybody else ever gotten stuck, I mean really stuck like this? Doesn’t seem like it’s a very common occurrence fortunately.

It happen often. Several times in remote places in Yosemite's with 6-7 inches cracks I bumped into skeletons with its  knee stuck. You are lucky that tourists were around. Always take 1/4 gallon of olive oil clipped directly to my #6 Camelot  when I go climb OW

Clint Cummins wrote:

Actually it was Rowell who got his boot stuck, and Kor had to climb up to him and hammer it out.

This was on a 5.9 ow on the Salathe' Wall.

Beyond the Vertical, p. 208.

Yes, thanks for the correction Clint.