Free Solo Climbing
- Thread starter wait.what
- Start date
I don't have the stones. I think people have free climbed half dome. That shit is ridiculous.
Obi-Wan-Jenobi
Member
I like buddy at 0:58 wearing a helmet.
accualyisdolan
Active member
Those people are nuts. That vid just scares me
mmmpoundcake
Active member
please tell me at 3.17 that guy didnt die and they included it in a video..
FuckAllOfYou
Active member
fuck any other sport, this sport is the ballsiest and most epic sport I have ever seen. Love watching these guys. Think of what's going through their heads... amazing.
Rafiki
Active member
not a freesolo, but just as crazy imo. these guys are fuckin all stars in my bookhttp://www.adventure-journal.com/2012/10/the-story-behind-the-first-all-disabled-ascent-of-el-cap/
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Climbing teams attempting Zodiac, a 16-pitch aid route on Yosemite’s El Capitan, will debate beforehand about what gear to bring:[/b] an extensive list of cams, nuts, assorted hooks, pitons, rivet hangers. Only one time has a team brought along two prosthetic legs and a prosthetic arm.
This June, three men geared up at the base of Zodiac to attempt the first all-disabled climb of El Cap: Craig DeMartino, who lost his lower right leg after a climbing fall; Jarem Frye, who had his left leg amputated above the knee after a battle with bone cancer; and Pete Davis, who was born without his right arm.
The film about their climb, Gimp Monkeys[/i], made its online debut this week, after winning the Sierra Club Exceptional Athlete Award at the Adventure Film Festival in October.
“I wanted to make something that was fun, that spoke about things beyond climbing and that my grandmother would find inspirational,” director Fitz Cahall says. “I mean, climbing is fun. That’s why these three guys do it. It’s fun — maybe Type Three fun in this case — but these guys view it as an absolute privilege and a blessing that they can still climb. Stop the hand wringing, ditch the excuses, make your personal goals a priority and go have fun. The gimp monkeys exuded that. I wanted to make a film about that.”
De Martino, Davis, and Frye met six years ago at the Extremity Games, the X Games for amputees, and began dreaming up a climb of the most famous piece of granite in the world. DeMartino and Frye attempted another El Cap route, Lurking Fear, in 2011, and came up short — Frye had lost weight while training for the climb, and his prosthetic leg, fitted around his lower thigh, didn’t quite fit. Frye’s leg fell off as he jugged the route, luckily catching on a sling on his harness instead of falling hundreds of feet to the ground. DeMartino and Frye decided to abandon the plan and come back next year.
To shoot the film on the 1,800-foot route this June, Cahall, Mikey Schaefer, and Austin Siadak — all accomplished climbers as well as filmmakers — chose to climb the route ahead of DeMartino, Davis, and Frye.
“Traditionally, when people film El Cap they come in from the top, but it kind of means that you are only there for certain parts of the day,” Cahall says. “I just wanted to be 200 feet ahead of them the entire time. I felt like we had to be there the entire time vs just showing up for the good light. So we just climbed the route just above them, careful to never to get in their way or assist. Our goal with filming was to match the Gimp Monkeys’ effort. I think we achieved that.”
The result is an honest, fun film about three guys who happen to be minus a few limbs. Three guys who should get used to hearing the word “inspiring” mentioned in the same sentence with their names, although that doesn’t seem to be their goal on Zodiac — they just want to get to the top of a big piece of stone.
“We’re not going to raise awareness, we’re not going to further the cause of disabled people, to show people anything,” DeMartino says in the film. “We were just going because we all like to climb, and it’s one of the raddest places to climb.”
But it’s hard to not be a least a little wowed as you watch DeMartino step his prosthetic foot into etriers with hundreds of feet of air underneath him, or watch Davis alternate hand jams and “stump jams” high on Zodiac.
“It’s all about perception,” Davis says in the film. “What do you really perceive as hard? I feel like having only one arm is a pretty minor inconvenience.”
/images/flash_video_placeholder.png
Climbing teams attempting Zodiac, a 16-pitch aid route on Yosemite’s El Capitan, will debate beforehand about what gear to bring:[/b] an extensive list of cams, nuts, assorted hooks, pitons, rivet hangers. Only one time has a team brought along two prosthetic legs and a prosthetic arm.
This June, three men geared up at the base of Zodiac to attempt the first all-disabled climb of El Cap: Craig DeMartino, who lost his lower right leg after a climbing fall; Jarem Frye, who had his left leg amputated above the knee after a battle with bone cancer; and Pete Davis, who was born without his right arm.
The film about their climb, Gimp Monkeys[/i], made its online debut this week, after winning the Sierra Club Exceptional Athlete Award at the Adventure Film Festival in October.
“I wanted to make something that was fun, that spoke about things beyond climbing and that my grandmother would find inspirational,” director Fitz Cahall says. “I mean, climbing is fun. That’s why these three guys do it. It’s fun — maybe Type Three fun in this case — but these guys view it as an absolute privilege and a blessing that they can still climb. Stop the hand wringing, ditch the excuses, make your personal goals a priority and go have fun. The gimp monkeys exuded that. I wanted to make a film about that.”
De Martino, Davis, and Frye met six years ago at the Extremity Games, the X Games for amputees, and began dreaming up a climb of the most famous piece of granite in the world. DeMartino and Frye attempted another El Cap route, Lurking Fear, in 2011, and came up short — Frye had lost weight while training for the climb, and his prosthetic leg, fitted around his lower thigh, didn’t quite fit. Frye’s leg fell off as he jugged the route, luckily catching on a sling on his harness instead of falling hundreds of feet to the ground. DeMartino and Frye decided to abandon the plan and come back next year.
To shoot the film on the 1,800-foot route this June, Cahall, Mikey Schaefer, and Austin Siadak — all accomplished climbers as well as filmmakers — chose to climb the route ahead of DeMartino, Davis, and Frye.
“Traditionally, when people film El Cap they come in from the top, but it kind of means that you are only there for certain parts of the day,” Cahall says. “I just wanted to be 200 feet ahead of them the entire time. I felt like we had to be there the entire time vs just showing up for the good light. So we just climbed the route just above them, careful to never to get in their way or assist. Our goal with filming was to match the Gimp Monkeys’ effort. I think we achieved that.”
The result is an honest, fun film about three guys who happen to be minus a few limbs. Three guys who should get used to hearing the word “inspiring” mentioned in the same sentence with their names, although that doesn’t seem to be their goal on Zodiac — they just want to get to the top of a big piece of stone.
“We’re not going to raise awareness, we’re not going to further the cause of disabled people, to show people anything,” DeMartino says in the film. “We were just going because we all like to climb, and it’s one of the raddest places to climb.”
But it’s hard to not be a least a little wowed as you watch DeMartino step his prosthetic foot into etriers with hundreds of feet of air underneath him, or watch Davis alternate hand jams and “stump jams” high on Zodiac.
“It’s all about perception,” Davis says in the film. “What do you really perceive as hard? I feel like having only one arm is a pretty minor inconvenience.”
Spinoza
Active member
RedEyeTheJedi
Member
This is pretty crazy
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feihlination
Active member
sick stuff. and i can definitely see where they are coming from and why they would do it.
but this is one of the things i could never justify infront of my family/girlfriend/friends. like all the people who would go to my funeral and without overassessing my importance would be sad when i die.
but this is one of the things i could never justify infront of my family/girlfriend/friends. like all the people who would go to my funeral and without overassessing my importance would be sad when i die.
Petey.
Active member
That was the video that got me into free solo 
So epic, and such an indescribable feeling when you're up on the rocks, just focused on what's ahead and planning seemingly infinite routes up all these different mountains. Me and two of my other friends (who aren't little women) spent a good amount of time free solo'ing in northern NH this summer, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to try, it's great fun
So epic, and such an indescribable feeling when you're up on the rocks, just focused on what's ahead and planning seemingly infinite routes up all these different mountains. Me and two of my other friends (who aren't little women) spent a good amount of time free solo'ing in northern NH this summer, I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to try, it's great fun
iFlip
Active member
Terrible, terrible, horrible advice. The worst advice one could give, right on par with telling someone to invest a few grand in black tar heroin because it feels good.
I'm probably the most qualified on NS to speak about free-soloing. To clear things up, free-soloing and free-climbing are two very different things. Free-climbing is climbing a rock under one's own power, placing protection (or clipping bolts if sport climbing), and using a rope. This is different from aid climbing, where one puts in gear and then pulls on it to advance upward. Free-soloing is climbing technical rock without the use of any protection.
Up until the past year (when the real world caught up with me), I had been climbing 100+ days per year between rock and ice. For one reason or another, I got fairly seriously into soloing. It gave me a feeling I have never been able to get anywhere else in life. It is intense, while at the time completely serene and infinitely calm.
When contemplating a solo, it isn't whether or not you will fall. It isn't about wondering if you will fall. It isn't even about thinking if you will fall, or what the consequences will be. Soloing is about the 100% absolute confidence that you will climb the route. There is no thought about anything else, other than that you will climb the route. It should feel as easy as climbing the easiest route at the crag. A famous soloist once said that every route one solos should feel 5.6 (a very easy climbing grade).
My problem was that I started pushing the soloing envelope further and further. To get the same feeling I craved, I had to continually push the grades when soloing. I also started onsight soloing, which is just a genuinely stupid idea. On one particular onsight solo, I encountered tremendously wet conditions, on terrain I couldn't downclimb (broke the golden rule of soloing right there). I made a deal with a god I don't believe in. That pretty much ended onsight soloing, but I continued soloing increasingly difficult and more committing routes.
I don't know when or why, but I realized that my behavior was not conducive to a long life. I pretty much quit soloing, but still do on occasion. I now only solo specific routes that I have in mind, rather than just going to the crag and soloing whatever looks good. I've toned down the grades as well. I also solo ice, although nothing too difficult or committing.
Before anyone even considers soloing, one should climb thousands of different routes. Keep in mind a lot can go wrong. You could get stung by a bee, a bird or bat could fly out of a crack, there could be a snake in a crack (grabbed a copperhead this past spring, thankfully while roped), the rock could be loose, something could fall on you...on and on and on. I'd also recommend soloing with a harness with a few cams on it, and a tagline on your back. Consider it Plan B, in case something goes wrong or you don't feel right.
I'm probably the most qualified on NS to speak about free-soloing. To clear things up, free-soloing and free-climbing are two very different things. Free-climbing is climbing a rock under one's own power, placing protection (or clipping bolts if sport climbing), and using a rope. This is different from aid climbing, where one puts in gear and then pulls on it to advance upward. Free-soloing is climbing technical rock without the use of any protection.
Up until the past year (when the real world caught up with me), I had been climbing 100+ days per year between rock and ice. For one reason or another, I got fairly seriously into soloing. It gave me a feeling I have never been able to get anywhere else in life. It is intense, while at the time completely serene and infinitely calm.
When contemplating a solo, it isn't whether or not you will fall. It isn't about wondering if you will fall. It isn't even about thinking if you will fall, or what the consequences will be. Soloing is about the 100% absolute confidence that you will climb the route. There is no thought about anything else, other than that you will climb the route. It should feel as easy as climbing the easiest route at the crag. A famous soloist once said that every route one solos should feel 5.6 (a very easy climbing grade).
My problem was that I started pushing the soloing envelope further and further. To get the same feeling I craved, I had to continually push the grades when soloing. I also started onsight soloing, which is just a genuinely stupid idea. On one particular onsight solo, I encountered tremendously wet conditions, on terrain I couldn't downclimb (broke the golden rule of soloing right there). I made a deal with a god I don't believe in. That pretty much ended onsight soloing, but I continued soloing increasingly difficult and more committing routes.
I don't know when or why, but I realized that my behavior was not conducive to a long life. I pretty much quit soloing, but still do on occasion. I now only solo specific routes that I have in mind, rather than just going to the crag and soloing whatever looks good. I've toned down the grades as well. I also solo ice, although nothing too difficult or committing.
Before anyone even considers soloing, one should climb thousands of different routes. Keep in mind a lot can go wrong. You could get stung by a bee, a bird or bat could fly out of a crack, there could be a snake in a crack (grabbed a copperhead this past spring, thankfully while roped), the rock could be loose, something could fall on you...on and on and on. I'd also recommend soloing with a harness with a few cams on it, and a tagline on your back. Consider it Plan B, in case something goes wrong or you don't feel right.
Petey.
Active member
Exactly - your problem.
You wrote out a post essentially telling us how much fun you had doing something that you just told me was terrible, after I recommended it because it was fun. The fuckk?
You spent a few paragraphs telling us how much you supposedly know about climbing. Well, if that's true, you certainly know what a rush it is, don't turn others away from that that are willing to put in the dedication you and I have to have that same experience.
You wrote out a post essentially telling us how much fun you had doing something that you just told me was terrible, after I recommended it because it was fun. The fuckk?
You spent a few paragraphs telling us how much you supposedly know about climbing. Well, if that's true, you certainly know what a rush it is, don't turn others away from that that are willing to put in the dedication you and I have to have that same experience.
iFlip
Active member
To keep with the drug analogies - as I really view soloing as a drug - I hear hard drugs are a lot of fun as well. There are those who now make a career out of spreading awareness of the dangers of these drugs, who fully admit how much fun it was while on them. Are they destructive? Absolutely. Are they amazing? Probably. Are they worth it? Absolutely not.
I always viewed soloing as an intensely personal endeavor. I never, ever soloed when anyone was around. I didn't brag about my solos, and rarely told others about them. I soloed for me, and only me. Soloing to show off or brag is a terrible reason. Urging others to solo is even worse. If someone has climbed enough to responsibly make a decision to solo something, then they should make that decision on their own. No one should ever solo because someone else tells them to.
I always viewed soloing as an intensely personal endeavor. I never, ever soloed when anyone was around. I didn't brag about my solos, and rarely told others about them. I soloed for me, and only me. Soloing to show off or brag is a terrible reason. Urging others to solo is even worse. If someone has climbed enough to responsibly make a decision to solo something, then they should make that decision on their own. No one should ever solo because someone else tells them to.
Dr.Dickless
Active member
Ive climbed the opening line, with ropes and shit though
free solo is madness
free solo is madness
