nope, hike off. there's a regular trail that hikers take. that's also how a lot of the practice gets done (and how all the riggers and camera guys get into position). hike to the top, rappel some portion of the way in, practice the upper pitches. (which, of course, makes the whole exercise even that much more absurd). there are tons of climbs that require rappelling off, though. often takes as long or longer than the climbing.
Some of my free climbs might have been 75-100 feet. Like you, I was pretty cool to 10-15 feet. Fall from 10 feet won’t be that bad. From 15 to 30-40, my palms got sweaty, my breathing kinda labored, and my calves would get bouncy. Falling from 40 feet was likely to hurt bad, and I don’t like hurt. After about 40-50 feet, I recall everything chilling out again. Falling from 50-100 feet in my mind was unlikely to hurt. I was calm to the end. Granted, I always had kind of an unconventional relationship with whether I lived or died back then. Maybe still...
soloing anything on friction/slab would freak me out. Long time ago a friend and I were going to Tuolumne meadows in Yosemite to climb for a day or two. She had worked as a ranger there and suggested we warm upon one of the "left crack" or "right crack" that overlooks the parking lot there. We got there mid to late afternoon. supposed to be like 5.7 or something, bolted. Just getting to the belay station at the bottom kinda freaked us both out. 200-300 feet of exposure to get to the bolted belay station. Roped up and I lead off, go into the "left crack" and worked my way up. Finally got to thru the climb but not after some LONG run outs on manky gear (tiny stoppers and spinning bolts). got back to car after dark. Got a little freaked out that we had so much trouble with a 5.7. After we got back, looked in a guide book and found that the left crack was 5.7R and pretty well known for 40' runouts on crappy gear... lol. Joke was on us! Hiked in and did the SouthEast Buttress of Cathedral Peak. Amazing views, climbing (5 pitches of 5.6 or so) and just having fun in the mountains. Actually ran into Royal Robbins at the summit, he and a few of his sales reps were out climbing for a day after a meeting. So back to the movie- any thoughts on if it's appropriate for kids? I took my daughter (10) to a local indoor climbing gym a few times to see if she would like it, and would like to take her to get see it. The Dawn Wall has a lot of language (f-bombs) and some adult topics (pushing kidnappers off cliffs) so I might pass for another year or so, but wondered about Free Solo.
I took my 11 yr old daughter and thought it was fine. Not a lot of cussing. Definitely in the PG-13 range I would think.
All I know is that the movie has gotten people talking about climbing, and definitely has invigorated me to get back out there as well. Kind of analogous to watching MotoGP, I know I'll never do anything close to that level, but it still gets me pumped to enjoy my version of it. I'd take the kid for sure. It's an exciting film and clean enough. She'll enjoy it. Plus she might get the bug and boom, you have a climbing buddy.
It’s free on Hulu now. WATCH IT!!! I have to agree on soMe of the paralels to racers I know. I think it’s in the way a person processes risk. He’s done the “race” 100x so he knows the “track” and is comfortable with the potential consequences and happy with his life to date. Definetly a guy who lives and breathes YOLO.
Just watched it. F that! Dude is amazing though. Definitely wired a little different than most of us.
I was going to post about this last night after watching it on the PVR. National Geographic channel had it on a couple weeks ago. You think you need to be wired differently to want to do the Isle of Man? This is a whole other level or wiring! I was getting freaked out just watching what he was doing, and I knew he made it ahead of time. I can see why some of the camera guys couldnt watch.
There is one point, long before the finish, where he does that sideways jump move thing… Fuck a bunch of that. I mean, fuck the whole thing to begin with, but THAT… Why? I don't know if it's been discussed earlier in the thread, I didn't read it because I hadn't seen the documentary at the time, but I found striking similarities to the documentary about Guy Martin. Mentally, those guys live on the fringe of normal, and it shows in the way they relate to people.
You have to wonder if it’s genetic. They talked about this with his dad posibly being Autistic/ Aspergers.
Yeah, that same moment was the WTF moment for me in this film. It was just completely outside the realm of sanity. Who does something like that? I think I'm wired pretty much the same way. I have so much to lose, but I'll wade into dangerous situations without elevating my heart rate or thinking twice about it. There's some internal wiring going on that makes me believe I'm immune to consequences. No idea where it comes from.
Just reading the thread, haven't seen the movie yet (only previews). I think the parallels to motorcycle racing safety equipment are a bit off. Ropes for climbing aren't strictly for safety in the same way the helmets/leathers/gloves/boots are for mc racing. They also perform as climbing assists for the vast majority of climbers. If we must analogize to mc racing, it might be better to compare the free soloing climb to racing the TT without brakes (and for grins, let's say on a bike with minimal engine braking like a 2T). And, let's assume that the pace of said racing-without-rakes is nearly at record pace. That's a better analogy for me. If you lose any control, there's no backup. And further, we can imagine that some in our midst would consider it a challenge. Riding without safety gear doesn't seem like a challenge to most of us, just silly, crazy or dumb. Figuring out how to do the TT at speed would still be nuts, but not nuts just for nuts sake...
I think you’re speaking about the two possibilities to get through the boulder problem. Spoiler alert. When he jumps he’s using ropes and trying to figure out if it’s doable. He doesn’t do that when free soloing- he chooses the Karate Kick. Still it’s all crazy.
I watched it Friday night. That was inspiring. The plot, the filmography, the star. The man is a specimen. I can imagine the guys on the cameras emotions. Everyone of them was watching a friend peak. Knowing that he was content with the consequence of what he was doing and they were not. Awesome. Now I'm going to shuffle back over to my chair.
I tip my hat to Alex. Im glad he shared his talent/passion with us. This climb and how he broke it down reminds me of Isle of Man. They are such complex routes, I dont understand how they can be learned and executed at the level these guys do.