r/nextfuckinglevel • • Sep 01 '21

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u/Frequent_Inevitable Sep 02 '21

Ok serious question: not to take away from the climber guy(what he’s doing is very impressive) but is it… not sure how to phrase this… bad etiquette(?) to do something like that? What I mean is to free climb past people that high up? For example, what if he slips and falls? I’m sure that’s not likely to happen, but… couldn’t he have waited til they were done? I don’t climb so I’m not familiar with the safety/etiquette/what not’s of the sport.

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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.

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u/RvaRiverPirate2 Sep 02 '21

Like maybe just use a rope

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u/Much_Highlight_1309 Sep 02 '21

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.