Again? Now he is just showing off.
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He did it in 4 hours but people usually take 2 days? Does the rope work slow things down that much?
I mean I get taking it slow and enjoying things, but I wouldn’t think they would have mentioned it if it was the usually way of doing things.
When you climb with a rope, you belay while your partner climbs, and they belay you while you climb the same pitch. So right there you’re spending twice the time. The rest is just that this guy is Good. Most people that climb this are merely really good. He’s a whole other level. Most people have multiple falls too, so, you know, ropes.
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Somebody once said to me “The gear doesn’t help you climb, it just saves your life.”
And not carrying all that gear does reduce somewhat the amount of WORK required to get to the top, but I have to think that not really being able to rest during the ascent makes this a more difficult cardiovascular workout…Kind of the difference between walking 26 miles carrying a pack (which I have done) and running a marathon (which I could in no way do)
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He and Tommy Caldwell did it in 5.5 hours on a rope shortly before his free solo. He’s just that good.
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Parts of it are very sustained, but turns out there are a few nice ledges for rest along the route. He’d stashed water and such along the way.
But yeah, most people aren’t just climbing with a rope and protection, but also with the hundreds of pounds of gear you need in order to stay on the wall for 24 days. So that slows them down because at every one of the 35(!!!) pitches you’ve got to haul a couple bags with 150lbs of stuff in them.
Also, most people physically can’t do all the free climbing moves on this route. I suspect most are using aid climbing to get through parts of it. Putting in a piece, clipping a little nylon ladder to it, stepping up 2 feet, putting in another piece, etc. That makes for very slow progress.
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Totally fake and I can prove it. See! He’s just crawling across a huge rock that has trees that grow horizontal on one side. Come on people!
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24 days? That’s a whole lot of gear.
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Wow, incredible climb. Wonder what’s next on his agenda.
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I’m just as bothered by this as the money I’ve been forced to shell out for fire departments (my house has never burned), schools (no kids), and softball fields (not interested). Which is to say, not at all.
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In an interview, he called the climb “light exercise,” and was ready to go do his every-other-day fingerboard workout as scheduled.
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If you genuinely have the skill, (and very few do) “taking it slow and enjoying things” isn’t necessarily the most joyful way of experiencing rock climbing.
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How do you feel when a rescuer dies during a search for someone who was foolish in the wilderness? Happens with sad frequency. Most of these sports depend on self regulation, but that has no actual structure. In my current main sport of kayak fishing people regularly get themselves dead heading out on a 70 degree spring day in cotton rather than a drysuit when the water is 40 and still deadly in an immersion. People are fearful of regulators stepping in and requiring training. I’m mixed.
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cave-diving seems particularly reckless in this regard.
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People can generally be relied on to do ill-advised, unreasonably dangerous things, in and out of the wilderness, and end up in life-threatening situations, or just be unlucky, even when they are doing everything ‘right.’ Well-trained people willing to risk their own safety to help them are worthy of praise and admiration. Our society could hardly function without them.
I feel awful when anyone dies. It’s quite rare for a rescuer to die in a rescue attempt, because of training and backup, but it does happen. Some people get in a pickle because of crazy risks. Others are unlucky, or overtaken by events of various sorts. All are deserving of the best efforts of responders, who by the way are often dedicated volunteers, requiring minimal taxpayer support.
I’m in favor of voluntary training, and participants in activities banding together to educate and help out newcomers, or confront participants about taking risks that defy all common sense. Policing your own territory is the best way to avoid government intervention. Some idiots, and some unfortunates will always slip through the cracks (or beneath the water or snow slide, etc.).
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Did you hear that awful story on NPR (Radiolab?) about the diver dying trying to recover a years old body in a African cave dive? It seemed to me the diver wanted an excuse to do a particularly dangerous dive.
I agree. Decades ago before mass produced kayaks, you had to join a club to get access to the club kayak molds to make your own fiberglass boat. The clubs passed on the wisdom, hopefully. Just before I joined a club as a beginner, a member died on a local river. He was breaking 3 safety rules at once, and paid the price. It made a BIG impression on me. One of the most important parts of the story was that his friends who loved his company were always taking him on rivers over his head. He came out of his boat way more often than he should have, and gained an unjustified sense of immortality. I was always VERY cautious of who I paddled with.
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Can you link to it?
also:
Starts at minute 20.40
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You’ve accidentally or on purpose misunderstood me. I like publicly funded shared spaces, and that helicopters come and save people when things go wrong among normal users of the spaces. I’m just uncomfortable when someone chooses to make a public place deadly to themselves and leaves the public to pick up the pieces. Seems irresponsible.
realized i know very little of what sort of nature the uk has to offer overall, any recommendations?
i have been to the scottish highlands, and the giants causeway in ireland, and hiked on the dingle peninsula of Ireland, but that is about the extent of it.
