Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical

ice Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes,

harnesses A harness is a looped restraint or support. Specifically, it may refer to one of the following harness types: * Bondage harness * Child harness * Climbing harness * Dog harness * Pet harness * Five-point harness * Horse harness * Parrot harness * ...

or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual preparation, strength, and skill. Free soloing is the most dangerous form of climbing, and unlike bouldering, free soloists climb above safe heights, where a fall can very likely be fatal. Though many climbers have attempted free soloing, it is considered "a niche of a niche" reserved for the sport's elite, which has led many practitioners to stardom within both the media and the sport of rock climbing. "Free solo" was originally a term of climber slang, but after the popularity of the Oscar-winning film ''

Free Solo Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual ...

'',

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...

officially added the word to their English dictionary in September 2019.

Public view

Many climbing communities praise the ascents, while others have concerns regarding the danger involved and the message the ascents potentially send to other climbers. Many companies have taken these views into account when working with free soloists.

Clif Bar Clif Bar & Company is an American company that produces energy foods and drinks. The company's flagship product, CLIF Bar, was created by Gary Erickson and Lisa Thomas. The company is based in Emeryville, California and was privately held until ...

, the nutrition bar company with long ties to climbing, dropped the sponsorship of five climbers in 2014, citing the risks they take and stirring a debate about how much risk should be rewarded. However,

The North Face The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company. The North Face produces outdoor clothing, footwear, and related equipment. Founded in 1968 to supply climbers, the company's logo draws inspiration from Half Dome, in Yosemite ...

and

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

have promoted free soloists and helped the free soloing community grow. In addition,

Alex Honnold Alexander Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his Free solo climbing, free solo ascents of Big wall climbing, big walls. Honnold rose to prominence in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo El ...

, a free soloist who was previously dropped by Clif Bar, was featured in the 2018 documentary ''

'', which was met with critical acclaim and won the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

Motivations

High-profile climbers have cited the simplicity and speed with which one can climb as reasons for free soloing, as well as the intense concentration required which brings a Zen-like state of being in the moment. The most successful free soloists also become well-known in the climbing community and in rare cases attain notoriety outside the small circle of rock climbers. The practice is mostly confined to routes familiar to the climber, whose difficulty lies well within the climber's abilities. However, inherent risks such as loose rocks or sudden change in weather are always present. Some high-profile climbers have died while free soloing, including John Bachar,

Derek Hersey Derek Geoffrey Hersey (26 October 1956 – 28 May 1993) (Gives Hersey's date of death incorrectly as 20 May 1993.) was a British rock climber and for many years an active participant in the Boulder, Colorado climbing scene. Climbing speciali ...

Vik Hendrickson Vik (Old Norse: vík) means wick or bay in Norwegian and Swedish (''vig'' in Danish), and it may refer to the following: Places Iceland *Vík í Mýrdal, a village in southern Iceland Iran * Vik, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran Norway * ...

, Robert Steele,

Dwight Bishop Dwight Bishop (July 30, 1955–July 16, 2004) was an American rock climber. Known for his technical skill as a climber and guide, he died from a fall while free solo climbing in the Teton Range. Biography Bishop was born at Fort Benning, Georgia o ...

Jimmy Ray Forester Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...

, Jimmy Jewell,

Tony Wilmott Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, and

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 *John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...

Practitioners

Organ Pipes, Mt Wellington - Battlements, Bryan Kennedy

The sport has produced a number of well-known practitioners, made famous by photos of them totally alone and unprotected on sheer cliffs. In June 2017,

made international news with the first free-solo ascent of

El Capitan El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granit ...

in Yosemite, on a route rated 5.13a in the

Yosemite Decimal System The Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) is a three-part system used for rating the difficulty of walks, hikes, and climbs, primarily used by mountaineers in the United States and Canada. It was first devised by members of the Sierra Club in Southern Cal ...

. Some climbers who are known for their regular practice of free solo climbing include

Hansjörg Auer Hansjörg Auer (; 18 February 1984 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian mountaineer, noted for his free solo climbs, and particularly of ''Fish Route'' in the Italian Dolomites, the first-ever big wall solo at . ''National Geographic'' descr ...

, John Bachar,

Patrick Berhault Patrick Berhault (19 July 1957 – 28 April 2004) was a professional French free climber, mountaineer and mountain guide. He died while climbing Dom ridge, Switzerland, during his attempt to do an enchainment of all 82 Alpine 4,000-metere su ...

Thomas Bubendorfer Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

, Matt Bush,

Sya Cao Sya is a locality situated in Mjölby Municipality, Östergötland County Östergötland County ( sv, Östergötlands län) is a county or '' län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jön ...

, Renaldo Clarke, Peter Croft,

Steph Davis Stephanie "Steph" Davis (born November 4, 1973) is an American rock climber, BASE jumper, and wingsuit flyer. She is one of the world's leading climbers, having completed some of the hardest routes in the world. She has free soloed up to , a ...

Bill Denz Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

, Tim Deroehn,

Catherine Destivelle Catherine Destivelle (born 24 July 1960) is a French rock climber and mountaineer who is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of the sport. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s for sport climbing by ...

Patrick Edlinger Patrick Edlinger (15 June 1960 – 16 November 2012) was a professional French rock climber. Edlinger is considered a pioneer and a legend of sport climbing. He was the second-ever climber in history to ascend routes of grade with ''Nymphodal ...

Jim Erickson James Erickson (born about 1951) is an American-Canadian set decorator. He won the Academy Award for Best Production Design for his work in ''Lincoln'', and was nominated for ''There Will Be Blood''. He has also done set decoration for ''Ali'' and ...

Eric Escoffier The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse languag ...

, Ron Fawcett,

John Gill John Gill may refer to: Sports *John Gill (cricketer) (1854–1888), New Zealand cricketer *John Gill (coach) (1898–1997), American football coach *John Gill (footballer, born 1903), English professional footballer *John Gill (American football) ...

Brad Gobright Brad Gobright (June 16, 1988 November 27, 2019) was an American rock climber known for free solo climbing. Early life Gobright was born in Orange County, California, and began climbing when he was six. (This article was published in ''Rock and I ...

, Dan Goodwin, Mike Graham,

Wolfgang Güllich Wolfgang Güllich (24 October 1960 – 31 August 1992) was a German rock climber, who is considered one of the greatest and most influential climbers in the history of the sport. Güllich dominated sport climbing for most of the decade after his ...

Colin Haley Colin Haley (born 2 September 1984) is an American alpinist known for fast ascents of technical routes on mountains around the world. Haley is perhaps best known for his traverse of The Torres (Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, Punta Herron, and Aguja ...

, Alexander Huber, Jimmy Jewell,

Eric Jones Eric Jones may refer to: *Sir Eric Malcolm Jones (1907–1986), British intelligence officer *Eric Jones (economic historian) (born 1936), British-Australian economist and historian *Eric Jones (footballer, born 1915) (1915–1985), English footbal ...

Marc-André Leclerc Marc-André Leclerc (October 10, 1992 – March 5, 2018) was a Canadian rock climber and alpinist. Known for his solo ascents of numerous mountains in several parts of the world, he completed the first winter solo ascents of the Torre Egger in Pa ...

, Matt Lloyd,

Dave MacLeod Dave MacLeod (born 17 July 1978) is a Scottish people, Scottish rock climber, ice climbing, ice climber, and climbing author. MacLeod is best known for being the first climber in the world to climb in free solo style (without rope) a route ('' ...

Dan Osman Daniel Eugene Osman (February 11, 1963 – November 23, 1998) was an American extreme sport practitioner, known for the dangerous sport of free-soloing, rock climbing without ropes or other safety gear. He participated in rope jumping, falling ...

Dean Potter Dean Spaulding Potter (April 14, 1972 – May 16, 2015) was an American free climber, alpinist, BASE jumper, and highliner. He completed many hard first ascents, free solo ascents, speed ascents, and enchainments in Yosemite National Park an ...

, Paul Preuss,

Andreas Proft Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...

Herbert Ranggetiner Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, ...

Michael Reardon Michael Reardon may refer to: *Michael Reardon (climber) (1965–2007), American climber, filmmaker and writer *Michael Reardon (actor), foreign actor who starred in '' Colpo rovente'' 1970 * Michael Reardon (architect), English architect, historic ...

, Jim Reynolds, Alain Robert, Tobin Sorenson,

Will Stanhope Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

Ueli Steck Ueli Steck (; 4 October 1976 – 30 April 2017) was a Swiss rock climber and mountaineer. He was the first to climb Annapurna solo via its South Face (though this is disputed by some), and set speed records on the North Face trilogy in the Alps ...

, Slavko Svetičič,

Miroslav Šmíd Miroslav Šmíd (1952, Police nad Metují, Czechoslovakia – 11 September 1993, Lost Arrow, Yosemite National Park, United States, USA) was a Czech Rock climbing, rock climber, Solo climbing, solo climber, mountaineer, mountain cinematographer a ...

, Akihira Tawara, John Yablonski and

Maurizio Zanolla Maurizio "Manolo" Zanolla (born in Feltre, 16 February 1958) is an Italian rock climber and mountaineer, and a pioneer of sport climbing in Italy during the 1980s and 1990s. Climbing career Manolo came to international attention with his free ...

. Some climbers who have occasionally or rarely free soloed, but have been influential to the practice, include

Pierre Allain Pierre Allain (7 January 1904 – 19 December 2000) was a French alpinist who began climbing in the 1920s. In the 1930s he was joined by several others at Fontainebleau, where his group of "'Bleausards" developed a love of bouldering that went bey ...

, Henry Barber,

Lynn Hill Carolynn Marie Hill (born January 3, 1961) is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competitive climbers, traditional climbers (and particularly big wall traditional climbers), sport climbers, and boulderers in the ...

, Ron Kauk, Jean-Christophe Lafaille, John Long and Reinhold Messner.

Hardest free solos

There are few climbers who have free solo climbed in the 5.14 grade range. This list does not include " highball" boulder ascents because the climbers here did not use any padding or spotters. There is some debate on the blurred line between "highball" bouldering and short little free solo climbs. In December 2019, little known Italian non-professional climber Alfredo Webber, became the first person to free solo at grade , by ascending the , ''Panem et Circenses'', at Muro di Pizarra near

Arco ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States an ...

in Italy; he was aged 52 at the time. Other notable free solos which pushed the technical grade of what could be achieved were Alexander Huber's 2004 ascent of ''Kommunist'', and Dave Macleod's 2008 ascent of ''Darwin Dixit'', both of which were at a grade of .

Free soloing buildings

Some free soloists scale buildings: Alain Robert ("The French Spider-Man"), and Dan Goodwin ("Skyscraperman"), have scaled dozens of

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

s around the world—a sport known as buildering—without any safety equipment.

Notable fatalities

Michael Reardon - free soloing in Joshua Tree

* Paul Preuss (3 October 1913; age 27) died in 300m fall from the attempted first ascent of the North Ridge of the Mandlkogel (in the

Gosaukamm The Gosaukamm is an Austrian mountain chain within the Dachstein range of the Northern Limestone Alps. Although relatively short in length, the chain forms an imposing backdrop to the valley and town of Gosau. Its highest point reaches an elevatio ...

) as a free solo. * Jimmy Jewell fell to his death (31 October 1987; age 34) using the easy route ''Poor Man's Peuterey'' (graded Severe) at

Tremadog Tremadog (formerly Tremadoc) is a village in the community of Porthmadog, in Gwynedd, north west Wales; about north of Porthmadog town-centre. It was a planned settlement, founded by William Madocks, who bought the land in 1798. The centre of ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

as a short-cut. *

died (28 May 1993; age 36) while free soloing the Steck-Salathé Route on

Sentinel Rock Sentinel Rock is a granitic peak in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. It towers over Yosemite Valley, opposite Yosemite Falls. Sentinel Rock lies northwest of Sentinel Dome. How it was formed Sentinel Rock formed when masse ...

in Yosemite National Park. *

fell (19 July 2004; age 49) while climbing alone and unroped along the Grand Traverse route on

Grand Teton Grand Teton is the highest mountain in Grand Teton National Park, in Northwest Wyoming, and a classic destination in American mountaineering. Geography Grand Teton, at , is the highest point of the Teton Range, and the second highest peak in t ...

peak in Wyoming. * John Bachar died (5 July 2009; age 52) in a free solo accident at Dike Wall near

Mammoth Lakes, California Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, and is the county's only incorporated community. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,191, r ...

. *

Michael J. Ybarra Michael Jay Ybarra (September 28, 1966 – June 30 or July 1, 2012) was an American journalist, author and adventurer whose non-fiction work appeared in various national publications. In 2004, his book about McCarthyism, ''Washington Gone Crazy: S ...

died (July 2012; age 45) climbing solo on The Matterhorn Peak in California's

Sierra Nevada Mountains The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Cars ...

Alternatives

Different types of climbing include: *

Free climbing Free climbing is a form of rock climbing in which the climber may use climbing equipment such as ropes and other means of climbing protection, but only to protect against injury during falls and not to assist vertical or horizontal progress. Th ...

with the use of ropes to catch a fall. * Bouldering: climbing at heights low enough that a fall would normally be safe, typically making use of a

bouldering mat A bouldering mat or crash pad is a foam pad used for protection when bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While boulderin ...

to cushion a potential fall. *

Deep-water soloing Deep-water soloing (DWS), also known as psicobloc, is a form of solo rock climbing that relies solely upon the presence of water at the base of a climb to protect against injury from falls from the generally high-difficulty routes. While typica ...

: climbing with a body of water at the base of the climb. * Free BASE: a combination of free solo climbing to ascend a structure, and BASE jumping with a parachute to descend. * Speed climbing: climbing discipline in which the goal is to complete an ascent in the shortest amount of time possible. * Top rope climbing: climbing with the use of ropes anchored to the top of the climb.

References

External links

*
Edge of Oblivion - Free-solo rock climbers feel spiritual lure
', Sheila Mulrooney Eldred. ''

Fresno Bee ''The Fresno Bee'' is a daily newspaper serving Fresno, California, and surrounding counties in that U.S. state's central San Joaquin Valley. It is owned by The McClatchy Company and ranks fourth in circulation among the company's newspapers. I ...

'', 8 April 2004 {{Extreme sports Types of climbing