Professional Climber 'Pin Balled' as She Fell in Yosemite but Is 'Gonna Be Ok' After Help from 'Free Solo' Star

Emily Harrington wrote she was "banged up" but without serious injury

Published on November 26, 2019 01:19 PM

Professional rock climber Emily Harrington says she is “banged up” but without serious injury after falling during a recent climb of Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan.

Harrington, 33, on Monday shared a photo to Instagram taken from her hospital bed that showed her with a series of scrapes and bruises on her face.

“I had an accident yesterday on El Cap. I’m banged up but gonna be ok thankfully,” she wrote. “Not much to say except I took a bad fall and pin balled a bit then somehow hit the rope [with] my neck ??‍♀️??‍♀️.”

She shared a second photo of her neck, which featured what seemed to be a large rope burn.

Harrington went on to thank the many people that came to her aid, including Adrian Ballinger, Alex Honnold and Sanni McCandless, who were “there to get me out and help me through.”

“Thanks everyone who sent kind messages and thoughts – feeling so supported and loved,” she wrote.

Honnold made headlines last year as the star of the documentary Free Solo, which chronicled his journey to do a free solo climb — or one where he did not use ropes and other safety gear — of the El Capitan, a granite rock formation in Yosemite Valley which juts some 3,000 feet into the air.

McCandless also appeared in the film, which won best documentary at the Academy Awards in February.

Harrington has free climbed El Capitan in the past and has also summited Mt. Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, according to her website.

She is a former member of the USA climbing team and has competed in five U.S. sport climbing championships and two North American championships.