that's one hell of a thin line he's using there, looks like a 6mm static tag line, but he's leading on it. interesting.

the guys in another league of climbing...

Cool Video - Here is another one on Joel Kauffman's blog of Guillaumet
http://joelandneilsclimbingblog.blogspot.com

Good video - impressive in fact!

That's pretty awesome indeed! There's some more info on http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en ... -patagonia

@kiwiw: this looks more like skinny twins (7 rather than 6mm, too) than static. And he mentions that he only belays on the 5.9 crux pitch and free solos the rest.

Awesome and inspiring.

Can anyone explain to me how his self-belayed technique works?

I guess so, whatever they are they're really skinny.
anyone have more info on this route? looks sick, especially since it's "only" 5.9
also interested in his self belay method. did he built anchors and then leave them to take down on the descent? slick setup no matter what. and that summit block was sick!!!!

I'm also curious about Colin's self-belay technique. I read somewhere (perhaps on his blog) that he left the gear and retrieved it on rappel. I doubt that he tied the rope to the bottom anchor, because then he couldn't pull it up.

Quoting from the trip report on the BD website:

The crux pitch is a short 5.9 dihedral, which with
rock shoes I would have been happy to free solo, but with boots and
gloves I decided here to use a rudimentary self-belay. Since I knew I
would be rappelling down the same route, I could leave several nuts
and cams on this pitch for my self-belay and retrieve them on the
descent.

yeah, I read that, but how's he self belaying, he's not hauling a grigri along, maybe tying loops in the rope and uncliping them as he climbs? seems like that would quickly turn into a clusterfuck with 2 ropes.

At 5:44 one can see that the belay is set up like an upside-down rappel so that at the end of the pitch the rope may be pulled from above. Colin Haley is probably tied to both ends of the rope. One figure-eight can be seen at 7:27. The extra rope initially forms a large bight, so that 4 strands hang from him. This can be seen at 6:44.

He periodically gives himself rope, so that the bight gets shorter as he climbs away from the bottom anchor. When he's putting his crampon back on, he seems to be at the end of the rope. I can't see in the video what he's using to adjust the loop. As far as I can tell, he may be using a GRIGRI, or even a clove hitch. (His rope is thin and he calls his belay "rudimentary.") I may be missing something, though.

Awesome video

brenta and dingus
I figured that out, just wondering about giving himself slack, and if it makes you feel better, I like your idea too dingus, I'm going with that.

Neat. After a few looks, it appears he was climbing via Couloir Amy (pronouned Ah-mee). Deb and I did this very same route 2 years ago. In fact, by the looks of things, the couloir (60 degrees) appears much fatter and a bit easier. The time we did it, the couloir was a ribbon of blue ice, which was melting out underneath us and we were dry tooling the walls next to us! I know its a helmet cam but I sure wish he had stabilzed his head for a few short moments on the route, especially while he was climbing the HUGE right facing dihedral (5.9).....some of the best climbing on the route!

BTW, we met up with Collin after he did the Trifecta with Rolo, shortly after topping out on Cerro Torre, near Niponeemo basecamp in the morraine. He was totally beat but cheery. Two days later, we all enjoyed pints of beer and carne at a town party to celebrate their accomplishment! Even Tomas Huber brought his share of "cheer" to the party and sang a drunk rendition of the "Collin and Rolo....You Bastards! song. Too fun!

Here's the start to Couloir Amy....




Deb traversing out, preparing to climb the start of the HUGE right facing dihedral....