The Friday Night Posting While Drunk Post!

Wow.

TWO accidents resulting from people failing to clip bolts in less than two weeks, right here on this forum. And this accident fatal.

Why do people skip bolts? It makes no sense!

If Scott had been following standard lead rope solo techniques - instead of trying to "re-invent the wheel" by using this risky shortcut - he would be here, writing this post himself, and preaching to all of us the lunacy of trusting one's life to but a single bolt.

The whole idea in climbing is to build REDUNDANCY into your system, but Scott's system had none, and he paid the ultimate price.

Young Bulls - pay attention and learn!

How incredibly sad. My condolences to Scott's friends and family.

Pete Zabrok
Ontario, Canada

I agree. Have you seen half the posts that go up on this forum? This is a valid thread, so relax folks.

More so than questioning Honnold's longevity, I question the impact and the indirect influence he is having on amateur soloists. Don't get me wrong, I think the guy has unquestionable talent, and privately he is probably living a very fulfilling life. But why then does he strike up deals with Sender Films and other film companies that expose his wild antics to the public? These media companies advertise soloing as the next level of extreme climbing. This "next level" view of soloing is what is damaging, in my opinion. Honnold is a smart dude, he knows this will happen. He has seen it happen and continues to interview and allow Sender to throw him in the public light and glorify his extreme soloing.

Of course, I believe in freedom of speech, and Honnold can do whatever the hell he wants. But just like everything, there are consequences to actions. He may not even be the one directly to blame (if there is any blame to be had). Honnold is a freak of nature. That's how he needs to be featured in all these films. Instead, soloing is glorified and Honnold is featured as the one spearheading this "next-level" movement.

I too, know this guy that Brother Bock has spoken about. I've climbed with him and run with him. It breaks my heart to see the level of physical and emotional pain he is going through. Of course, he doesn't blame anyone for his mistakes. He doesn't point the finger at Honnold or the soloing movement. He even wants to climb (with a rope of course) once again, if that is possible. But even he will admit to you that he got caught up in this next-level mentality and didn't think twice about what he was doing and the consequences if anything went wrong.

In the end, it was his choice and his responsibility. His fall ultimately was due to a foothold that broke off the wall. But it saddens me too. I guess I want to point the finger, when ultimately it was this guy's fault. But if there was anyway to eliminate how "badass" soloing looks to climbers, I would be for that too. Unlike other extreme sports, free-soloing doesn't LOOK like it involves extra skill and doesn't require any extra or special gear... so it appears to be far more accessible to an amateur.

And yet another condescending string of emails about an accident. Climbers are such pompous as#@&%es sometimes. People get in accidents, experienced and amateur alike. People are hired and trained to rescue those people when something like this happens. Let's leave it at that.