Hacker News Reader

Assuming Honnold has perfect ability, what are the risks of the route itself? I assume these routes are kept clean of loose rock, holds are inspected constantly and anything showing wear is communicated to the climber community.

View on HN

hey, actually no one maintains the routes in an official capacity. there are groups of climbers who voluntarily will upgrade fixed protection, or individuals who do the same, but certainly no governing body. it's not like a hiking trail, for example. it's pretty wild west, but generally people work together.

as far as the objective risks, they include loose rock, broken holds, wet rock, birds spooking you, base jumpers spooking you, hornets, climbers dropping things by accident on you.

On the subject of maintaining a route like this, it is dangerous to remove loose rocks since there is a reasonable chance that there is someone below you. As a result, some loose rock is still present on these routes.

The National Geographic article described his some of his preparation, including climbing with ropes and a friend the week before, marking tricky holds with chalk, and rappelling down after an intervening rainstorm to make sure the holds and marks were clean.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com