Alex Honnold Free Climbs the Salathe

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Messages 1 - 33 of total 33 in this topic

johnr9q

Sport climber

Sacramento, Ca

Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 15, 2007 - 10:22pm PT

Today (Monday) Alex Climbed the Salathe with no falls. He started at the bottom and went to the top in one push. He combined the three pitches from Sous le Toit ledge to the top of the Roof and also combined the next two pitches (the headwall cracks) from the top of the Roof to Long Ledge. He did the Monster Offwidth pitch. Alex led all the pitches. The way we did the climb was by spending a day hiking bivy gear up the East Ledges and rapping down to the Block on the Salathe. We then started at the bottom of the Salathe and Alex led all pitches to the Block. We then rested a day on the block using our previously stashed bivy gear and then climbed the remainder of the route the next day.

James

climber

A tent in the redwoods

Oct 15, 2007 - 11:04pm PT

Rad!

graham

Social climber

Ventura, California

Oct 15, 2007 - 11:27pm PT

frigin great job!

Tarbuster

climber

right here, right now

Oct 15, 2007 - 11:29pm PT

That's how you do it.
Walk to the base, rack up, climb upward and skip the sling belays on the way to the top.
Hadda' happen one day; pretty dern cool.

bachar

Trad climber

Mammoth Lakes, CA

Oct 16, 2007 - 12:32am PT

The first Redpoint of the Salathe?

Bad....

Chicken Skinner

Trad climber

Yosemite

Oct 16, 2007 - 12:59am PT

Awesome! Good, positive news, I love it. Congratulations Alex!

Ken

James

climber

A tent in the redwoods

Oct 16, 2007 - 01:20am PT

Alex worked the headwall pitches and he's been getting El Cap fit. A week prior he followed Jake Whittaker on a 13 hour free ascent of the Freerider. Honnold carried a huge pack, running support for Jake, and pulling through on some of the harder pitches- jugging the monster offwidth, but freeing the 12b enduro pitch with a pack on.

Jaybro

Social climber

The West

Oct 16, 2007 - 02:41am PT

Congrats, Alex Hone-ed!

Standing Strong

Trad climber

this space for rent

Oct 16, 2007 - 02:44am PT

balla, damn.

mojede

Trad climber

Butte, America

Oct 16, 2007 - 02:51am PT

A dream to aspire to......

wayne w

Trad climber

the nw

Oct 16, 2007 - 02:58am PT

Congratulations Alex on your bad ass ascent. F*cking inspiring!

Degaine

climber

Oct 16, 2007 - 03:04am PT

Nice work, Alex!

Matt

Trad climber

never ever pissing into the wind

Oct 16, 2007 - 03:14am PT

"The first Redpoint of the Salathe?

Bad..."

was it in fact the 1st send in that style?
(i.e. combining those pitches and from the dirt to the rim in one push, all pitches led w/ no falls)

if so, considering the list of climbers who have projected that climb, that would be perhaps even more impressive than the astroman/rostrum scramble.

bachar

Trad climber

Mammoth Lakes, CA

Oct 16, 2007 - 10:24am PT

Yo, who else redpointed it?

A multi-pitch redpoint means one leader leads the entire route and never falls.

WanderlustMD

Trad climber

Lanham MD

Oct 16, 2007 - 10:31am PT

So, when is he planning to walk on water??

Congrats, hell of an achievement!

adventurewagen

Trad climber

Seattle

Oct 16, 2007 - 10:51am PT

Wow, that is very impressive. Turning such a large route into a day at the crags ;)

"Yo, who else redpointed it?

A multi-pitch redpoint means one leader leads the entire route and never falls."

I think it depends on the detailed definition of a "red point". Tommy Caldwell and Yuji Hirayama are I believe the only two other climbers to do the entire climb ground up in a day with no falls on the entire route.

Now if you consider a redpoint leading all pitches individually without a fall but falls on some pitches but redone and over multiple days then both Alex and Thomas Huber have redpoints. Yuji Hirayama did it in 2 days his first try and flashed most of it and Tommy Caldwell did it in two days his first try. I know a few others have done all the pitches free but I think they rappelled in for some pitches or did things out of order.

To everyone that did all the pitches that free it's a cool feat and amazing. Personally I don't care much about the "redpoint" or "pinkpoint" garbage. It obviously means something to be able to say you went ground up to the top without a single fall leading all pitches but it also depends on your vantage point. If the goal was to get all pitches free and some pitches took you 10 attempts on the way up I'd still give you mad props for doing someting so cool.

k-man

Gym climber

SCruz

Oct 16, 2007 - 11:06am PT

Pretty darn unbelievable -- Big PROPS to Alex!

And Yes, I believe that a true Redpoint does mean no falls, bottom to top. Climbing it free in a push is still sicko good style, but no falls and no hangs at belays, that's just one step from Flash.
And I don't think anybody's even attempted a true onsight.

Just curious, there's a few variations on the original Salathe route, right? I mean, does anybody do the actual route pioneered by Robbins, Frost, and Pratt?

Caddy

climber

Oct 16, 2007 - 12:10pm PT

Congratulations to Alex Honnold and to John Robinson for being the encouragement that has helped many climbers like Alex and I reach their potential.

Great job!

Curt "Caddy" Taras

Tradboy

Social climber

Valley

Oct 16, 2007 - 12:44pm PT

Monster offwidth is not part of the Salathe. As far as I know, only 3 people have climbed the 13b crack to its right on the original line, and that's Skinner, Piana, and Herson. Great work, Alex.

johnr9q

Sport climber

Sacramento, Ca

Topic Author's Reply - Oct 16, 2007 - 01:03pm PT

I just talked to Alex on the phone and he wanted me to clarify that, altho we did the climb in one continuous push from the ground to the top, we didn't do it in a day. Reread my initial post as I just edited it. Sorry for any confusion.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Oct 16, 2007 - 01:05pm PT

Congrats again Alex on an even more awesome season! Way to execute up there in the wild air. Totally inspiring!

James

climber

A tent in the redwoods

Oct 16, 2007 - 01:07pm PT

Sjong and Stack followed the 13b way too.

Levy

Big Wall climber

So Cal

Oct 16, 2007 - 01:17pm PT

One word comes to mind - Proud!

A fine effort, the day is fast approaching when someone will walk up and onsight the thing with no pre-inspection, in a day but for now Alex's ascent is the high water mark and will be a tough act to follow.

Levy

adventurewagen

Trad climber

Seattle

Oct 16, 2007 - 02:02pm PT

NO matter what you consider a redpoint or in a day or not. Ground up no falls is just awesome! Definitely a proud send.

I think Yuji went for the onsight, didn't he? If I read Clints page it says he fell a few times but did the entire route ground up with little to no beta on the route but a little help on gear.

Again, who really cares. Climbing that many pitches from the bottom up with little or no falls, no pulling on gear and releading any pitches you fall on clean is truly amazing.

It's especially amazing if you don't work every pitch into submission and work things ground up. At some point memorizing and TR'ing all the pitches till you get them seems more like an exercise than true hard man climbing skill. Not that any amount of TR'ing would get me a clean ascent on all the pitches!

k-man

Gym climber

SCruz

Oct 16, 2007 - 02:40pm PT

"Redpointing" does not mean no falls ever, it just means no falls when you actually succeed in leading the pitch(es).

You go up to the Moratorium and fly up the first two 5.10 pitches, then fall off the crux. You pull the rope and send. Is that a redpoint of the *route*? Not in my book. Sure, you redpointed the crux after a fall, but not the route.

Does it matter, well yes and no.

climber

The Eye of the Snail

Oct 16, 2007 - 02:59pm PT

The Promised One has arrived.

Oh and smartass edit: On that pitch below the Roof, that 12d or whatever corner, the FA team penjied a few feet left out of that onto a face KB/LA crack that goes up under the roof. Whether the Monster counts or not isn't up to me, but watch out making a strict "original route" argument because the minutia can get pretty damn small with that.

Broken

climber

Texas

Oct 16, 2007 - 03:07pm PT

I think there is a simple way to define free-climbing: if you could magically rewind and take the rope away during your ascent, would you have hit the ground?

Under that definition, to truly free a multi-pitch climb would require no falls.

I realize that the term redpoint is used for other purposes, and that it would require an absurd amount of time for someone to apply that ethic to a really hard big wall free climb (though there are some who do, like Beat Kammerlander - see Alpinist 9:
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP09/kammerlander-mathis);.

And I also know that you could push it to the point of absurdity, like "weighting the anchors = not free climbing." That would, of course, be ridiculous and beside the point. Now, I know that falls on a multi-pitch route with individual redpoints of pitches is generally accepted as redpointed / freed.

Personally, though, I only consider it as free w/ no falls and no hanging belays.

Gene

climber

Oct 16, 2007 - 03:15pm PT

"Personally, though, I only consider it as free w/ no falls and no hanging belays."

In order to do that, wouldn't Caldwell need like a 900 foot rope to free the Dihedral? {Question, not arguement.}

Matt

Trad climber

never ever pissing into the wind

Oct 16, 2007 - 03:18pm PT

re: redpoint / does it matter

it really is insignificant when you are an average climber looking up at the exploits of these elite climbers. either way, it's amazing what they are doing. that said, there are climbers at every level who have decided it's important to them to climb in this style or that style, and that's really where there is or is not a difference, within one's own sense of style.

i guess you could ask jim herson if he thinks it matters or not, but his answer is not the same answer you'd get from others. sitting in the peanut gallery, my opinion is that my opinion doesn't (and shouldn't) matter to those guys anyway. they ought to be out there climbing for themselves and setting their own standards, just like the rest of us do.

edit-
climbing w/ a partner or rope soloing
freeing all pitches while sharing leads
leading all pitches
leading all pitches w/ no falls
returning to a no hands stance and pulling rope after falls
working crux pitches
flashing
on-sighting
climbing the route in a continuous ascent, in a push, in one day

even if we say these don't matter (to us?), that is different from saying there is not a distinction between them.

adventurewagen

Trad climber

Seattle

Oct 16, 2007 - 03:30pm PT

Seems to me the limitation is gear if you want to go that far off the deep end. Ropes are only so long and you can only carry so much gear if you want to make use of said rope. So I guess if you wanted a truly "free" or "redpoint" ascent you'd have to lose the rope and the gear and free solo the route. Then you either make it or you don't. Pretty cut and dry at that point.

For the rest of us sane people I'll stick with my gear and the notion that its ok to hang at the belay which is mostly determined by rope length and/or good logical stopping/belay points. I'll stick with the ideals that if I lead all pitches without ANY falls it's better form than if I piece mealed the ascent together.

If I get an onsight, hooray. If I get a redpoint from ground up attempts, yippee. If I TR it into submission and finally get it then good job on the effort or if I just get it clean on TR then I'd probably be happy as well. Does anybody else care, no.

In other words to each his own. We all know proud sends when we see them and there is no reason to take one persons achievement and toss it because it doesn't measure up to anothers.

Ground up on Salathe with NO falls is pretty cool. Is it better than ground up with a single fall but an eventual clean send of that pitch out of many??? No probably not, it was just another send with one less error than the other guy. Same feat just lost a couple imaginary points for the slip up ;)

James

climber

A tent in the redwoods

Oct 16, 2007 - 03:34pm PT

Kelly,
If you had to pull the rope a couple times on the 12b enduro corner at the top of the freerider, having already sent the business, wouldn't you claim a redpoint? I would. Though I'd probably have the first bolt of Black Dagger clipped too.