World-renowned climber rescued from Yosemite's El Capitan
A world-renowned speed climber was rescued from Yosemite National Park's El Capitan by helicopter Friday after spending a chilly night on top of the famous rock when he fell and possibly injured both legs.
Hans Florine's Instagram captures his most iconic climbs on nature's most iconic peak.
Nobody has triumphantly climbed The Nose more times. So his selfie Thursday from El Capitan came across as a little odd.
"There is a rescue going on, on El Capitan." he wrote. "And it's me. I think I broke my leg. Rescuers, please be safe."
His friend and fellow climber Alex Honnold described to us what happened.
"I heard him yelling and thought it was normal just hooting and hollering having a good time," he said. "As I was hiking down I got good cell service and saw that I had a voicemail from him. I listened to the message and was like oh man, in the message he said he had broken his leg."
Alex was just above Hans on the wall when the fall happened. He says rescuers were able to reach his friend quickly and get him medical aid. But helicopters couldn't airlift him off the mountain until this morning. We reached Hans Florine by phone Thursday as he was headed into surgery. He said he broke his left ankle bone and right heel.
"It's quite difficult to climb the route using just your hands and feet. It's easier to put in a piece of gear into the rock. He put in a piece of gear and started to pull on it and the piece slipped out and so he just fell off backward."
Hans and Alex are among the world's most famous climbers. Together they set a world record in 2012 for speed climbing El Capitan. Hans Florine even wrote a book called "On the Nose: A Lifelong Obsession with Yosemite's Most Iconic Climb".
"It is a little sobering that Hans got injured because he's climbed that route more than any other human. "It just goes to show that you just have to be careful, some days are not your day."
Even the best fall down sometimes, but Alex Honnold says he knows his friend will be back.
