Talk:Free solo climbing

Suggested merge

I added the {{mergeto|Free climbing}} tag to this article. Both articles are quite short and say almost the same thing. The only diffrence between the two seems to be that the topic of this article is a subset of the other where the only diffrence is weather or not you are going about the free climbing while alone. I suspect that such a minor diffrence coudl be addressed in a single article with a short discussion of variations. Dalf | Talk 06:23, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

So I don't agree with your description:

the only diffrence is weather or not you are going about the free climbing while alone

free climbing means:

• you can climb alone
• you are allowed to use ropes and other things to secure your life
• you are only allowed to use parts of your body (hands/feet/..) and the rock for climbing and not the rope or any other properties; these thing are only for securing you

free solo climbing means:

• you are NOT allowed to use any properties to secure your life
• you are NOT allowed to climb over water
• every injury must be nearly deadly or deadly

free solo climbing is the only way (for very crazy people) to earn much money with climbing

Danger issue.

There are few statistics on whether soloing is actually "highly dangerous" (compared to what?) as far as how many people have died vs. how many have free soloed. The article refers to it has "highly dangerous", which it is, but that may be misleading to people possibly enforcing the idea that free soloists are suicidal. Statistically there may be less per capita deaths free soloing than other forms of climbing.

Yeah I'm going to have to stop you right there. When you climb without a rope, any change in weather conditions, a sudden gust of wind, a slippery rock or anything really and you can fall to your death from a router you've climbed a hundred times. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.194.190.179 (talk) 16:50, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

In the National Geographics piece "Alone on the Wall," John Long himself commented on it being staggeringly dangerous: "It's a difficult and dangerous proposition to even consider." In the recent CBS/60 Minutes segment (2 Oct 2011) on Alex Honnold, he said something to the effect that half of all the "famous" freesoloers are dead.--Petzl (talk) 11:02, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Correction Justifications

I removed

Hersey, though a master of solo climbing's physical and mental demands, is believed to have encountered rain during his fatal solo ascent of the 1000-meter Sentinel Rock.

as LA Times, 1993-05-31 contradicts this

Luebben, also an experienced climber, speculated that Hersey slipped after encountering moisture on the smooth, polished face of Sentinel Rock.... Lisa Dapprich, a spokeswoman for the Park Service, said that although there were some clouds in the valley area Friday, there was no rainfall.

--John Bentley (talk) 01:59, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Some corrections suggestions

First of all, listing Sentinel Rock as a "1000 meter rock" is misleading. I do not know the details of the accident, but the longest vertical climbs on Sentinel are about 1500 feet. The way it is currently written sounds like he was attempting a 3000+ foot climb.

While on that topic, does the info about the accident in Yosemite really belong under the "Motivations" section?

Lastly, I propose adding Steph Davis to the list of practitioners, with the following justifications:

• She is among the few females in the world to complete free solo climbs at the 5.11 level.
• She had several notable free solo ascents in the last few years.

Cjdrover (talk) 05:49, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

Nonsensical example

"Reasons for free soloing given by high-profile climbers include the simplicity and speed with which one can climb, for example (although it was not a free solo climb) Alex Honnold's five hours and 49 minutes ascent of the 3,000 ft. Nose of El Capitan, a route normally demanding two to four days." --- why is this given as an example of the speed with which one can climb when free soloing if it was not an example of free soloing ?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Orlando098 (talk • contribs) 20:27, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Change the representative picture?

Alain Robert, great as he is, is not the face of freesoloing, but of buildering. And freesoloing proper is a discipline that applies to climbing rock, not manmade objects. I would suggest the representative picture should reflect that.--Petzl (talk) 11:06, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

The "!" in the description of free BASE as a safe alternative is unprofessional

It also lacks a citation about whether it's statistically less safe than free soloing. It should be revised. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.119.9.12 (talk) 08:33, 14 October 2012 (UTC)

Soloing free vs. Free soloing

The introduction to this article states: "Free solo climbing, also known as free soloing or in the UK simply as soloing." According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_climbing#Common_misunderstandings_of_the_term , "In the UK the term 'soloing' refers to soloing free (no aid sections) routes." I will therefore remove the last part of the sentence.

H3Xh3X (talk) 12:21, 12 February 2015 (UTC)

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Parachute

What about parachute? Is that considered free solo or free climbing? 213.149.51.253 (talk) 15:37, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

   Such an amusing question deserves some kind of answer; an amusing one would be amusing, but a straight answer isn't off the table. Speaking as a (business) colleague of an (amateur) who had broken her pelvis more than once sky diving, I feel qualified to opine that our ip-addressed colleague knows little about climbing, and less about paraponting. A key to the parachute and parapont concepts is a stable (even if dynamic), and (for at least a few seconds) consciously controlled transition from feet and/or hands, to falling prior to chute deployment, or to gliding. If you want BASE-jumping, go with your favorite god-delusion. If you want survive climbing falls, boulder with an experienced partner and/or bouldering pads (which you are probably miscalling "mattresses), or become very good friends with an unfrocked orthopedist.
Jerzy•t 02:04, 16 March 2019 (UTC)

   BTW, she self-described as an adrenalin junkie, which I guess is fine. Climbers, based the experience of my climbing experience (ages 57, I guess, to 72-and- half-heartedly -counting), and boulderers (IMO a separate breed, tho some do cross that border) are much more Zen-ish, and I think AH (tho a unique specimen) is merely way out on the far reaches of the climbing continuum, rather than being a truly separate breed of cat.
--Jerzy•t 02:31, 16 March 2019 (UTC)