Weekend Whipper: Hook-Ripping Fall While Soloing A3

Readers, please send your Weekend Whipper videos, information, and any lessons learned to Anthony Walsh, awalsh@outsideinc.com.

Fabio Elli knows a thing or two about aid climbing. As the co-author of one of the better aid books around (Hooking Up, with Peter Zabrok), Elli can beak, beak, cam hook, free move without much worry. Even so, he makes mistakes.

Elli was rope soloing the first pitch of Tanka Shila (A3; 3 pitches) on Monte Colt, above Italy’s picturesque Sarca Valley. While standing on a stable, three-pronged talon hook, he places a (not so stable) bat hook on a crumbly edge. The bat hook breaks through the soft limestone as Elli shifts his weight beneath it and he takes a giant whipper, bending (and then pulling) his talon hook in the process.

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend. You can watch the entire video of Elli on Tanka Shila here.

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