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The stories, of course, don’t always end well.

Climbers from all over the world flock to Yosemite every year to face off against the sheer rock faces of Half Dome, El Capitan, Cathedral Rocks and Glacier Point. The vast majority survive. Some don’t. And a number of these adventurous souls end up, miraculously if painfully, somewhere in between. Related Articles Climbers set speed record on Yosemite’s Nose of El Capitan

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A San Diego man is one who survived, albeit painfully. Recovering from his mishap earlier this month, Alex Doria told ABC 10 news that his foot slipped while climbing Half Dome and he plummeted 50 feet down a granite wall, breaking his back, foot, wrist and ribs. His climbing partner took care of him until a search-and-rescue team showed up and airlifted him to a hospital. He is expected to fully recover.

That incident came on the heels of a trio of incidents in late September, including one in which a climber was injured in 30-foot fall on Higher Cathedral Spire. That person had to be airlifted out of the area, KRON 4 reported. Earlier that same week there were two separate rock falls at El Capitan, located right across the river from Higher Cathedral Spire. In one tragic incident, a large slab “the size of an apartment building” fell from the face of El Capitan, said the report; a British man was killed and his wife was injured.

Climbers frequently avoid injury when a potentially fatal fall is arrested mid-fall by their rope, as in this September episode caught by a tourist and posted on YouTube:

Here’s Yosemite geologist Greg Stock talking to the AP about recent accidents, calling “each rock-fall event is a learning opportunity,” especially for the person falling:

And here’s Doria, the man injured in a fall on Half Dome, talking about what happened:

The Associated Press contributed to this story.