'Free solo' is the term you want... 'free climbing' simply means under one's own locomotion, and gear is still involved. With free solo, it's just you, your climbing shoes, chalkbag, fingertips & mental state. Dan Osman said it best: "When you're free soloing, you best have the route in hand..." And Dan O. was one of the best free soloists ever, his videos are really cool. Maybe I'll dig one up here in a moment.
I know that feeling, ascending to a point where I couldn't go any higher, and downclimbing was difficult... downclimbing is ALWAYS harder, since you can't see the holds as well and gravity tends to work against you, as far as slippage goes. I once free soloed a spire in Utah and had to downclimb it afterward, and that downclimb was dangerous... took me nearly an hour, lol. I wasn't too gripped, but it was a serious wake-up call: consider the downclimb before ya go roaring off to the summit, lol.
The weirdest incident in my 'climbing career' was on a direct aid climb, where I was clipping a long bolt ladder on pure vertical... I hadn't used those particular finger muscles & tendons in a long time, so my hands became fatigued from all the clipping & unclipping. Well, I got up pretty high on this route, and next thing I knew, my hands stopped working! Bad arthritis runs in my family, and I may have the early onset version, so that may have had something to do with it. But I DID get a bit gripped, hanging there in slings and shaking my hands to try and get them to work again. Ultimately, I decided to rappel off the route, leaving some gear in place for the next ascender to scoop, lol. I NEVER rap off one bolt, that's a recipe for disaster, thus I left a couple of carabiners and a webbing runner up there, but meh, that's less than $20 worth of equipment, and how much is your life worth?
I made it to the ground alright, though I had to stop on several occasions, keep the brake hand applied, and shake the other hand to regain feeling, swapping hands to use as the brake hand while doing this. It was a weird incident, but at least I escaped from the route without any serious injury (or death). That incident is what led to my phasing out hard climbing... I wouldn't mind doing a long moderate route now, something easy with plenty of nice holds, where I could relive some of my youth and enjoy the view from the route. There's a long moderate route called "Ewephoria" on the Sheepshead, a sizable dome on the SW side of the Stronghold, and it overlooks Tombstone... THAT would be a good route for me at my age. Problem is, I don't have a climbing rope or rack o' hardware anymore, just my shoes, chalkbag, and a couple of climbing packs. I'm not sure I want to spend $1500 or more on a decent rack just to do that one climb... maybe I'll meet another climber who has gear, and we can form a 2-man climbing party to tackle the ascent. I think the 5.8 crux is low, not far off the ground; like most domes the Sheepshead backs off as ya get higher.
As for the damage done to hands & feet, that's the price I'm now paying as I get older... all that hand & foot jamming in cracks, with the joints twisted under load, well, in hindsight that action is probably NOT the best way to treat your extremities, lol. Even with good climbing shoes, you're still torquing your feet in those jams, and your fingers take a beating on harder climbs, though good technique helps. Tape too, for some of those finger & hand cracks... otherwise your fingers & hands look like hamburger meat afterward, lol. I wasn't a bad climber, but I had friends who were WAY better... I was always a better small craft sailor than a technical rock climber, if ya catch my drift, but I loved being out in those primo wilderness areas, enjoying the views from high on the crags. Heaps of freedom out there back in the day, you could do whatever you wanted in more remote areas, and we'd often combine climbing trips with multi-day camping, dirt biking, archery, shooting firearms, the whole nine yards. We'd usually get the serious climbing out of the way first before partying, lol... no future in getting hammered and trying to climb, though some friends actually enjoyed climbing while high, and weed didn't seem to affect their ability. Of course, these were experienced climbers, I'm NOT advocating weed use for those just beginning to climb.
Hey, I get ya about having those wilderness adventures... I reckon we're alike in that regard. For me, it was all about the FREEDOM... no crowds, no foul city attitudes, no badges, none of that ********, just pure invigorating freedom in the wilderness. You read some of the stories I posted in my 'Tales of Adventure' thread? In that 'Express Yourself' forum? Sheeeeee-it, those were some awesome adventures, I really enjoyed those back in my 'trucking daze!' Just picking a mountain and tackling it when the conditions & timing were right, that 'MOHAWK MOUNTAIN MADNESS' story is a perfect example... if it weren't for trucking, I NEVER would've climbed that badass spire which dominates the range. You can see the view from the summit of that spire in that last link I posted in this thread... scroll down to the ninth (?) photo in the first set, and BU-YA!!! You're standing at the summit of the spire, looking south down the range. Nice view, yeah? I'm sure you've seen similar views, with as much trekking and climbing as you've done. Nothing wrong with mountaineering either, though its good to be prepared when ya tackle the larger peaks. Anyway, lemme dig up that Dan Osman video, I used to have the entire 'MASTERS OF STONE' collection (on VHS tape, lol), but I donated the set to a good friend with five kids, thinking the kids might learn something from the videos. CHEERS!!!
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There's a video of Dan Osman on the Leaning Tower, he was the pioneer of "rope jumping"---not bungee jumping, but rope jumping, where anchor placement is important and so is the pendulum swing at the end of the fall. The video title is a misnomer, there is no extra footage in this particular clip, though there was in the 'MASTERS OF STONE' videos. Dean Potter was another badass free soloist, he also pioneered close proximity wingsuit flight... these guys were excellent climbers, they just pushed the envelope a little too hard, but each one left behind a legacy of kickass routes and speedy ascents. Dean Potter's ascent of 'The Nose' on El Cap is unbelievably quick, I think that was filmed for 'MASTERS OF STONE V"---the fifth videotape in the series. No doubt he was inspired by Dan Osman's speed climb of 'Lover's Leap' which was caught in an earlier video. Again, most climbers move in slower and more deliberate fashion, but these guys were pushing the envelope to show others what could be done. You can find other videos on the web, I'll add one more of Dean Potter... these guys were like my heroes in years past, ******* idols for the extreme sports crowd. Sure, freestyle MX is badass too, but these soloists, rope jumpers, wingsuit pilots et al, they're REALLY pushing the envelope.
Hmm, only one video per post... back in a moment with the Dean Potter video.
Dean Potter video:
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Jeb Corliss video, this one rocks!!! Check out his 'GRINDING THE CRACK' video sometime, that one is also worth watching... this Ball's Pyramid video has some audio glitches, but it's still cool!!!
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