When big bombs knock you off your feet, can't help getting swept away. In all seriousness currently typing with 9 fingers due to falling around 300-400 feet after getting knocked out. Completely obliterated my finger on a harsh impact, it was way beyond saving. Had pins put in, many months of intense therapy, and many evaluations from a lot of hand specialists. After arthritis kicked in and my finger further degenerated, amputation was the only reasonable option.



Fate is not always in your hands no matter how hard you try, how fast you run, and how deep you duck. Fortunately the crags are a lot more graceful. Dean Potter and many other reputable climbers have ran into bad luck. Even the best don't always make it out.

"What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." -- Donald Trump

This is an old thread. Just now read it.
Derek Hersey died soloing on the Steck-Salathe on Sentinel Rock, 1993.
Jim Adair died on the approach slabs on Sentinel in 1978. He was also a very accomplish climber. A great photo of him appeared on the cover of climbing magazine and he did see it, but then died some days or weeks later.
If you start listing all the soloing deaths, it becomes seemingly endless.
Almost everyone who climbs seriously for more than a couple years, does some soloing. Some are unlucky.
No much to say really. Who are we to tell others how to live, right?
Just a terrible lot of sadness when someone falls.

Josh Lewis wrote: due to falling around 300-400 feet after getting knocked out.

If it were class 5 terrain 50 feet would suffice to get killed.

wallspeck wrote: A great photo of him appeared on the cover of climbing magazine and he did see it, but then died some days or weeks later.

So, he received his 15 minutes of fame, and had fulfilled his final destiny.

You're right, who are we to judge somebody just because they'd like to find fame and glory in the Rocks The Nature of the Beast is alive and well.

Well, I don't know if Jim was seeking fame or glory, but he was a very talented guy.
I think he was probably just another young man having a lot of fun, immersed in the culture and tragedy took him.
He died soloing the 3rd class slabs approaching the Steck-Salathe on Sentinel. Pretty much everyone solos those.
Probably he got off-route; don't know.
Here is a Supertopo link with a photo of the 1978 Climbing Mag.
http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum ... /Jim-Adair
I remember buying the magazine, admiring the photo and later, when I found he had fallen, being really saddened.

I certain didn't mean to imply death while soloing was some grand glory thing. Quite the opposite.
But I did mean it when I said we need to let people live how they want to live.
I like what Peter Croft said about soloing in Doug Robinson's film Moving Over Stone. If you haven't seen it, then I'll paraphrase "If you're soloing to impress people, and you fall, you've had a huge joke played on you."

Your comment on the Nature of the Beast is completely correct. It pulls young people in. There is delusion and ego and adrenalin and pride; the dark side of soloing. But there is also serenity, and focus and purity and clarity and joy; the other side. I've experienced, in my youth, just a wee bit of the dark side (it would be a lie to deny it) but mostly it's been the other; alone, no audience, no applause, the silence of the wilderness, no bragging, no one who cared, just me, doing my thing. When I got old enough, and it took a long time for me to grow up, not sure if I'm there yet, I made a conscious decision to quit unroped climbing. Mostly I abide by my decision. But the Beast is strong, like the strongest drug one can imagine, and it is hard. It's not about fame or glory.... if you've soloed much, you know exactly what I mean.

very well stated my friend! Soloing... lots to say. But, I won't, other than anybody who climbs rocks, mountains, or whatever, will find themselves in a solo-zone more than once. Soloing is so hard to stop. There is no partner stress, no rope management, never a worry about where that next piece of gear goes, just you, the rock, and climbing. Zen at its best. I too have given it up, finally, for the most part... hahaha

wallspeck wrote:Almost everyone who climbs seriously for more than a couple years, does some soloing.

Can I see some videos?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventu ... imb-video/

Bear Creek Spire is the peak. There are many routes on it.
You know that.
Regardless, if there really are old women (my age) soloing that in granny gowns, I'm thinking I ought to go take a look!!!!!!!

Saw the video, is which nice if you can deal with the whole Gopro helmet cam thing, which I dislike, but I digress. I don't know where the N. Arete of BCS came in, but the brief article that accompanied the video didn't say N. Arete (though it incorrectly identified the peak as being in Yosemite, so maybe the climber provided bad facts on more than one point). With the exception of a short, wide section of 5.8 about midway up, that would not be a bad solo. Having said that, all you need is a short weird section to make the whole endeavor pretty dicey. When I climbed it, someone soloed past us, and I was under the impression that it got soloed fairly often.

I did some a fair amount of soloing BITD, including things like Whitney's E. Face and Snake Dike. However, especially after the latter, I just wasn't that into it any more. While at times it was kind of liberating, at other times it was gripping. I also knew Derek Hershey and climbed with him some in the Valley on his first summer in the U.S. Though I didn't see him after that, his death several years later affected me greatly. I hope Alex get his yayas out and settles into a safe routine. Even someone like Bachar, who survived his youth, had an unfortunate accident on something that would have been tame for him.

Owen Spalding on the Grand gets soloed all the time. The memorials on that route are due to roped accidents. I bet more people have died on the 4th class section than free soloing the 5th class....which it's a stretch even calling alot of that route 5th class. Still....People die. It's life.

It's going to be insane what Alex will be able to accomplish now with the HonnSolo 11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MubrSXdjjQ

Eh... Did you notice the publishing date of this video?

Diego Sahagún wrote:

Hmm... an interesting read Anyone leafed through this book? is it a biography or mostly pшctures?

Scientific article on Honnold. fMRI of his brain shows no fear

http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-str ... lo-climber

It is difficult to get an access to fMRI, but I did measure my heart rate using a monitor while sitting on the edge of a rock. It was 65-70. Should have been much higher in case of any fear. Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrE9y104TBQ . You can see the numbers on the heart rate monitor if you select HD resolution.