The mind just boggles. I find it hard to think of words to describe this!

No ropes. No support. No second chances.

Seen this one?

😯

wow

He’s featuring in the reelrock film which is touring imminently. Looks ace.

Fools !
How does it work when one of them falls and dies/injured and a helicopter /emergency crew have to come out…who pays for it ? I doubt theyd get insured! And the poor sods who finds the splattered climber !

It was impressive though ! Must be a parents worst nightmare ah yes my son/daughter is a free solo climber…

Never quite sure how I feel about soloing stories that spread beyond the climbing media. Honnold is a genuinely exceptional climber and apparently a very genuine and personable chap however soloing is perhaps the most uniquely personal part of climbing and an extraordinarily difficult thing to justify objectively. That said, it’s tremendously enjoyable.

There is no mountain biking equivalent to soloing that I’ve ever come across. Even at a relatively meagre level it can be a deeply harrowing experience and yet a tremendously fulfilling one.

Many climbers, from the perfectly average to the exceptionally talented, have died or been critically injured soloing. Honnold would not be the first climber to become famous for his solos and then be hoist be his own petard. Not suggesting it’s not impressive but I’d just be wary of trumpeting it without having some experience of it. It’s a pretty sketchy way for a professional climber to maintain a profile.

^Not fools.

Alex Honnold, what a guy.

Edit

Not as good as this one: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/free-solo-climbing-just-astonishing#post-4432784

Dan Osman was a great climber (second one down). This he died jumping off a bridge and the rope snapped a few years ago?

This he died jumping off a bridge and the rope snapped a few years ago?

it was a bit more than “jumping of a bridge” his long line dives were mental

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5olx81kcr9w[/video]

Osman died jumping from the Leaning Tower in Yosemite, he was something else! His book is well worth a read for an insight into him away from the hype. His belief was that equipment was everything and he had unflappable faith in it. Though I think it was the equipment that ultimately failed after he returned to the leaning tower jump after leaving it set up through a winter storm.
I’ve done some ‘free soloing’ usually on shorter routes, places like Sennen, Peaks, but have also done some multiple-pitch stuff. It is very much a head game and I always found I needed to be in the right place mentally. Soloing a diff could happen any day of the week, but HVS and above needed a bit more (as a comparison I was leading E3 regularly at this point). The thing is that (generally) the looser rock and vegetation appeared on lower graded routes, those are your main reasons for falling unexpectedly. I respect these boys, but part of you dreads the news when one of them has taken their last lob.

Agree that soloing is good when you are in the right place head wise. I found that knowing when to stop and go home was a difficult call also painful if you call it wrong.

People who say they are fools etc aren’t fit to clean the sh*t off a guy like Honnolds shoes. They’re absolute giants of men.

Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

What is it are we not allowed an opinion !
In my eyes they are fools it neither makes me wrong or right.
I personally wouldn’t do it that’s because I can’t wipe sh1t !

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vx7GKAUDC0&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]

Pretty mental stuff but no better in my eyes than trad climbers doing extreme E11/E12 routes. Dave McLeod’s E11 was pretty good and i’m damn sure that no one in there right mind would solo this as it was absolutely nails to the point where McLeod fell a huge distance on every attempt (on crap gear) god knows how many times and at the last couple of attempts the crux hold snapped off!! at that point your solo’er would have certainly died.
It must take great confidence in yourself and nerves plus talent to free solo but the risks are just too high and often the routes aren’t hugely technical (for serious climbers that is).

It’s a pretty sketchy way for a professional climber to maintain a profile.

Agreed, it irks me up a bit when OK but non cutting edge climbers choose to do stuff like this to get a reputation rather than actually climbing hard. While at the same time, amazing climbers like Adam Ondra are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and getting very little real media attention.

The mountain bike equivalent of this is Bender chucking himself off a cliff for his 15 mins of fame.

How does it work when one of them falls and dies/injured and a helicopter /emergency crew have to come out…who pays for it ?

troll..?

I take it you don’t ride your bike ever, just in case.. or cross any roads..?

And don’t try trotting out the nonsense that his sport is waaay more dangerous than your lifestyle.. it’s pretty much a given that he spends more time climbing than any of us spend with our arses off the sofa.. and he hasn’t fallen yet

It seems an obsessively single minded and focussed kind of existence, very OCD.. I hope he lives a riotous rock and roll lifestyle outside of climbing to compensate..
I guess he sees a great deal of our planet’s very beautiful places

Agreed, it irks me up a bit when OK but non cutting edge climbers choose to do stuff like this to get a reputation rather than actually climbing hard.

It may not be at the top end of what is technically possible, but the amount of commitment and focus required over a long period of time is exceptional, and these are not easy routes when measured against the average standard of climbers. Honnold gets plenty of kudos from the climbing community for his soloing.

Ondra may be pushing the boundaries of what’s physically possible within the relative security of a bolted line, but climbing as a whole has always been about more than just the physically possible. This is just one particular discipline.

People who say they are fools etc aren’t fit to clean the sh*t off a guy like Honnolds shoes. They’re absolute giants of men.

Or they just have there brains wired up a bit different. Like geniuses, or psychopaths. Putting anyone on a pedestal, even if they’ve soloed it, often seems fraught with problems to me.

My girlfriend won’t climb more than a few rungs up a ladder, she gets scared and thinks she will fall off and die. I guess everyone draws a line somewhere and for everyone that line is in a different place.

Or they just have there brains wired up a bit different. Like geniuses, or psychopaths. Putting anyone on a pedestal, even if they’ve soloed it, often seems fraught with problems to me.

I’m not sure anyone’s presenting him as something to be emulated – more like something to be marvelled at.

When I was starting out in climbing, I used to have a picture of Gullich soloing Separate Reality on my wall

Didn’t make me want to do that kind of soloing, just inspired me that humans were capable of seemingly incomprehensible things.

It’s all about calculating the risks. Free or solo climbers brains must be wired differently to mine. I can push my boundaries of acceptable risk on occasion and get the thrill that comes with that. Their boundaries are on a different planet to mine. Their consequences of failure result in something more likely terminal than mine.

In short: they are jam splats waiting to happen.

*Now, if only they would wear a helmet. 😉

yunki – I fail to see why you have to ruin a nice thread that is actually interesting…why do you feel the need to do so ? I was asking a genuine question ! ( I totally understand that if the question doesn’t suit you I will stop asking such questions cos I wouldn’t want to upset you)

Whilst crossing the road or cycling can dangerous its ever so slightly different to climbing only just ever so slightly though !

and he hasn’t fallen yet

I hope he doesn’t fall…

please refrain yourself from sniping back at my opinion….

People who say they are fools etc aren’t fit to clean the sh*t off a guy like Honnolds shoes. They’re absolute giants of men.

People are allowed to think what they like without this kind of drivel.

Personally I think people like Honnold are brilliant, and there’s probably a very good reason people like Honnold exist in nature. Skip back fifty millenia and there’s probably a Honnald trying to figure out how to kill something huge for lunch with nowt but a sharp stick and a loin cloth and a big pais of hairy kahunas. The play it safers securely camped out in a cave eating root vegetables. A Malcolm Campbell without the fast car.

As for the rescue services, you’ll find that some MRT guys actually quite like a bit of danger themselves. And the Pilots, hahahahaha

please refrain yourself from sniping back at my opinion….

please understand that I am also entitled to mine .. sorry if I was a bit catty.. it’s been a long night, hadn’t had my morning cuppa etc.. I think I probably misunderstood your post a little bit too

Hope I haven’t ruined the thread.. I didn’t mean to rock your boat fella.. 😀

Martin I was hoping someone would post that picture of Gulich on Separate Reality. He did that solo for the film Cliff Hanger IIRC.

Terrible shame he died so young and the drowning irony being that despite the audacious climbs he did, he died in a motoring accident. I can’t remember if it was a car or a motorbike but I think it was the latter.

Anyone here remember ‘Big Jim Jewel’? He was killed climbing down climbing a classic VS or HVS at Tremadog rather than walk down. I think he was wearing trainers at the time. How about Rachel Farmer? Killed in France making an easy traverse between two caves at Boux rather than take the long walk down and up again. She slipped on the polished limestone. That was a real tragedy and again so horribly avoidable.

You’d could start a whole new thread on people wasting Rescue teams resources.

Best one I remember was a friend in the Edale MRT being called out to a couple “stuck on Grindslow Knoll” in clear sunny conditions they just coldn’t figure out how to descend into Edale, FFS

Still, at least they was Gore Texed up to the eyeballs

amazing climbers like Adam Ondra are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and getting very little real media attention.

In Climb magazine I was appalled to discover that Ondra overtook me when I was climbing my best …when he was aged around 9!

Ulie Steck and Alex Honnold both have very sketchy moments in their videos. So little margin. Jimmy Jewel – anyone remember that stunning picture of him on The Axe? I think he fell off a Severe. Patrick Edlinger just gone and the Verdon. I believe he had his demons (I know he didn’t die climbing).

my boats already rocked ! 4 hrs sleep 3 unwell in the house and to top it all a 2 mile walk into work after dropping car at the garage all in terantial rain…otherwise Im fine ! I need Mountain Rescue ! but they wont come out to London !

Cheers Yunki get that coffee !

For the record my brother used (15yrs ago) to free climb and fell…he was in hospital a long time…I called him a lot more than a fool ! He still has operations on his back ! He is still an Adrenaline freak but justs takes more care now ! Whats funny is that his kids are just like him…fearless brain wired in a different way for sure !

Stever that picture of JJ on the axe was either in or on the front cover of, the guide book for Snowdonia. It was a stunning picture. I also remember a picture of him on the upper crux of The Quarryman in Dinorwig, climbing the big overhanging block. Also awesome.

What was the route he fell off? I think you’re right, it was only a severe. One of the guys I climbed with was there when it happened. Said he heard the crunch as he hit the floor and that it made him sick to his stomach. That same guy was with us when we were at froggat edge the day Paul Williams fell off Browns Elliminate and died. We started to wonder if he was jinxed after that.

I have to give yunki a +1 im afraid. Why come to a thread aboutan exceptional climber asking who will pay for the cleanup if they fall? Well even if its in this country, which it probably wouldnt be, then itll be divided by the tax from millions. Cant see why youd worry about the 0.001 pence it might potentially cost you.

What was the route he fell off? I think you’re right, it was only a severe.

Thought it was Poor Man’s Peuterey at Tremadog, could be wrong though. My recollection is he was soloing a route he’d done dozens if not hundreds of times before in trainers at the end of the day.

I don’t know, wasn’t JJ reversing something in trainers to get down Tremadog? Phil Davidson used to give me the willies (vaguely knew from Pex years) with Right Wall, etc, when that was right up there. Thankfully he’s still with us and paddling now.

I watched someone hit the deck off Right Unconquerable (leading but couldn’t get the gear in and just kept going). Getting him to an ambulance was one of the longest hours of my life. I like soloing, but keep a BIG margin for error.

robowns – Member
I have to give yunki a +1 im afraid. Why come to a thread aboutan exceptional climber asking who will pay for the cleanup if they fall? Well even if its in this country, which it probably wouldnt be, then itll be divided by the tax from millions. Cant see why youd worry about the 0.001 pence it might potentially cost you.

Mountain Rescue in the UK is a charity is it not? And a voluntary body to boot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVlC5QmTxyc

Alone on the wall

I recall the same thing Steve; it was a route he knew so well he was likely complacent and I recall he was down climbing in trainers. Very tragic.

I also remember the pictures of Phil Davidson on Right Wall. I never climbed it myself. The highest I got on the Cromlech was E3 Foil round on the wall to the left of Left Wall (though technically harder than Left Wall, the latter still felt like a bigger lead!)

Im talking about any country not just the UK for rescueing !

Rescue teams are streched beyond all belief so by doing this sport could stop someone else getting rescued….so by wearing a rope could avoid all this rescuing if it should be needed…what do I know we used Mountain rescue this year with my 4yr old in the Lakes…talking to the guys, they dont like it when they have to go to accidents that could have been avoided. (yes before you say any accident could/can be avoided). I gave the MRT a hefty donation.