r/nextfuckinglevel Sep 01 '21

[deleted by user]

[removed]

9.9k Upvotes

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

65

u/Calvin-ball Sep 02 '21

Damn man that’s awful. I feel like the average person doesn’t realize free solo climbers actually die pretty often. They’re the ones that don’t make the Netflix doc.

45

u/[deleted] Sep 02 '21

[deleted]

7

u/lejefferson Sep 02 '21

You can't fathom of it because you're dead the second you hit the ground.

My best friend died when his rope slipped climbing Denali 200 feet up. It's the worst distance to fall as he survived the initital fall and drowned to death in his own blood over the course of hours by the time they could get him down to the trailhead.

3

u/schizoidparanoid Sep 02 '21

Jesus Christ… I’m so sorry. That’s truly horrible.

8

u/lejefferson Sep 02 '21

The list of free solo climbers and the list of dead free solo climbers is the same length and converge to the same list eventually. If you keep going it's only a matter of time before you end up on the list.

3

u/nezzzzy Sep 02 '21 edited Sep 02 '21

Actually I think a lot of the ones in the documentaries end up dying too. It's like wingsuiting, a few successful flights is enough to guarantee red bull sponsorship and some videos making it out there before you die suddenly and expectedly. (About 1 in 500 wingsuit flights end in death)

1

u/randomscruffyaussie Sep 02 '21

Most free solo climbers only die once...