The Dawn Wall

[scared?]

It's impossible for me to have aids... I'm neither black or gay... ...

[Doombrain]

More like YAWN wall, amirite?

this

[losCHUNK]

It's impossible for me to have aids... I'm neither black or gay... ...

But u is a hoe

[obsidian]

National Geographic Article: Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson finish their quest to be the first to free climb the Dawn Wall.

[xer0s]

Awwwww

[Ferrao10]

I had only read about their success in the news today. It is a great achievement and I think the time it took them already shows how difficult of a task it was.
3000 feet in what? 20 days? That's hardcore. I guess they biwouaked all those nights in the wall? I don't climb myself but I think it is a fascinating sport.

Quite the opposite was achived by the Huber brothers last summer I think, when they speed climbed a wall of El Capitan. They went together as a duet with the first one securing the rope to existing anchors and the second one to just pull himself up the rope. I think the existing record till then was 4 hours something. They did it in some 56 minutes if I remember correctly.

Also, surf this site with a handheld device. It's streetview-like route of the Eiger Northwall. Watching this on a handheld really immerses you and shows how steep it is. You can use the dots on the right side to jump to different segments of the route.

Edit: here's aforementioned site in english.

[SoM]

free solo Alex Honnold

http://media.vidmax.com/media/video2/97597/stream.mp4

paste into url field

[mjrpes]

free solo Alex Honnold

http://media.vidmax.com/media/video2/97597/stream.mp4

paste into url field

The circuitry in that kid's brain is broken.

[mjrpes]

Really? Embedding a 104MB gif?

[SoM]

i ripped it out of the page source, didn't want to link straight to vidmax

[mjrpes]

i ripped it out of the page source, didn't want to link straight to vidmax

Sorr, was referring to obsidian and his gif embed above that caused my reply to write out at 1 character per 10 seconds

[obsidian]

I didn't realize it was that big... lol... people with slow internets, etc.

Regarding Alex Honnold... He's a madly amazing climber, one of the world's best. He typically free-solos routes that are a piece of cake for him, but quite difficult for most other climbers. The risks he takes seems incredibly large for most people (and rightly so), but are easily acceptable for someone with his ability. He practices most of his free-soloing routes, cleans the routes of any loose rocks, and makes sure that it is well within his range of ability.

[Eraser]

I'm getting vertigo just looking at that video.

What if you're halfway up a wall and think "cock, I'm not going to make it"? Then what?
I also wonder, you always see people climbing up and then there's the climax when you reach the top. But don't you have to get down after that? Or are they picked up or do some abseiling or whatever? Seems to me that if you have to climb your way down, it's even harder than going up because you can't see the wall below you as well.

[vesp]

Alex Honnold vids give me the fear chills :S

[Captain]

Big deal, Geoff has climbed diaper mountain every day of his life.

[shaft]

Anyone else sickened how climbers deface this granite wall with all their anchors?

[seremtan]

their

[obsidian]

Of course. If I ever wanted to experience the natural beauty of Yosemite, having driven down in my V10 engine motor home filled with a big screen TV, jacuzzi, fridge full of beer, too many children and a fat loud wife wearing a Hawaiian print dress and a fanny pack, the last thing I would want on my trip are tiny bolts that are nearly invisible to the naked eye ruining the whole experience. Fuck that, this is America and the land of God. I'm gonna shoot those bolts off with my shotgun and teach those commie climbers the meaning of mother fucking freedom. Support the troops! Fucking A!

[shaft]

Glad you're as outraged as me.

[obsidian]

Indeed! High five?

o/

[obsidian]

BTW, some amusing facepalms.

[plained]

they should have called it the damm wall!

*shakes fist

[vesp]

BTW, some amusing facepalms.

fucking lol.

One of my favourites:
"If you can’t do the climb as one continuous route, put off doing it until you get good enough. "

[shaft]

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA—Renowned rock climber Alex Honnold on Saturday became the first person to scale the iconic nearly 3,000-foot granite wall known as El Capitan without using ropes or other safety gear, completing what may be the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport.

He ascended the peak in 3 hours, 56 minutes, taking the final moderate pitch at a near run.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adven ... l-capitan/

[obsidian]

Freerider, El Capitan 5.12D
Yosemite Valley, California USA

Avg time to climb route: 4 days
Approach time: 10 minutes
Descent time: 4 hours
Number of pitches: 35
Height of route: 2900'

Free Rider is a 4-pitch variation to Salathe Wall. It avoids the two 5.13 pitches on the Salathe Headwall with some 5.12 pitches. Free Rider is currently the easiest and most popular way to say proudly "I have free climbed El Capitan". (You can't proudly say you have free climbed El Cap if you do the West Face or East Buttress because these routes are so far to the sides on much smaller sections of the wall).

NOTE: Free climbing means to climb a route without pulling up on ropes or gear, using only your hands and feet but with ropes and gear for safety. Free soloing (as Honnold is doing here) means climbing without rope or gear at all.

I can barely climb 35' of 5.12D in the gym with a rope, let alone going ropeless on 3000' of Yosemite 5.12D (which is classically known to be heavily sandbagged). He completes it in less than 4 hours where it averages most others 4 days. The hardest I've ever soloed is a 5.0 which I only do as a massive shortcut up and down the cliff. It's basically part of the hike in. No way am I ever soloing something hard or dangerous.