Posted on 08/24/2011 9:11:42 AM PDT by sussex
Its hard to know what to make of Alexs astounding ascents. No words can describe the difficulty and dangerousness of these ascents. Its simply pure brashness. Lets face itthe kid has a lot of chutzpah. Climb high Alex, and be safe.
(Excerpt) Read more at theagedp.com ...
Never test God.
Didn’t a dude just die yesterday doing this?
I have a friend who used to do a lot of free climbing. He also had other climbs where he would used ropes. HE was very analytic in his approach, he trained a lot to be in the proper physical condition.
Looks more like he’s trusting God and testing himself.
I take Scouts rock climbing at least 2x a year. We always point out people like this as fools that should not be emulated. We have on occasion seen them carried out on stretchers by EMTs, which reinforces the point.
Paging Darwin...
Just a technical point. He is free soloing. Free climbing without rope.
Free climbing does not mean you don’t use a rope - it means that you don’t support yourself on the rope, nor use mechanical means (aid) to get up a rock face.
If you use aid, it is called ‘aid climbing’.
Many free soloists have died through the years.
This will not end well.
No Brains.
It's his business though.
There are no old free-solo climbers. I always thought that should be a clue.
If I ran North Face I wouldn’t be running promos like this.
It’s just a matter of time. I admire his athleticism and his daring, though.
I thought it was funny, he put a seat belt on while he was driving.
“There are no old free-solo climbers.”
I remember reading about John Bachar when he died (climbing death) a few years ago.
Also from that era, Tobin Sorenson (climbing death).
RIP
Oh, he’s got plenty of brains. They’ll likely be on display, sooner or later.
Sorry, but I have little patience for free-soloists. They give technical rock climbing a bad name, and set a very poor example. Their end is as expected and predictable as it is unnecessary. Being foolish on the rocks is dangerous. And free-soloing is as foolish as it gets.
Rock climbing is really a pretty safe sport, providing one has a mind toward safety and redundancy, and a religious adherence toward equipment checking. Free-soloing stands in direct defiance of all of that, and in that case (without fail), gravity will win.
Are you saying that if I wear my puffy North Face down vest it won’t protect me from a 2000 ft fall? Damn, I feel cheated now. (OK, I’d be flattened. But warm!)
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