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Comment by wireprotocol | Hacker News Reader

How do you quit a free climb?

1. Someone climbs to your location from the ground, or descends from the top of the route, hauling a sufficient amount of gear for you to rappel or be lowered to the ground. Obviously impractical on massive routes like El Cap.

2. A rescuer is slung onto the route near the incapacitated climber's location using a helicopter long-line. They prepare the climber for extraction and then they are both slung off by the helicopter at one time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_Flight_Rescue_Syste...

in this case he could just wait on a ledge until other climbers went by and ascended with them.

You can't just insert yourself into someone else's big wall party if they weren't planning on it; those other climbers would be spending multiple days on the route and would almost certainly not have food, water, and portaledge space for you (not to mention how profoundly rude that would be...). If you were indeed at the mercy of needing strangers to rescue you, a passing party or a rescue party would need to change their plans and retreat with you, which would only really be a good call if your life were at risk otherwise.

The more realistic plan would be to have some friends ready and willing to come retrieve him if needed, and to potentially stash some gear/supplies at the larger belay ledges a few days prior.

> You can't just insert yourself into someone else's big wall party if they weren't planning on it; those other climbers would be spending multiple days on the route and would almost certainly not have food, water, and portaledge space for you (not to mention how profoundly rude that would be...). If you were indeed at the mercy of needing strangers to rescue you, a passing party or a rescue party would need to change their plans and retreat with you, which would only really be a good call if your life were at risk otherwise.

yeah, you can, it's called hitchhiking. it's not very common; but it has be done, Lynn Hill talks about it in her autobiography. if the climber hitchhiking is good enough, the new party will be faster in the end.

He descended using fixed ropes.

Pretty sure you're trying to ask "how do you quit a freesolo?" In which case the answer is usually "downclimb".

It's relatively easier to quit a vanilla free climb.

Use a parachute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqEkFBNiP3c&t=2m02s

By not attempting it at all. Or climbing back down from wherever you want to quit.

Die? I guess if you are low enough you could try to go back down. Some hikes also have a point of no return where going back could lead to death.

"Help I'm stuck to the side of a mountain."

Yea I have no idea actually.

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