A climber was aid climbing Pitch 6 of the Virginia route on El Capitan in Yosemite when a rock flake he had hooked broke away from the wall. The hook snapped back and hit him in the mouth, and he took what he described as a factor 2 fall onto a rivet with almost no rope slack out. The rope was the only thing that saved him. He kept going. Found a way to hook around the spot where the flake had broken off and summited on day four. His hips were black and blue from the impact but his teeth survived. His post about the experience has racked up over 613,000 likes and 16,000 comments. El Capitan is a 3,000 foot vertical granite wall and one of the most iconic big wall climbs on the planet. Aid climbing involves placing gear into cracks and hooking onto features in the rock to progress upward, and when a hold breaks loose at that height, there is nowhere to go but down. This is a reminder of how fine the margin is between a good story and a fatal one. (via: ) #reelheadline #pubity #viral