ynp1 wrote:I think the guy is a rock climber. How many hikers do 5.4 climbs in leather boots?
But, that is not the point, I feel for his family and may he rest in peace...
How many climbers would do a 5.4 in leather boots and no rope while sober?
I've done something similar, but it was way before I had ever started climbing. A buddy and I were driving through Wisconsin, saw some of the climbing areas on a map and thought, sure, why not...we were dumb and lucky not to had killed ourselves. I can't imagine doing something like that now that I've got kids to worry about.
I did it all the time in high school. it happens, probably not the best choice, but there are not many people who can't climb 5.4 in boots, and it sounds like he made it to the top, not that it justifies anything, he got super unlucky is all.
How you compare may not be as important as to whom you are compared
ya, they were saying that he made it up the climb but fell on the traverse, so he wasn't to bad then. He is just as much of a climber as half the people you see at roadside on a saturday in october.
Regardless of his ability or experience this tragic dealth is another example of why we as a community should discourage soloing. There were a lot of climbing related accidents in 2009, and this death is a bad start for 2010. He was climbing rock, this will be recorded as a rock climbing related death.
I've been a gumby longer than you've been climbing.
I don't think there is anything wrong with free soloing... If a climber wants to do it, then they should... I dont think as a community we should try to force free soloing onto somebody, but you should also not look down on a person that decides that they want to. It is the purest form of rock climbing.
We have all done some type of free solo some time or another, but we were lucky enough to come away from it. It is part of climbing and always will be. If they choose to do it then let it be. It would be different if someone was forcing him to do it without a rope, but there wasn't.
