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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Dec 16, 2012 - 08:34pm PT
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I would solo just to get chicks.
Seriously. Why does soloing always get ragged on in that sense? The question of motive of a solo always brings out a bitchy attitude. Who cares? Why would you care?
There doesn't seem to be much of any kind of climbing that does much to get chicks!
But it IS interesting. Nobody will give you much grief if you repeat some death route like Southern Belle. You'd probably get praise all around.
But solo something far easier and more secure and some people cluck their tongues
Whatever. Just an observation
peace
Karl
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Dec 16, 2012 - 08:59pm PT
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OK. Me. Solo trip to Josh at 17. The Stonemasters and the whole gang was soloing every route around camp every day. You would see 6 guys soloing the left ski track in a row, often 2 or 3 of them on the route at the same time. OK then.
So I worked my way around and soloed all kinds of stuff. I had trouble finding partners so I would just solo stuff as well. Not everything, but I led my first 5.10 and soloed it the next day (Hobbit Roof, which ain't exactly earth shattering).
Back home we would usually work on new routes or harder routes with a rope, but we would also take off on these follow the leader soloing binges. It was before the age of convenience bolts so we would downclimb 5.7's and 5.8's just to avoid the walk back around to the base.
You can knock off 3000 feet of climbing a day like that. Very few were onsite, but that didn't matter. There was nobody to impress, so nobody cared. I only hear beefs on the internet about that.
Actually, to do a really righteous solo it had to be onsight. If you had done it before it was a much lesser achievement, and we had climbed many of the routes dozens of times.
It was just fun. Kids having fun. If anyone got in over their head then it was considered a dumb move, but other than that it was just a way to climb a lot. Climbing the Rostrum was trivial to Peter Croft. Running over there in the morning to solo it was probably just exercise.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Dec 16, 2012 - 09:07pm PT
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Fisherman said:
If you have a sound mind, you only really need to be able to climb about 5.9. It's all in your head man.
That is soooo true. If you can pretty much solo any 5.9, even if your limit is 5.10, it pays off in droves on alpine routes where you gotta go fast.
With weather that can kill you, it is a big deal to be able to waltz through the easy stuff. Just ask Donini. He knows a hell of a lot more than I do about big routes.
I was never any good, but that ability to go fast on easier ground is a great tool to have.
It was mostly just for fun. I never thought of it that way at the time.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Dec 16, 2012 - 10:15pm PT
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Base104 tells it like it is about the attitude of soling back in the day.
I'm intensely proud and have fond, fond memories of my solos--on-sight NE Buttress of Higher (with Werner) and Braille Book, scary 5.11's with Walt, my 20 pitch 5.8 to 5.10a morning solo routine, climbing in Yosemite; onsight 5.9 and 5.10 routes--often with Bachar--in Tuolumne; tons of stuff like Pope's Crack with Walt, and doing 45 climbs--mostly solo--in a day in Josh with CC3. Often it was sharing the experience with a fellow soloer that made it so special--but I recall some solo solos that were also pretty character building.
I also recall being profusely humbled, groggily making my way to the Lodge cafe at 7am for a bottomless-cup coffee session, and bumping into Peter Croft casually eating an apple (before we all conclusively understood he was actually a superhero in disguise), who mentions that he had just soloed a couple of Yosemite's major formations that morning, and was off to the Rostrum.
Soloing's all pretty relative, and intensely personal. Back then, there wasn't really an option to wrangle some photographer who would be interested in documenting such an adventure; things have changed, but I doubt the aspect of the strong inherent intrinsic motivation and personal clarity will have changed much by the advent of publicity and sponsorship--perhaps the only exception might be in the hyper-rehearsed extreme solos, which were fairly unheard of BITD except for the likes of Bachar and Edlinger--but even there, of course, the source of inspiration most certainly comes from within.
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Rankin
Social climber
Greensboro, North Carolina
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Dec 17, 2012 - 12:02am PT
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Damn Deuce, NEB of Higher is a harder route than SS in my opinion. Nice job!
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Dec 17, 2012 - 12:24am PT
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Actually, to do a really righteous solo it had to be onsight. If you had done it before it was a much lesser achievement, and we had climbed many of the routes dozens of times
You haven't gone quite far enough. In the late 1950s and early 1960s I experimented with what seemed to me to be a logical end-game of rock climbing: what might now be called free solo exploration. To go up on an unclimbed, unexplored section of rock and design and execute a route without any equipment (occasionally a light emergency descent rope and a few nuts and slings, but mostly without these), only shoes and chalk. I did this roaming around on the long south face of Storm Point in the Tetons, Blacktail Butte, and Needles of the Black Hills. I backed off a number of times. Eventually, I acknowledged I wasn't very good at it with possibly one or two exceptions, and gave up such efforts where the vertical terrain was daunting. But I still did this kind of thing on easy and moderate rock for many years, until the age of 70, enjoying repeating such climbs many times. In old age I learned of Preuss, Winkler, and others who had laid the foundations so long ago. Sadly, they perished while exploring the heights. They were the real thing, long before soloing became fashionable.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Dec 17, 2012 - 12:44am PT
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That is soooo true. If you can pretty much solo any 5.9, even if your limit is 5.10, it pays off in droves on alpine routes where you gotta go fast.
As I was reading this a swarm of 5.9s that I think would be hell to solo swarmed into my mind, the first of which was Hawkman's Escape on Lower Brother (sandbagged, jingus diorite that you have to yard on in steep crux sections, challenging routefinding, etc.).
As soon as I finish reading your comment I see Deuce's comment, and my memory banks fire: didn't Deuce on-site solo Hawkman's, and encounter rain on-route?
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Dec 17, 2012 - 01:09am PT
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Le Bruce,
If you are on an alpine route and encounter a move like that, put in a piece of pro like a sane person. Go fast, but carry a light rack, and use it when necessary.
I loved soloing an never had a bad experience. I soloed a couple of crappy obscurity FA's, but they were hand cracks, and a come-a-long will pull your arm off before a handjam gives out.
The thing that bugs me is the crowd crowing about motives. Hey. This is climbing. What gets you going is your business.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Dec 17, 2012 - 02:38am PT
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Le Bruce, thanks for the reminder, I was trying to remember the name of that one in my rambles above (all I could think of was John Dill and the Three Brothers). Yep, that would be another one to add to my "intensely proud" list--soloing Hawkman's in a rainstorm with Walt (it didn't start raining until we were well committed, then it just rained steadily the whole rest of the way). That was a wild one. Getting down was no picnic either--a wet boulder filled third class gulley with lots of near slips, I vaguely recall...
Edit--then there's the "Blazing Buckets" on Reed's, but that's not one I would say I'm proud of--that one was intensely dumb, and my memory looking down at Werner at the top of Reeds's sadly shaking his head at my foolishness (as I was dead hanging on one hold after a lunge--my previous chickenhead hold had snapped off) is still a vibrant memory.
---End spray---
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Dec 17, 2012 - 03:05am PT
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A problem with some of the "easier" long climbs is that you have routefinding options that aren't obvious. I've got off route above the Narrows on Steck Salathe (and finished on Chouinard Herbert) and doubt the path I've taken on the way to the top of the flying Buttress a few times as well.
I've free soloed Braille Book but also had to resort to aid on it when I wandered up the wrong section while roped.
The worst was when I got way off route on-sight soloing the Direct on Washington column. I had to jump a LONG way to get back on route
http://yosemiteclimber.com/Washington_Column_Solo.html
On harder routes I wouldn't dare onsight solo and there are fewer choices of route as well.
Peace
Karl
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cliffhanger
Trad climber
California
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Dec 17, 2012 - 03:32am PT
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On the Narrows pitch, it is wider about 10 to 20 feet deeper into the mountain. There was plenty of room.
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deuce4
climber
Hobart, Australia
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Dec 17, 2012 - 03:43am PT
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Karl--that Washington Column route is a hidden gem, no? Werner showed me that one, then it became a regular solo for a while--did it a bunch of times with Coz, Walt, a few random Valley visitors, couldn't get enough of it for a while. Most who I soloed with couldn't believe it either--it looks so improbable for a 5.8 (the cleaner variant down low)--amazing to climb such a long vertical route with all pretty consistent and clean climbing with nothing (except for the bomber hand crack) harder than 5.7!
I also recall getting lost on Braille Book too, someone later told me I had probably done a 5.9+ variant--going left instead of right on a corner pitch (?)--it did seem hard for 5.8 at the time (that was one I soloed on my own--somehow those solo solos don't seem as special now in retrospect).
I guess for me, soloing was all about the purity of the climbing experience, but also sharing it with others. What a great way to stay in shape without all that neck-craning belaying and mucking around with ropes (I preferred saving my gear-mucking tolerance for the big walls). Pure movement and flow. Fast and gear-free descents were fun, too.
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RP3
Big Wall climber
El Portal/Chapel Hill
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Dec 17, 2012 - 08:44am PT
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There doesn't seem to be much of any kind of climbing that does much to get chicks!
You get all the chicks sport climbing....Bro!
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steveA
Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
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Dec 17, 2012 - 08:51am PT
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I've been enjoying reading these comments here, since I've met many of you
in the past. I just did the NEB of Higher a few months ago, at 66, my favorite route in the Valley.
I'm not sure the NEB of H. is harder than the SS. Donini ought to have an opinion since he led both of them, back to back a few summers ago. Yikes!
This past summer, I've been soloing a little, up to 5.9, usually because I've got that urge and lack a partner. Since I'm a proud grandfather now, I keep telling myself I need to stop this crazy game.
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thekidcormier
Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 17, 2012 - 09:46am PT
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Great stories everyone, thnks for postin up.
Im slightly concerned that no one seems to know who John Gill(jogill) is. For those of you who dont know, this dude single handedly created activity known today as bouldering, highballing to be specific.
His dedication to extreme training in order to solve specific "problems" , a term he derived from his mathamatical studiest, led to some serious climbs of unprecedented difficulties.
Some of which, I believe, are still unrepeated.
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thekidcormier
Gym climber
squamish, b.c.
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 17, 2012 - 12:38pm PT
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The ironic part of it all is that his personal quest involved straying from mainstream perception of rockclimbing to do his own thing evolved into the most mainstream aspect of climbing: bouldering.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Dec 17, 2012 - 01:39pm PT
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Hey Luke, you should try this "bouldering" sometime.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Dec 17, 2012 - 01:41pm PT
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the most mainstream aspect of climbing: bouldering
A valiant first effort at trolling. You have much to learn, grasshopper.
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splitter
Trad climber
Cali Hodad, surfing the galactic plane ~:~
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Dec 17, 2012 - 01:42pm PT
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Luke,
EVERY climber in the world that climbed during the 60's, 70's or 80's, knows who John Gill is, bro!
Reading & hearing about JG was what inspired me to take gymnastic phys ed classes while in college in the early 70's.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Dec 17, 2012 - 01:48pm PT
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Im slightly concerned that no one seems to know who John Gill(jogill) is. For those of you who dont know, this dude single handedly created activity known today as bouldering, highballing to be specific.
That's the funniest thing I've read on ST in weeks!
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