Is soloing becoming too "casual"?

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Trad climber

Calgary

Sep 27, 2016 - 07:09pm PT

I quit soloing when I became a father. Never was into it big time but I had a few absolutely great days.
It seems like we are bombarded with solo films these days. It will be awful if someone dies while being filmed but it probably will happen.
'casual' feeling is just when you might blow it

Fat Dad

Trad climber

Los Angeles, CA

Sep 27, 2016 - 07:53pm PT

I stopped when my daughter was born as well. Before that I had done a fair, including some longer routes onsight, though some of those outings were really more than what I had anticipated from the experience. Now, I've got no head for it, though that may be due to how infrequently I get out. As I age and get more jaded that perspective may fad. Whymper's lines ring very true though.

clinker

Trad climber

Santa Cruz, California

Sep 27, 2016 - 08:10pm PT

Blame it on Werner.

Sierra Ledge Rat

Mountain climber

Old and Broken Down in Appalachia

Sep 27, 2016 - 08:26pm PT

So I relegated that aspect of my climbing to strict solitude, where I think it should be, so that I can really consider why I'm doing this climb this way and if the risk is worth it, and have a minimal element of competition in it.

I never told anyone where I was going or what I was doing when I went soloing. Not just free-soloing, but also when I went roped solo on a big wall. Many times I hiked into the back country to free solo a peak. No one ever knew where I was going, and no one ever saw me while I was there. I free-soloed up to 5.7 but nothing harder. That's the line that I drew in the sand.

I stopped free-soloing when I broke my own rule of "Never climb anything that you can't down climb." I was free-soloing a 14er peak in Colorado, got to a steep 5.7 face that looked tricky, but I was so close to the summit and the rest looked easy. So I went up, only to get stopped higher up by an icy corner and icy slabs.

I tried down-climbing but it was impossible to reverse the moves. There was no where to rest, and soon I realized that I was dead either way.

I was going to get tired and fall to my death if I just stood there.
I was going to fall to my death if I tried to down-climb the 5.7 face.

I figured that I'd die trying, so I descended before I got too tired. I made it and quit free-soloing at age 34. I fell at the bottom and broke my ankle, and crawled out to the trailhead on my knees, and that was the icing on the cake on that day.

Ksolem

Trad climber

Monrovia, California

Sep 27, 2016 - 08:27pm PT

'casual' feeling is just when you might blow it

Tell me about it. I was doing some soloing in the 90's. On one occasion I was up on a climb I had done many times including solo. I stopped at the third belay. The sun was low and I just hung out taking in the wild beauty of it all, you know. So I was totally casual as I turned around and started up the kind of funky moves off the belay. About ten feet up, just as I set the first good finger lock my feet sketched. I never felt it coming. A half second sooner and I would have sailed out of there and fallen 1000 feet. I got it together by yelling obscenities at myself.

I soloed some more after that but the thrill was gone. There are a very few of us climbers who really have it dialed in mentally and physically to free solo a lot. I'm sure they have close calls too. But they are different all the same. My sketch told me that I was doing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time and got lucky.

healyje

Trad climber

Portland, Oregon

Sep 27, 2016 - 09:44pm PT

Hmmm. Soloing has mostly been a personal and private affair, but there were always soloists who were in it in part for the acknowledgment of others. What's changed of late is an outsized,hero-worshiping demographic, gopros, youtube, facebook and the widespread incorporation of climbing into all forms of media and advertising.

It's always been a private affair for me personally and the fact over half of my leading has been roped soloing for decades adds another dimension to it for me. Every now and then I just leave the rope in the bag for a pitch when I'm at the point of pretty much forgetting I'm using it anyway.

And I think soloing is pretty much about just that with a number of attending thresholds around desensitization, comfort, confidence, grace, speed, rhythm, groove and purity. Once you start crossing those thresholds with any regularity it's kind of a different world and one that isn't easily ignored.

TWP

Trad climber

Mancos, CO & Bend, OR

Sep 28, 2016 - 07:52am PT

Sierra L. Rat wrote:

"I figured that I'd die trying, so I descended before I got too tired. I made it and quit free-soloing at age 34. I fell at the bottom and broke my ankle, and crawled out to the trailhead on my knees, and that was the icing on the cake on that day."

Wish you would elaborate on this account. What did you fall on? Crawled out? How far? What caused you to cross your own threshold? Sounds like complacency and over confidence: Was that due to over familiarization with soloing so you just assumed you would pull it off again?

Tom Turrentine

Trad climber

Santa Cruz

Sep 28, 2016 - 08:03am PT

From an old and not so bold climber; still climbing but never took the big risks. I admire boldness, but also know that the risks we take, and the deaths and injuries that happen in climbing are probably never justified by any of the rationalizations we all make- how it makes us feel when we climb, personal freedom, pride from success, and of course ego. Our community has wrapped us in a culture that avoids these rational calculations.

I'm haunted this summer by the deaths and injuries of several climbers. Their accidents shatter our suite of rationalizations, leaving family, friends, colleagues and rescuers to grieve and recover.

Like R.Gold, it is often a first child, a new relationship which draws us back from the void, contemplation of the impact of our death or maiming on those who we love. I remember that moment of realization, brought by my daughter's birth. Never did any real soloing, but like all of us ran it out some, so began setting more pro (I called each extra piece Sasha pro after my daughter)

The irony for me is that what I love in climbing is the turning off of my mind; but the reality of community and family demands more mindfulness. Probably would be good practice before each climb to contemplate the impact of our death or injury on others we love, then rack up and get it done right.

jogill

climber

Colorado

Sep 28, 2016 - 11:42am PT

Nice discussion. Similar to comments I heard sixty years ago.

Bob Kamps used to say that the rewards were not worth the risks. Lynn Hill also said something to that effect.

i-b-goB

Social climber

Wise Acres

Sep 28, 2016 - 11:45am PT

Rope is dope!

Branscomb

Trad climber

Lander, WY

Sep 28, 2016 - 11:50am PT

When we had our daughter is when I quit soloing. I was standing there when she was born and that had a big impact on me. Mainly, it was that there is another person that really depends on me being there, all the time. It was time to quit being selfish. Yeah, children, amazing how those little beings will change you, and I don't regret any of it.

Gorgeous George

Trad climber

Los Angeles, California

Sep 28, 2016 - 12:02pm PT

Back to that comment about old, bold climbers.

I don't think I can argue the point about being an old climber.

But, although I still occasionally style up a 5.9 or 5.10, plugging in protection every five feet or clipping on bolts equally spaced, I've learned that many a 5.7 requires some bold climbing when the pro is spaced 30 feet apart.

BUT, that being said, always on a rope. I prefer life over status.

thebravecowboy

climber

The Good Places

Sep 28, 2016 - 12:08pm PT

Reilly had it at

misanthrope

rbord

Boulder climber

atlanta

Sep 28, 2016 - 01:35pm PT

IMHO, anybody who decides for anybody else what the wrong reason for them to solo is is missing the point.

As a corollary, we have a (socially derived and socially advantageous) human tendency to miss the point when it comes to us deciding what's the right thing for other people to believe. Those other people are using the same socially derived and socially advantageous way of forming their own (different) beliefs and behaviors.

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Sep 28, 2016 - 01:46pm PT

Fat Dad

Trad climber

Los Angeles, CA

Sep 28, 2016 - 03:32pm PT

lot of people in this thread saying they solo for themselves then telling stories about themselves soloing.

humans are bad at knowing why they do things too.

I understand your point. However, soloing something (particularly if it was a long time ago) for reasons that meant something to you at the time doesn't wipe your memory of the event, nor does talking about it later alter the reasons why you did it in the first place. It's still personal.