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Comment by tuna-piano | Hacker News Reader

Alex is famous because he does "free soloing" - which doesn't use any ropes or safety at all. More people do "free climbing" which uses ropes just in case of fall.

Anyone have any idea how often free climbers end up falling and needing their ropes? Could many good free climbers do what Honnold did, but just like the added bits of safety?

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I climb but not at anywhere near the level of Honnold. That being said, free climbers fall quite a bit. Sport climbing, that is using bolts that are pre-placed as protection, often involves pushing to one's limit which of course means falling. Traditional climbing, using special gear and features in the rock for protection, does not involve as much falling since there is a higher risk of your gear popping out of its placement.

Honnold has climbed this route with ropes many times and no doubt fell while doing it. He was well aware that he was capable of completing the climb without a fall.

Any idea of how many people have free climbed this route? I'm really curious to know if Honnold is a one-of-a-kind climber or there are similar skill level climbers who just aren't willing to risk it without ropes?

Either way he's amazing, but I'm curious to know how amazing.

> Any idea of how many people have free climbed this route? I'm really curious to know if Honnold is a one-of-a-kind climber or there are similar skill level climbers who just aren't willing to risk it without ropes?

I don't know how many people have freed that particular route (called "Freerider"), but SuperTopo says it's one of the easier routes on El Cap to free climb[0] (though it's still not any "easy" route by any stretch).

But I think it's safe to say that Honnold is a one of a kind climber because free-soloing something takes a significantly higher level of self-control and self-confidence than freeing the same route does. So he's one of a kind precisely because he's willing to risk it without ropes.

[0] http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Yosemite-Valley-El-Ca...

A lot have free climbed it, but it is a major project for most who do. Here is a great account from James Lucas of what it takes for a more normal human (who is still a pro climber) to climb the freerider: http://eveningsends.com/the-day-i-sent-freerider-in-a-day/

As a fairly experienced climber, this is a very difficult route; one that only the most elite climbers can free climb. But, free climbing it isn't necessarily rare and even as Honnold did this free solo, other parties were camping on the wall.

There's little data on this sort of topic, but I'd estimate that less than 0.25% of climbers achieve the level of physical skill and technical expertise required to free climb Freerider.

Agreed, the other replies to this question seem to understate the difficulty of the route. It's a lifetime achievement for almost any climber. I'd ballpark that it's been free climbed by 100-300 people?

> I'd ballpark that it's been free climbed by 100-300 people?

If you restrict that to people who've done it in a day you're probably down to a couple dozen at most.

gotta be more than that,

100-300 per year maybe, on the lower end.

300 people total means like 10 people per season, I personally know more people who've climbed the nose.

People are referring to free climbing this particular route, Freerider, which is 5.12d/5.13a. It gets done, but it is hard enough there are usually blurbs about it in magazines and in the climbing media when someone completes it without aid.

free or aided?

Most people climb el capitan aided.

The nose has only been free climbed by 5 people.

Context is pretty important when talking about aid vs free vs solo

If Honnold can solo this route in 4 hours, why do the free climbers need to camp on it? Do they take longer? Or need more rest time between sections?

3,300 feet of climbing is a lot of climbing. Most non-pro climbers will be winded and in need of a rest after a couple hundred feet of climbing. Also, it is easier to move without ropes since you never have to sort gear or re-coil your rope.

The difference in skill between Alex Honnold and the majority of other climbers can't be overstated. But I think the main difference in speed has to do with familiarity. Alex didn't just go up to this wall and start climbing it. He's done it over and over and over and over again. He know what moves he needs to make and how to do them. You climb much quicker when you don't have to do any route finding.

Honnold climbed it incredibly quickly. Most people take three or four days, this is a very long and very difficult route. If you've ever been to an indoor top rope gym, imagine picking the hardest route and doing it about 80 times.

While free climbing, you also need to wait for your partner to climb the same section. Which effectively almost doubles the time. You don't have that limitation while going solo.

the second can always jug (use jumars - mechanical ascenders) the rope instead.

Most climbers take significantly longer because:

1) When using gear (unlike Alex), you have to repeatedly stop and insert it, referred to as "protection." This slows progress and your partner has to then stop and remove that protection as you ascend. After each pitch (think a rope length), you then have to set up an anchor and organize/sort the gear before progressing. So, using and managing gear takes considerable time.

2) Two climbers are usually taking turns, with one belaying while the other climbs.

3) Alex has a level of competence on rock unmatched by us other climbers; his mastery allows him to swiftly glide through sections where most climbers would need more time to think about the moves, analyze the options, etc.

4) Alex was very familiar with the route, with many sequences memorized. Doing the route with less familiarity is like a puzzle, resulting in slower progress as you figure out how to get through various sections.

5) Alex has better stamina with less need for rest.

6) This is a hard route, and many climbers might fall or rest on their gear repeatedly while working through difficult sections.

I'm sure I'm leaving out a few reasons but in a nutshell, keeping it simple (no gear, no partner, no unknown moves, etc.) increases efficiency.

That's a good run-through, thanks!

Additionally, once you are going to spend more than a day on a wall you have to also bring along camping gear and additional food, especially water. This means erecting elaborate haul systems after every pitch and slows things down dramatically.

ESPECIALLY water. That sh*t gets heavy fast.

Honnold and Tommy Caldwell climbed it as a traditional roped team in around six hours while rehearsing for the solo. It comes down to the competence of the team and how well they know the route. I can promise you that Honnold knew every single foot placement off by heart by the time he hiked up to solo it.

Even if free climbing this route without falling once is well within someone's skill, free soloing it is likely not. It'd require serious mental preparation.

Also, there are many climbers more skilled than Honnold at climbing hard routes. Honnold is not even in competition for climbing the hardest grades.

However, there is no one close to him in his confidence and security off-rope on difficult grades.

Climbing has many different disciplines, lets not confuse marathon runners with sprinters. Honnold is the best big wall speed climber out there, hands down. Of course, to set speed records these days you not only need to be in top physical condition, you've got to compromise or abandon altogether your reliance on safety gear.

Good point. He is also particularly good at carrying long, sustained routes in a single push.

This route, called the Freerider, has been free climbed by a lot of people. It is arguably the easiest free climb on El Cap. That being said it is out of the range of most climbers. I will assume you are not familiar with climbing grades, here is an overview:

http://www.coloradomountaineering.com/2012/01/guide-to-yosem...

The Freerider is rated at 5.12d. This is a grade that most people will struggle to attain without a huge amount of training and effort.

Also, keep in mind that the route is very long and takes most people multiple days to complete. Honnold did it in under 4 hours.

Honnold climbed the boulder problem variation, which is 13a. The Teflon Corner at 12d is slightly easier but less secure, so worse for soloing.

It's worth noting that a route's difficulty is based on the hardest section. So the rest of the route is generally less, and in some places a lot less.

This is not to diminish in anyway the difficulty of a 5.12d, but might be good background for those not familiar with climbing.

> Could many good free climbers do what Honnold did, but just like the added bits of safety?

"Many" people climb that route with protection.

However, to better put this in perspective, it is plausible this feat will not be repeated for decades, if ever. I would qualify this as the greatest sports achievement of all time.

Successfully free climbing the freerider is a lifetime achievement even for professional climbers, often requiring up to a week on the wall. To do it in under 24 hours is the realm of the most elite climbers only.

To be able to approach it as "four hours of light exercise" as Honnold did is an incredible feat in its own right, even before the whole certain-death-for-one-mistake bit gets factored in.

In the NYT article[0] he said he's climbed this route without falling in 2008-09, so physically he's been able to do this for 8-9 years.

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/us/california-today-alex-...

People fall all the time. Climbers test movements by doing them (and most don't work).

Honnold left chalk marks on key holds on freerider to ensure he grabbed the right pieces.

When people push difficult sport routes, they may fall fairly frequently. When doing an easier route, or if you are trad climbing, you really shouldn't fall.

Should, or shouldn't, is all theory, though.

Last year, a friend of mine who introduced me to climbing fell to his death on a trad climb. I don't know what happened, but I assume his protection equipment slipped out of where he placed it.

I'm sorry about your friend.

However, your statement about trad climbing is inaccurate. People project hard trad routes all the time, fully expecting to fall.

When working moves, you fall constantly. I was out on Saturday working on my latest project and I probably fell twenty times. Honnold worked Freerider extensively and no doubt fell a lot while getting it all dialed in.

If you don't fall in practice now and then, you won't find where the limits are.

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