Accident Report: Rockfall on Tuolumne Peak

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Accident Report: Rockfall on Tuolumne Peak

A Central Yosemite Double Play!

Accident Report: Rockfall on Tuolumne Peak

Page Type: Trip Report

Location: California, United States, North America

Lat/Lon: 37.87530°N / 119.4833°W

Date Climbed/Hiked: Jul 15, 2005

Activities: Mountaineering

Season: Summer

Page By: Jeff Moore

Created/Edited: Aug 18, 2005 / Sep 19, 2008

Object ID: 170350

Hits: 19641

Page Score: 89.83% - 33 Votes

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Accident Site

On July 15, 2005 at 4:30 pm I was injured when I dislodged a large rock while climbing a short class 3-4 chimney on Tuolumne Peak in Yosemite National Park. I was climbing alone collecting data for a research project exploring rockfall. I had not informed anyone of my itinerary, carried no cell phone, and was not wearing a helmet.

The research project had taken me to nearly the same spot the previous Monday to determine rates of cliff erosion by rockfall. On this Friday I had completed 2 sites and was heading for a third at a large cirque amphitheatre on the southeast flank of Tuolumne Peak near Tuolumne Meadows. Approaching the site I was stemming an inside corner when I grabbed a hold above my head and dislodged a large rock. The rock was about twice the size of my chest and it came free from the wall easily, causing me to fall about 15 feet in an upright position. While falling, the rock was at the level of my chest and I fought to move it away from my body. During the fall the rock crushed my left ring finger, nearly severing it, and struck my right forearm, opening an 8 inch gash and destroying much of my forearm muscle. I landed on my feet and badly sprained one ankle (at the time I thought it was broken).

I assessed my situation noticing significant bleeding from my right forearm. Both bones in my arm were visible but neither were broken. My right hand was rendered useless due to the muscle injury, clasped closed without the opposing muscles required to keep it open. I quickly dropped my backpack and took off my shirt to wrap my arm at which point I was alerted to my left finger injury. The finger was almost totally severed, dangling by a small thread of tendon, but was not spurting blood. At the time, I considered pulling it off to ease my descent but did not. The combined injuries left me without dexterity making it difficult to wrap my shirt tightly around my open arm wound.

Looking up I could see Tenaya Lake four miles in the distance where my car was parked and where I would find help. I cursed myself for not having a cell phone but was thankful I was able to walk. Before descending I opted to reshoulder my backpack which had in it a treated nylon jacket, long underwear top, water, food, headlamp, maps and aerial photos, a compass, and an emergency space blanket, none of which I could easily retrieve due to my hand injuries. I placed my left hand atop my right forearm so the shirt would soak up the blood from both injuries, and did my best to hold both arms above my heart.

I began descending over steep slabs, ledges and boulders within 1 or 2 minutes of my fall. I had studied maps of the area well and knew there was a trail some 2,000 vertical feet below the accident site, but in attempting to follow the most direct route I was stopped by terrain too steep to descend in my condition. Backtracking and moving to a lower-angle route, I reached the trail in about 1 hour, during which time I suffered the first of two very painful tripping incidents. I remembered from the maps that once I reached the trail I should head in a counter-intuitive direction, away from Tenaya lake, before the trail would swing around to the proper heading. Unfortunately, I arrived at the trail in a different place than I thought I would, and after walking for about a half an hour I realized I was heading the wrong way. I turned around and hiked out. During my 2 hours hiking on the trail I was badly attacked by mosquitoes since I was covered in blood, wearing no shirt, and couldn’t fend them off with my hands. This stands out in my mind as being the worst part of my day. I also fell another time while crossing a slickrock stream which, aside from being painful, soaked my cotton pants. I encountered no other people on the trail.

I reached the highway at 7:30pm, 3 hours after the accident, and immediately flagged down a car which slowed, looked me over, and drove on. Another car came shortly, and I was driven to the Tuolumne Meadows ranger station. There were no rangers inside so I was helped out of the car and sat on the steps while the driver went to go find one. Before leaving, my helper took off my backpack, first having to peel my left hand from atop my right forearm which had scabbed to the shirt wrapping my wound.

When the Yosemite rangers arrived they decided to take me down to the Mammoth hospital. However, leaving the ranger station in the ambulance we headed west instead of east on Hwy 120 until after about 5 minutes I spoke up and we reversed our course. In Mammoth I was treated very well, undergoing 4 hours of surgery to first clean out the rocks and mosquitoes from my right arm then pin together the complex fracture on my left finger. I was in the hospital there for 2 more days before being flown to San Francisco for micro-surgery to repair my damaged nerves and muscles.

Now, one month after the accident, both my arms are splinted and immobile making every function difficult and requiring near constant care. This accident report is, in fact, typed letter by letter with a pencil strapped to my left splint. At this point I cannot open my fingers or thumb on my right hand, but my left finger is successfully reattached.

As for lessons learned, I think a couple are fairly obvious: let people know where you are going, carry a cell phone if you hike alone, be weary of loose rock, and wear a helmet on steep terrain. I feel very lucky that the rock did not strike my legs or head or I may have not been able to walk out of there and, because of the circumstances, it would have been days until I was reported missing.

Surgery and wound pics: Removed

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The Chief

Welcome....

Hasn't voted

Nice stuff! Welcome to the world of Pain, Suffering and climbing! It comes with the Gig! Take it from this "Psycho", two Compounds, two Skull Fractures, one broken foot, two knee cap fractures, thirteen finger fractures and dislocations, 112 stitches, three bouts with ALS, etc etc etc... just gotta get back on it! It's all part of this gig called climbing. Now, when are you getting back on it???

Posted Aug 9, 2006 12:41 am

apachedino

Update?

Voted 10/10

Hey I think it's pretty hardcore that you got out of there with such a calm head, I know Realitycheck was bagging on you for being irresponsible in respect to safety, and in a sense you were. However, the helmet, rope issue is irrelevant as it was 3rd class and I mean c'mon who uses that stuff for third class. Being alone, w/out cell and not telling anybody are no no's and I am sure you realize that now. I know it was over a year ago, but it has been a long time since your last update. How are things, getting back any strength/movement/feeling? Going to be able to climb again?

Posted Nov 23, 2006 3:55 am


	Jeff Moore	Re: Update?
	Hasn't voted	Hey, I appreciate your comments. My intent was to be up front about the mistakes that I made so hopefully someone wouldn’t have to learn the hard way like I did. I know this leaves me open to criticism but that’s ok with me. As for the update: I have pretty good range of motion in both my right and left hands. My left ring finger bends pretty well, though it will never likely bend all the way down. It doesn’t really grip anything but doesn’t get in the way either. My right hand still has trouble opening up all the way, the ring finger there droops down badly when I try and lift my fingers back. This finger does get in the way. My right thumb opens pretty well, which is what I am most thankful for since not being able to open that thumb was a serious problem. All in all I have pretty much returned to normal activities, I can climb rock and ice, work, and ski, though my strength is still lacking. Probably my biggest set back is mental, I have little confidence placing my body weight on a hold, and am very suspicious of any loose looking rock, even those I know should be stable. I have sustained a serious blow to my rock-climbing self confidence, something that I hope will return with time. I was planning to return to the accident site this summer but ran out of time. I'm looking forward to getting back up there this coming year, maybe I'll get my sunglasses back... Thanks for asking - JM
		Posted Nov 27, 2006 7:55 pm

stevepack

Update?

Hasn't voted

Hi Jeff,
How are the injuries healing? Hope all is going well.
Be careful out there.

Posted Dec 31, 2006 5:12 am


	Jeff Moore	Re: Update?
	Hasn't voted	Hey Steve - thanks for asking. In the post immediately above yours I wrote an update about a month ago. At this time my status doesn't change very rapidly anymore; I'm pretty much where I'm going to be for life. Overall my docs did a bang up job of putting me back together. Happy new year - Jeff
		Posted Dec 31, 2006 5:26 pm


	stevepack	Re: Update?
	Hasn't voted	Sounds good. Hang in there!
		Posted Jan 8, 2007 1:12 am

davis2001r6	Wow!
Hasn't voted	Wow, just came across this now. Hope your conditions continue to improve. Checked out your website as well. Some really awesome photo's nice work!
	Posted Jan 30, 2007 2:53 am

skunk ape

Accident report

Voted 10/10

Ouch! Great report, It's amazing how quickly things can go wrong in the mts, and how stunned you feel when they go wrong for you. hope you're back in business by now.

Posted Feb 23, 2007 4:11 pm

citadel07	Thanks
Hasn't voted	Thanks for sharing the story. I'm sure this has saved a few accidents by making people aware of how quickly it can go wrong out there. Keep healing...
	Posted Apr 4, 2007 1:20 pm

thephotohiker

Ain't recovery hell ?

Voted 10/10

I just ran across your trip report today. After reading through the comments I have to say I think RealityCheck’s comments were out of line (troll or not). Okay, so maybe you should have told someone where you were going. Other than that…

What happened was an ACCIDENT, which the last time I checked is defined as: an unplanned and unfortunate event that results in damage, injury, or upset of some kind: an event that happens completely by chance, with no planning or deliberate intent.

We can take measures to minimize accidents, but if we want to avoid them altogether we end up sitting on the couch for the rest of our lives, hoping a meteorite doesn’t come crashing through our roof.

I commend you for your cool head AFTER the accident. How you handled yourself tells me everything I need to know about your character and that you’re going to have a full recovery come hell or high water. I’d climb with you a thousand times before I’d go out even once with RealityCheck or anyone else of his ilk.

Mike

Posted Apr 11, 2007 6:18 pm

Jeff Moore

general comment

Hasn't voted

hello -
sometimes i dont know the best way to respond to comments posted here, which probably reflects the various attitudes i have towards this accident and this posting. many times this indecision leads me to not post any response at all.
so i wanted to take a moment and explicitly say that i really appreciate all the encouraging and supportive comments i have received. its a nice feeling to get support from people i dont even (personally) know, and speaks highly of the good community of mountain folks here on summitpost.
cheers - jeff

Posted Apr 11, 2007 7:38 pm


	williams	Re: general comment
	Hasn't voted	Ok its been six months whats the latest on your healing process? Also have you gotten any more climbing confidence in the last couple months? Way to have a cool head about the whole situation, very impressive,not many people have the ability to calm down and think on their feet in times of distress. Most people would be to hysterical to think about anything. BTW in response to your critic I actually like how you documented your trip instead of pouring your heart out on the things you learned. All I want to know is what happened on your trip, not hear about all the emotional stuff ;) j/k but you know what I mean. I think you posted an excellent report.
		Posted Jun 6, 2007 1:07 am


	Jeff Moore	Re: general comment
	Hasn't voted	so i think its safe to say at this point that i am as healed as im gonna get... and all in all, it aint that bad. fingers working pretty good and my hands are fairly strong again. at the moment im concentrating on getting my general strength back to what it was before the accident - i've lost about 5 lbs of general body muscle that i need to get back. as for the climbing confidence, that has been slow to return, though i feel good about that progress as well. some recent trips have shown that im still willing to climb the mountains i want to climb, im just a good deal more cautious, which is probably a good thing. im really itching to get back out in the mountains more regularly, but recently other events have taken priority. just dreaming and living vicariously here on summitpost… cheers, and thanks for the comments – jeff
		Posted Jun 6, 2007 6:42 pm

Murph1	Mentally Prepared!
Hasn't voted	Going solo always has its dangers. Being skilled in the outdoors, physically fit, and mentally prepared are keys to surviving incidents like the one you faced. Having worked in Mountain Rescue, taught Outdoor Living for 32 years, and led over one hundred backpacking, climbing, and river trips for teenagers in the Sierras and Cascades I have seen what not being mentally prepared can do to those caught in an injury situation away from civilization. Have you regained your dexterity and resumed your normal activities since the latest operation? Currently, in retirement, I teach Medical Emergencies for CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams)Fresno California. It is amazing what modern medicine can do in cases such as yours. It wasn't too many years ago that you would have lost the finger and possibly your arm. Best to you in your future endevors! I will keep your advice when I solo paddle 300 miles on the Marias and Upper Missouri Rivers this May.
	Posted Dec 7, 2007 4:38 pm

GosiaSkorek

thank you

Hasn't voted

Thank you for the warning, I am planning to go to this peak next week and I would have never thought of carrying the helmet. You are lucky you are alive. Take care.

Posted Aug 5, 2009 2:02 pm

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