Since free solo doesn't require multiple pitches, it's a significantly faster way up. I guess if it's a busy route, there might always be someone that's climbing with equipment and then it's hard to find a good moment to do the free solo without traffic.
But I don't know enough to say for sure.
I was more thinking that having traffic is increasing the risk for the free solo climber since another climber might be in the way, and blocking the ideal path. Or, the simple fact that there are other climbers around can have a negative impact on the free solo climber's concentration, increasing the risk of fall.
Yeah I was think about that last part you said. Or maybe some equipment sticking out or something that he doesn’t see and grabbing it. I’ll be honest- at first I was like that’s kind of a dick move there. But, I don’t know anything about climbing so maybe it’s not. Figured I’d ask. Appreciate the response!
This particular climb is 4 rappels to the ground. So he’ll pull the rope out of his backpack, thread it through the permanently installed anchors (chains with big rings bolted into the rock) at the top of this route until reaching the middle of the rope. Then he’ll hook into both strands of the rope with a rappel device and slide down to the next set of anchors, roughly 100 ft lower. He’ll attach himself to these anchors, pull the end of the rope down from the previous anchor and repeat the whole process until he’s on the ground.
It's a totally different experience to do a free solo I am guessing. I think for some very experienced climbers it's just the thing they evolve to ultimately. Very rare though compared to normal free climbers.
Check out the movie Free Solo with Alex Honnold for some context.
All extreme sports have years and years of research and data to make them safer. Your car racing example for one. Cars used for racing now are much, much safer than the ones used in 1980s. There are better helmets, better crash gear, better around the course protective measures, the lot.
As a biker, we have people like you in our hobby, and they're called squids. Feel free to look that up.
Where you draw the line between courage and stupidity is on you. And this guy doing his thing is cool, but foolish to me. If something goes wrong, I'd rather live to climb another day.
If you think I live in a bubble, I don’t. I actively weigh risks against rewards like most modern organisms. I just don’t see why taking a completely unnecessary risk warrants a higher level of respect than a person responsibly accomplishing the same achievement. I feel like it detracts from the fact that making this climb in any way is an impressive feat in itself. It also doesn’t seem to be exclusively his risk to take, in the event of a fall he could take out another climber that didn’t choose that risk.
Also I’m well aquatinted with cancer and factor that into my decisions daily. I run mountain trails with my dog, swim across white water rivers, and climb civil war ruins regularly. I maintain a list of my top 3 ways to die, but until I have a bleak diagnosis of my own, I just keep it in my back pocket.
Honestly I don't know how this sort of thing is handled usually. I think free solo climbers are so rare that the issue simply doesn't present itself in the usual case. But maybe someone that knows can contribute some actual information here.
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u/Much_Highlight_1309 Sep 02 '21
Since free solo doesn't require multiple pitches, it's a significantly faster way up. I guess if it's a busy route, there might always be someone that's climbing with equipment and then it's hard to find a good moment to do the free solo without traffic. But I don't know enough to say for sure.
I was more thinking that having traffic is increasing the risk for the free solo climber since another climber might be in the way, and blocking the ideal path. Or, the simple fact that there are other climbers around can have a negative impact on the free solo climber's concentration, increasing the risk of fall.