Lets just agree if he dies we will start a new thread, now quit fucking whining every time this gets bumped.
I’m watching free solo right now, his girlfriend isn’t terrible, but she is clearly not extremely important to him. He is so singularly focused on climbing its kind of unreal, I’ve said holy shit out loud a few times watching this.
Finished it and it was great, but I’m so glad it’s over. Fucking anxiety to the max even knowing he makes it. Fuck
I guess it’s just imagining myself in that situation ~2,000 ft up there and reality setting in and having a panic attack
There are some large ledges where us mere mortals rest/eat/sleep/drink. At a certain point, retreat without outside assistance becomes impossible. People do get rescued though. Last time I was out there someone had to be helped off and there portaledge was left behind. People were eyeballing for a few days until someone grabbed it.
The best part was when the gf is all excited talking about her interior design plans for the new house and he’s like “yeah, I’d prefer just to sleep on the carpet”
Watched Free Solo last night and this guy is so hilariously calculated. He's basically a robot with no human emotions, but his gf is crazy for thinking he'll possibly call it quits one day. This guy is definitely going to die while climbing.
Thought the same thing. She thinks she will one day change him. Not going to happen. Like most here, kind of found her annoying. But I like that he is who he is and doesn’t apologize for it. Certainly feels like we all know how this story ends, just a matter of when.
Hah when he saw her after completing the climb she said "yay!! and you're done!". Like she's trying to talk herself into thinking he'll never put his life in serious danger again.
His toes were gross as fuck. He has gigantic rocket thumb-toes and the tips of most of his toes are so calloused that they're yellow.
Yeah, he may never do something as extreme as El Cap again but he’ll still be doing shit like this regularly where he can die just as easily ... Basically, the gf just needs to realize she’s living in a fantasy land trying to domesticate this guy and move on with her life.
Like dancers, having your toes stuck in climbing shoes that often wreaks havoc on them. He’s been climbing about three times longer than I have, and I know mine are pretty rough.
I don’t understand why he would continue to free solo. God knows he has nothing more to prove and he has probably millions of fans that would rather he didn’t die. Which is almost certain that he will if he continues.
Dude is fearless but so specific in his technique that I don't see him dying in a climb. Car accident, probably.
Truth is, it will probably be a (relatively)small climb that he’s done dozens of times, if he dies climbing. He climbs granite almost exclusivelybut if you get more into red rocks, or overseas, there’s plenty of shit that breaks...even if you’ve climbed it 15 times on rope. He mentions it in the documentary, but you never see him actually do it in the movie, but a lot of climbers knock on large flakes while climbing. Im certain he does it religiously, and that’s part of that specificity you’re talking about. Still, all it takes it a foot slip.
I think his downfall is his body’s going to start breaking down a little from age and he isn’t going to realize it
If he were doing this as a way to chase thrills, then maybe Id agree w you. He seems pretty in tune about what he can and cant do. IMO - he's not cavalier enough to ignore what his body is telling him.
He couldn’t do things like El Cap, but the way he eats, trains, and lives, I could see him solo’ing into his 50s and climbing well into 70s.
Even on granite as nice as el cap shit breaks all the time. Hollow flake is appropriately named. Also Had a buddy kick off a block on The Nose a few years ago. Hit his gf who was belaying on her helmet and knocked her unconscious. Only thing big I ever free solo'd was royal arches and snake dike (if you consider that a climb) and despite the almost uncomparable buzz I decided never to try anything like that again. God damn I miss being young in the valley though.
Some places you definitely can't modify, bolt or leave fixed ropes up. Also have been situations at the base of the big walls where excrement and trash were dropping and it became a problem so climbing ethics had to change to something more similar to leave no trace. there is an organisation called the access fund which works primarily to ensure continued access to rock for climbers because, as you suggested, it's not a guarantee. I will say though, that for the most part, the climbing community are better stewards of the environment than the vast majority of the tourists who come to our parks. Last thing, when you hear that a climber pulled off/kicked off a rock it was most probably already loose from weathering and ready to fall. That's one of the scariest in all climbing. A climber above knocks something off (there's loose shit everywhere), drops something, pisses off a ledge, or someone free-soloing falls. All these things are heading down to the group below and can be messy/fatal. One thing i thought was worth mentioning. They talk about that such a low percentage of climbers ever free solo. That isn't really true. I think most young male climbers (climbers not gym rats) at some point tried free solo on something. It's just not at the level that the pro's would of considered "climbing" maybe. We Do it on something we "could never fall on." It really does feel different. Better in a way because we're not stopping every 15' to put in gear.