How incredible is the free-climb of El-Capitan?

nuttobutt wrote:

To understand how difficult this was, one must first understand climbing grades.

The YDS (Yosemite Decimal Scale) is generally what is used in the US to grad climbs. It ranges from 5.0 to 5.15, at the moment.

A 5.0 climb would be a scary 'hill' climb that might involve a couple technical moves and a lot of scrambling up steep terrain.

At about 5.4 to 5.5, average joe hiker will feel very uncomfortable and would be wishing for a rope, protection on the wall, and a good belayer. . .

Thanks for the explanation. One thing that wasn't initially obvious to this uninitiated person is that the scale is [5.0, 5.1, . . ., 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, . . .], that is the format is class.difficulty_within_class, not a straight decimal system. Without understanding this, 5.0 < 5.4 < 5.15 looked like a typo.

Nobody cares rock climbing is dumb

Stick with eharmony wrote:

Nobody cares rock climbing is dumb

0/10

Solid logic, using same logic, running is dumb.

If alain Robert switched roles with these guys TODAY

how far would they make it up spidermans most difficult building climb without ropes?

And how far would he make it up the dawn wall with their safety ropes?

Is alain Robert just a showman compared to these guys?

Spiderman.. wrote:

If alain Robert switched roles with these guys TODAY

how far would they make it up spidermans most difficult building climb without ropes?

And how far would he make it up the dawn wall with their safety ropes?

Is alain Robert just a showman compared to these guys?

I would say Alain, judging by a simple google search, is a 5.12 to 5.13 climber. Some of his notable climbs are in that range. He would have a hard time with the Dawn Wall.

Of further note, several professional climbers were recruited to help Tommy and Kevin scale the Dawn Wall, including aforementioned Chris Sharma (5.15c climber) and Alex Honnold (recognized from a National Geographic segment on free solo climbing). Even Chris Sharma could not complete the most difficult pitch while he was there.

I saw a 60 minute documentary on Alex Honnold some time back and the sort of climbing he was doing, on his own without any assistance whatsoever and up the most difficult routes, seemed to me to be infinitely the most risky and perilous activity a human could engage in. I'm glad to see he is still alive.

Robert free soloed (after getting it "wired" in practice) 5.13d TWENTY years ago, a mind-boggling feat, especially considering his hardest redpoint with a rope was 5.14a. He has said that most of his building solos have been in the 5.12 range technically, but those are a different challenge, as the moves are very repetitive compared to rock. Still, he has no one even trying to follow his example on those. He is married with kids as well :P

Ok. Let's get back to where Marcus Mariota will go in the draft.

Stick with eharmony wrote:

Nobody cares rock climbing is dumb

Good. We continue to disagree on everything.

I've been to Yosemite twice, and El Capitan is impressive. No freakin' way would I climb that, with or without assistance...too freakin' scary.

Serious question here...Didn't Alex Honhold Free Solo El Capitan on that 60 minutes special. Isn't that a lot more impressive? Or did he take an "easy" route?

If you haven't seen this before I'd recommend it.

The Ascent of Alex Honnold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

To put things in perspective. Attach 2 pencils to a wall with U nails, one about a foot off the ground for one foot hold (or basically your big toe) and the other about 5 ft above the other for one hand hold (your finger tips). Now imagine you are 500 feet up and you are searching above for your next pencil perch. A lot of times the width of a pencil would be a luxury perch for your toe or fingers. Do this for 19 days. The sheer stress of losing that grip and falling/sliding down a rock face and being jerked by a safety rope and starting over is maddening. The forearm pump and calf cramping is unforgiving.

They have my respect.

To put things in athletic perspective I do not believe that Dane could do this and he is THE MAN!!

Alex Honnold wrote:

Serious question here...Didn't Alex Honhold Free Solo El Capitan on that 60 minutes special. Isn't that a lot more impressive? Or did he take an "easy" route?

If you haven't seen this before I'd recommend it.

The Ascent of Alex Honnold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

Yes Honhold did solo the "Nose" of El Capitan in the 60 minutes special. A very impressive feat, he has done it several times. Honhold, like Tommy and Kevin are outliers in the climbing community. Honhold has the mental fortitude unlike any climber out there, but he had done the Nose several times prior to his first free solo attempt. I believe the Nose goes at 5.12b on the YDS, but is a much longer route than the Dawn Wall which is rated at 5.14d (please read prior post).

Climbing and running are on much different planes when it comes to what is more or less impressive. In running, you have, more or less, black and white numbers, races against others, etc. In climbing, there is little black and white, much more gray. It is not productive to compare one climb to another unless you have physically done both. I believe Tommy and Kevin could both easily free solo the Nose of El Cap, just as Honhold did. For many climbers however, free soloing is not an option, there is so much more risk involved when free soloing, it truly is life and death.

Climbing, however, is not about risk, it is about safety (most will argue). Mitigating as many risk as possible so that you and your partner can return to the ground safely. This is where ropes, harnesses, fixed protection, and removable protection come into play.

I have recently heard that there is a new dominant force in the running universe. His name is Brock and he is an ultra runner beyond compare. He has successfully FINISHED several ultra races. He is such an athletic fiend that he runs marathons as training 'fun-runs'. He is so dominant that he does not even dabble with the beginner races (i.e 5k or 10k). He has even COMPLETED a 100-miler.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it fellas!!

When I was in high school, I went up to the base of El Capitan and tried to climb up a few feet, which I could not do. I then went to another section of Yosemite Valley and climbed up a boulder without too much difficulty. These guys are absolutely incredible. What a feat this was. The Times had great coverage of this for a week or more. The level of difficulty of that climb is off the charts.

Brock IS ultraman wrote:

I have recently heard that there is a new dominant force in the running universe. His name is Brock and he is an ultra runner beyond compare. He has successfully FINISHED several ultra races. He is such an athletic fiend that he runs marathons as training 'fun-runs'. He is so dominant that he does not even dabble with the beginner races (i.e 5k or 10k). He has even COMPLETED a 100-miler.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it fellas!!

Watchu taukin bout Willis are you sayin Brock Lesner has come out of retirement from the UFC and WWE and is taking up the sport of running?

This is the best day ever! !!

nuttobutt wrote:

Honnold soloed the Nose using points of aid- not to denigrate, but it has never been done free solo. It is 14a not 12b, first freed by Lynn Hill (probably the greatest female athletic achievement in any sport) and first male free ascent by Tommy Caldwell, who has the greatest overall record of hard ascents on El Cap, even before the Dawn Wall, which is leagues harder than any other El Cap free route.