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Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

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Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#101

Post by jedberg »

Fricken wrote: post #83
jedberg wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Survivorship bias (of the most real kind). You can only be great if you live. :)

They were all established capable climbers before they earned a reputation free soloing. That's not really true in this case. I mean, every year there are inexperienced climbers who die, but comparing them to the masters is like comparing some kid with a spoiler on his Honda civic who loses control and hits a tree to a professional formula 1 driver.

What I'm saying is there may have been other great climbers that we just don't know about because they happen to have one small slip early in life.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#102

Post by hanley »

jabl wrote: post #94

A couple of years ago it was in the news that a couple a blokes (Caldwell & Jorgeson) had freeclimbed El Capitan. So for those of us who know next to nothing about rock climbing, what's the difference here? Apparently Caldwell & Jorgeson were using ropes for safety although not for the climbing per se (hence why it was freeclimbing?) So this guy does it all alone, without any safety ropes, and in frickin 4 hours? Waa…

You are correct about the difference between freeclimbing and free soloing. Honnold had nothing to save him if he fell. Caldwell and Jorgeson had a rope and gear and a belayer to catch them if they fell, but they climbed their whole route without pulling on gear to help them climb.

They climbed different routes. The Dawn Wall route had not previously been free climbed, it had only been aid climbed before (meaning climbers pulled on gear to help get through the most difficult sections). Honnold climbed a route called Freerider which is easier than the Dawn Wall but still very very very difficult.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#103

Post by StephenCanis »

jabl wrote: post #94

A couple of years ago it was in the news that a couple a blokes (Caldwell & Jorgeson) had freeclimbed El Capitan. So for those of us who know next to nothing about rock climbing, what's the difference here? Apparently Caldwell & Jorgeson were using ropes for safety although not for the climbing per se (hence why it was freeclimbing?) So this guy does it all alone, without any safety ropes, and in frickin 4 hours? Waa…

You are right - what Alex did is called "free soloing" which means climbing with nothing attached to the wall. Freeclimbing means you climb while harnessed in so if you fall you (hopefully) don't die. Originally people "aid climbed" the wall where you drill bolts into the wall and hoist yourself up.

This also explains why Alex can climb it so much faster. No ropes to worry about on the way up.

Check out the movie valley uprising on Netflix if you want to learn more.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#104

Post by pvg »

jabl wrote: post #94

A couple of years ago it was in the news that a couple a blokes (Caldwell & Jorgeson) had freeclimbed El Capitan. So for those of us who know next to nothing about rock climbing, what's the difference here? Apparently Caldwell & Jorgeson were using ropes for safety although not for the climbing per se (hence why it was freeclimbing?) So this guy does it all alone, without any safety ropes, and in frickin 4 hours? Waa…

The original nat geo story of which this seems to be a summary covers more of the details (I know next to nothing about climbing as well it just seemed to answer some of these questions)

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/features/athlete...

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#106

Post by samBergeron »

dabernathy89 wrote: post #58
imsd wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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?

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.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#107

Post by aboodman »

jabl wrote: post #94

A couple of years ago it was in the news that a couple a blokes (Caldwell & Jorgeson) had freeclimbed El Capitan. So for those of us who know next to nothing about rock climbing, what's the difference here? Apparently Caldwell & Jorgeson were using ropes for safety although not for the climbing per se (hence why it was freeclimbing?) So this guy does it all alone, without any safety ropes, and in frickin 4 hours? Waa…

The people a few years back climbed a different (way harder) route.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#108

Post by chrisBob »

PKop wrote: post #99
vkou wrote: post #4

As a climber, I wish this were less widely publicized. Free soloing is extremely dangerous, and dozens of climbers - including experienced ones die doing it every year.

So he should not get wide publicity of this amazing accomplishment because some people are idiots, and we should cater to their idiocy? Couldn't disagree more with this mindset.

No, he should not get wide publicity of this amazing accomplishment because HE is an idiot. The fact that he succeeded (survived) just means that he is still an idiot.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#109

Post by tomsthumb »

jabl wrote: post #94

A couple of years ago it was in the news that a couple a blokes (Caldwell & Jorgeson) had freeclimbed El Capitan. So for those of us who know next to nothing about rock climbing, what's the difference here? Apparently Caldwell & Jorgeson were using ropes for safety although not for the climbing per se (hence why it was freeclimbing?) So this guy does it all alone, without any safety ropes, and in frickin 4 hours? Waa…

The Dawn Wall is the hardest rated route on El Cap in Yosemite, and additionally the most difficult big wall route ever done (when considered on the basis of the moves alone).

Honnold free-solo'ed a (different) route called Freerider (also on El Cap), which is still stupidly difficult and would be a career highlight for most people to climb at all, likely over the period of several days.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#110

Post by givemefive »

tmh79 wrote: post #63
Zanta wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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.

free or aided?

Most people climb el capitan aided.

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