Solo climbing

Solo climbing (or soloing) is a style of climbing in which the climber ascends a climbing route alone and deliberately without the assistance of a belayer (or "second"), or being part of any rope team. By its very nature, solo climbing presents a higher degree of risk to the climber as they are entirely reliant on their own skills (e.g. climbing technique, navigation) and their own equipment to complete the climbing route – any serious problems may require a self-rescue.

Solo climbing is most common in mountaineering, and particularly in the sub-discipline of alpine climbing, and in the technical sub-discipline of rope solo climbing. The most dangerous form of solo climbing is that of free solo climbing, which means both climbing alone on steep climbing routes that would normally require climbing protection, but without using any form of climbing protection. Free solo climbing was dramatically portrayed in the climbing films Free Solo (for rock climbing) and The Alpinist (for ice climbing and for alpine climbing).