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Comment by Fricken | Hacker News Reader

I was four when I saw on television a special that featured either Peter Croft or John Bachar free soloing a granite face somewhere in Yosemite and I decided then and there that that was the most badass thing a person could do.

I've been obsessed with climbing ever since, and progressed from furniture to trees to nearby buildings, and it wasn't until I was 16 I finally got my own car and gear and independently made the 4 hour drive to the nearest natural vertical face to climb it. This was in the early 90s, before climbing gyms were common.

Though I decided not long after, after spending most of a day stranded 2/3rds of the way up a cliff that I had taken it as far as I was willing to go as a free soloist.

Alex Honnold is something else.

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I was under the impression that Alex practices each free solo route multiple times while roped.

I'm by no means discounting his accomplishments and skills, but rather highlighting that it isn't quite as reckless as it first appears.

Not all of them, for instance, he on-sight free soloed Fiesta de los Biceps (5.11d) [1]

[1]: http://www.dpmclimbing.com/articles/view/alex-honnold-onsigh...

Here's a video that touches on Honnold's prep for his ascent of El Sendoro Luminoso. Given that it's likely the most difficult ropeless climb in history (and on limestone, which is far more prone to breaking holds than Yosemite granite), he wasn't exactly super meticulous:

https://youtu.be/Phl82D57P58

At lower grades he has been known to just go for it.

It's pretty crazy with 11 pitches rated 5.12, but it's still not the most difficult free solo that's been done. For example Honnold himself free soloed 5.13, and Dave MacLeod free soloed a 5.14b. These are only single-pitch but they're still tall enough to classify as free solo (as opposed to bouldering/highball). And don't go thinking that 11 pitches of 5.12 is harder than one pitch of 5.14. Lots of people can do 11 pitches of 5.12 without falling. Only an extremely small portion of these can send a 5.14 - rope or no rope, when someone sends that grade it often ends up in the news (well, climber news, of course).

> Only an extremely small portion of these can send a 5.14 > - rope or no rope, when someone sends that grade it often > ends up in the news (well, climber news, of course).

Rarely does anyone make even climbing news climbing 5.14, as the limit now for sport climbing is 5.15c and bouldering is V16. There are routes rated 5.14 at the gym I frequent that get sent nightly. Granted I live in Boulder CO, lots of pro climbers do as well, and grades at gyms are often soft, but still...

The last time 5.14 was newsworthy was the first female ascent of a trad. route in Boulder Canyon

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web16b/newswire-china-doll-5.14-...

and the Dawn Wall, which is 32 pitches,

https://www.mountainproject.com/v/dawn-wall-free/109951912

a few of which are rated 5.14.

Perhaps Ashima makes news climbing 5.14's, but it's also because she's still a teenager.

There's a dude that works as a routesetter at my gym that just sent 5.15. His instagram was pretty popular for a while, but he's just a dude.

http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-news/jon-cardwell-sends-b...

5.14 made big news 25 years ago with routes like Action Directe. Things have progressed since then.

IMHO rating comparing a one pitch 5.14 and a 11 pitch 5.12 is comparing two different things. :shrug:

This is like metric vs imperial vs ... all over again. I had no clue what levles you guys are taling about until I looked it up and figured how they compare to the French system. Which then I subconciously converted to the color used for the routes at the local gym (well, it's not really a gym in the common sense, it's purely climbing oriented)

You guys in Boulder CO have all the mutant climbers. You should see our little Ontario climbing news outlets! I'm pretty sure there's only one guy in the entire province that even sets indoor 5.14 (despite having quite a few gyms, I believe at least 15). Anyways, it was a bit overboard and in terms of international climbing news, I very much agree with you.

> You guys in Boulder CO have all the mutant climbers

There's some truth to this. Just today, I was bouldering next to a dude that look somewhat familiar. Turns out it's Paul Robinson, just here traveling through town.

Took a few tries to nail a V12 set, didn't even look like he broke a sweat.

Just wow.

What do they even shoot that video with? Is there a helicopter flying around him while he climbs? Maybe a small drone or something? The helicopter would be pretty unnerving I suppose, and it's probably even more dangerous to fly a helicopter that close to a stone wall.

Here is another person who belongs to something else category - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMA0Cv5Q2Mo

Eskil Ronningsbakken - http://www.eskilbalance.com/

So how did you get off the cliff?

I climbed back down the same way I came up. This was early in the season in the Alberta rockies, and the crack I climbed was full of ice, and quite slippery.

There was a ledge to the right of where I got hung up that led safely out of the danger zone, but it was just out of my reach, I tried traversing over to that ledge about 30 times before deciding my only option was to go back down the sketchy crack I came up.

No one would have rescued me, I was in the middle of nowhere.

For the ones not in the know, climbing down is way harder than climbing up.

I take it you didn't climb this route before, and were trying to flash it ? How did you handle your emotions, it must have been really difficult to keep them under control in order to get down safely ?

It was while I was stuck up on my little perch that my focus slipped, and I became indecisive. I gave myself too much time to think and became panicky and irrational. Like, fear management is the name of the game, and it's all about blocking out extraneous thoughts and sticking to practical, immediate concerns. I had cultivated the ability to do as much while climbing, and had plenty of experience, but on that day my mind slipped, and thoughts of what my parents would think if I died and shit like that started running through my head, which was a first for me.

I did pull myself together, obviously, and when I finally committed to going back down, I was in control and systematic about it, but the experience left me rattled, and for a couple years after that I stuck to nice, safe single pitch sport climbing routes. That's why I'm me and not Alex Honnold I guess, he goes and does it again the next day.

Wise. I tried to force the traverse (different face, similar situation) and fell 30 feet. It's only by God's grace that I'm still alive, and not in a wheelchair.

And that was pretty much the end of my free soloing career, too...

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