This is What an Almost-Deck Looks Like

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Every once in a while, a route lives up to its name.

This Weekend Whipper features Avery Lieu on Scary Monsters (5.12a), a left-facing stem corner at Super Creeps Wall in Joshua Tree’s popular Lost Horse area. Tracing up the hinge of the corner is an ultra-thin finger crack, protectable only by microcams and brass offset nuts, or “brassies.”

Lieu made it about halfway up before he placed his second piece, a brassy, in a less-than-inspiring position. “It was only partially lodged in,” he tells Climbing. “I knew the placement was bad, but I thought I could make it through to the next placement, so I pushed on.”

Unfortunately, Lieu was more pumped than he thought. Just as he was bumping his right hand up to reach a crimp on the face, he slipped and fell backwards.

Lieu’s belayer was ready, but the brassy popped and dropped him straight into a sloped ledge about eight feet off the ground.

When he landed, the blue cord snapped taut into the crook of his left knee.

At first glance, it looks like Lieu’s belayer could have been closer to the wall to reduce the slack in the system; ultimately, that’s best practice for short routes with high fall potential. But although landing on the rope might look—and feel—uncomfortable, it still slowed his progress and managed to absorb some of the shock that could have made his left ankle explode.

Luckily, Lieu survived this fall with no injuries, and even sent Scary Monsters the next try. Looking back, he says he would have improved his brassy placement next time before moving beyond it, especially on such a short route, and we agree.

Happy Friday, and be safe out there this weekend.

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