“Free Solo” Movie - Climbing El Kapitan with no Rope

I'm not a climber (lol, had to call myself a pussy for five straight minutes just to make it to the top of my ladder to paint my entryway). But it seems like it's a contentious point even in that community about whether free solo-ing is worth the increased risk.

Perhaps a shitty analogy, but it'd be like racing in your underwear with no protection. Yeah, you'd maybe go a bit faster because of the weight reduction, but at an order of magnitude increase in risk. Yeah, definitely a shitty analogy but you get the point.

 

Maybe not double overhead but I’ve been out there in a solid 10’ swell and for my ability it may as well have been Mavericks. It always feels bigger in the water.

That’s a fun wave at times but if it’s really pumping I stay on the sand.

 

Blacks can be scary as fuck in winter storms as that La Jolla trench is close to shore. In addition to the waves being tall, they also stay thick and carry a lot of power.
That washing machine can be the longest minute+ of your life and god help you if you get fucked by the first one of the set.

Made me buy a 15' leash for the board so I could dive for the bottom.

 

For sure, I've been a climber for 25 years, and one thing most sponsored athletes will tell you is that they are "brand ambassadors." Their value is how well they can sell the climbing lifestyle. How hard someone can climb certainly helps obtain sponsorship, but it is only one variable in the marketability of a climber.

 

Going fast and light is part of the appeal of solo climbing, but it is the feeling of freedom and more importantly, mastery of the medium.

 

ok, you’re the new resident authority on it then!

Educate us, or me at least, on the rigs like Potter and Davis use for their jumps after ascending their climbs. Are they base rigs that they carry up separately, or what I was confused about that some are wearing for emergencies of a fall?

Jbraun explained some and I still haven’t looked it up but would love first hand knowledge info from a climbing veteran.

thanks

 

Forgot to mention it but some states rock climbing is illegal! Yep, you can’t even climb a rock that earth made without breaking a law. What kind of complete bullshit is that?!?

 

Davis and Potter were base jumping as its own pursuit to start.

They also would base jump off of formations they climbed with ropes. To do this they would usually have some poor schmo hike or rappel with their climbing gear to get down.

This lead to Potter combining the two disciplines and cleverly called it FreeBasing. In the grand scheme of things Potter didn't do too much of this due to logistical challenges of climbing with a rig.

So your memory is correct about him doing this. But it was a small portion of his overall program.

 

Cool, thanks man.

Where have you climbed in the 25 years? You local to one of the areas with good climbing and or travel to climb? One of my cousins bought property and built a shipping container house in a neighboring state where he can go every weekend during summers. Terrible he has to drive three hours to get to KY where he can climb legally.

 

One of the not so smart things I ever did was bouldering in Yellowstone during a full moon fall night... luckily when my buddy and I ascended the house size boulders we were able to find another way down on the backside. Things you don’t think of when you’re young. We sat on top wondering if we’d freeze before daybreak and or if anyone would come down the blocked off road we went down.

 

Just finished the Alpinist. I watched Free Solo and 14 Peaks and enjoyed them, but this was way more moving. It is almost fitting that his final resting place is there in the mountains.

 

Started out East. Lived in NC, WV, and TN when I first was looking for places to live with good climbing. Moved to Vegas after that and climbed outside 3 days a week for the better part of 14 years. Even managed to put up some new climbs while there.

The whole reason I got into riding motorcycles at all was when I ruptured my bicep from climbing.
Climbing and moto scratch a similar itch for me.

Now I'm in MN. Surprisingly good climbing close by for being in the Midwest.

 

Easily one of the dumbest things I ever did was something similar. It involved some light climbing, but with huge dropoffs in the Red River Gorge. I'd never been there before and we hadn't made plans to go out that night, but a buddy wanted us to see the full moon view on this outcropping at like midnight. I had already finished 2/3 of a bottle of Jim Beam before he came up with that idea. I was doing all kinds of stupid stuff that night like sliding down rock faces face first then spinning around to land on small ledges. When we went back the next day, and I was able to see the bottom, I was pissed.

 

Lots of decent climbing, rafting, MTB, and everything around Nantahalla/western NC

Where at in NC/TN? Spent most of my first 20 years back and forth to there. All my kin is from the Rez in Cherokee then west to GB/PF/Sevierville then up that side of Appalachia into KY.

I mentioned scratching that racing itch with other sports like this earlier, whitewater specifically.

You ever raft the Gulley in WV?

 

I was in Boone, NC for a year and Knoxville, TN.

I was a rock climbing guide at the New River for a while. While we contracted our services to quite a few raft companies, and I was offered discounted river trips, I was too singularly focused on climbing to do it.

 

Cool!
You go to college in Boone? I spent a bunch of time there at the school for events. There is also a great bluegrass festival there too.

I’ve been down the New river once, then found the Gulley. Never climbed there though... isn’t it limestone around the water? I never looked but were most climbing areas the river banks or different areas?

 

I've surfed Blacks between the paved road and the gliderport for years, and only learned about the trench last year. Before I had the courage to paddle into that particular lineup I always looked down the beach and wondered why it was so big there.

We're enjoying a nice winter swell right now. Just got back from Tourmaline and the bigger sets were easily 8-10

 

Ever climb Whiteside? I had a place in Cashiers for a minute but never got to head out there.

 

Tourmaline is awesome.
When I was at UCSD, we would walk down the cliffs, not the road, as it was faster (and way sketchier) to hit the beach, and you could see the lines coming in.
Gotta be on your A-game for winter swells at Blacks.

If you want to know about the trench, go to the Scripps aquarium. It's a cool place, and it's got a visual so you can see how steep that drop off is in scale to things like the Scripps pier and how it rides up the coast.

Cherry Hill (Del Mar, right where Via De La Valle T-bones into 101) is a shifting sand bar, so the waves are a bit kinder there.