Rock climbers scale Yosemite El Capitan

[SP33Demon]

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/...ell-kevin-jorgeson-cap-historic-yosemite-feat

Is anyone else not that impressed by this from a sports standpoint? Very surprised it made it on ESPN, while more impressive sporting achievements like Ray Williams drug free heavyweight IPF victory (and record 909lb raw squat) representing the United States doesn't get a sniff of national news. Yes, I understand that climbing for 19 days straight with dime and razor sized cracks would royally suck but the odds of that happening again are high while a certified drug free 909 raw squat won't be happening for a long time, if ever (Ray has since hit 930 btw). Meh.

 

[Printer Bandit]

the climbers having a safety harness makes it non story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

 

[soulcougher73]

Im impressed. More so than lifting heavy things. Much more skill involved and the possablity to fall to your death.

Takes some balls and i wish i had them cause i think it would be fun if i wasnt scared of hanging off cliff faces lol

 

[maddogchen]

i was impressed with their tents that they can sleep in hanging from the rocks.

 

[Mai72]

Bah.

I've climbed HUGE mountains in Skyrim, and you don't see anyone writing a story about my adventures!

 

[Carson Dyle]

Impressed? Yes.

El Cap has dozens of routes on it. It's been climbed hundreds, maybe thousands of times. There are even a couple of other free routes, but nothing approaching this level of difficulty. Forget about the 19 days they spent on the wall in this continuous push; they'd been working on the climb for at least six years.

There are shorter climbs all over the world that at their hardest point (crux) are more technically difficult. But they're climbs that are a single pitch of 80ft, 120ft, maybe 150ft in length. The thing about the Free Dawn Wall is its sustained difficulty, in addition to the two crux pitches that are really fucking hard. Eight pitches of 5.12, twelve pitches of 5.13 and seven pitches of 5.14. That's just insane.

Even at that, it's amazing that it got the kind of news coverage that it did.

 

[purbeast0]

the climbers having a safety harness makes it non story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

no, i would say that makes them smart.

 

[Belegost]

Bah.

I've climbed HUGE mountains in Skyrim, and you don't see anyone writing a story about my adventures!

When you play with a USB device that will shoot you when you fall off the Skyrim mountain we'll all be more impressed.

 

[dainthomas]

the climbers having a safety harness makes it non story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

I thought many people have already speed climbed it without harnesses. What's the big deal again?

 

[DesiPower]

"That's a deep, abiding, lifelong friendship, built over suffering on the wall together over six years," said Caldwell's mother, Terry, among some 200 people who broke into cheers from the Yosemite Valley floor thousands of feet below.

The mother said her son could have reached the top several days ago, but he waited for his friend to ensure they made it together

Damn women

 

[TechBoyJK]

Impressed? Yes.

Mind blown? No.

If you find free climbing interesting, you need to check out Alex Honnold.

He's the undisputed best free climber in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

 

[DCal430]

More impressed by people who gave free solo (no safety gear) el Capitan.

 

[purbeast0]

Impressed? Yes.

Mind blown? No.

If you find free climbing interesting, you need to check out Alex Honnold.

He's the undisputed best free climber in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

yeah we know, cause someone already posted it in this thread!

 

[jiggyest]

Impressed? Yes.

Mind blown? No.

If you find free climbing interesting, you need to check out Alex Honnold.

He's the undisputed best free climber in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

There's a difference between "free" and "free-solo"

 

[blackdogdeek]

There's a difference between "free" and "free-solo"

Could someone explain it to me? I thought Honnold's accomplishment was supposed to be harder so I didn't understand why this climb was better. Did they climb different routes? Didn't his accomplishment have a much higher risk of death?

 

[Printer Bandit]

everytime i go to CNN.com, I dread seeing the headline "Alex Honnold dead from climbing accident". i'm sure one day it will happen, but i hope it doesn't.

 

[vi edit]

Meh. A lot of people with very basic lifting training can squat 300+ pounds. That's 1/3 of what that dude did.

Most people would be hard up to get even 30 feet of that wall without falling. Thats 1% of the way. I don't really care how much some guy can grunt out while prolapsing his rectum. Just looking at this makes mine pucker up.

https://fbcdn-vthumb-a.akamaihd.net..._=1429738142_5e44f161bf8ee4ac2d7d8517f4855a90

 

[jiggyest]

Could someone explain it to me? I thought Honnold's accomplishment was supposed to be harder so I didn't understand why this climb was better. Did they climb different routes? Didn't his accomplishment have a much higher risk of death?

In a nut shell?

"free climbing"
climbing with protection like ropes, cams, stoppers (but not fixed protection, that's aid climbing).

"free-solo"
no protection whatsoever.

Honnold's climb is more daring in that mistake = death. His hardest free solo maybe lower in grade (difficulty) and shorter in duration. But then again, only takes a single mistake to die.

Caldwell/Jorgeson, the route they did as mentioned earlier is much more difficult in grade, longer, and sustained. Although they brought gear, there's probably stretches where they were essentially "free-soloing" due to lack of placement for anchors/protection.

Either way, both accomplishments are worthy of praise in the climbing world.

 

[TechBoyJK]

There's a difference between "free" and "free-solo"

Yes, Honnold does free-solo, the hardest kind of climbing.

Hands down most insane climber alive.

 

[blackdogdeek]

snip

Thanks! So today's news is about a technically much harder but less risky climb it sounds like.

 

[waffleironhead]

That's nothing, earlier today I climbed up to the second floor and posted a passive aggressive note on my neighbors door. All without pants on.

 

[SP33Demon]

Meh. A lot of people with very basic lifting training can squat 300+ pounds. That's 1/3 of what that dude did.

Most people would be hard up to get even 30 feet of that wall without falling. Thats 1% of the way. I don't really care how much some guy can grunt out while prolapsing his rectum. Just looking at this makes mine pucker up.

https://fbcdn-vthumb-a.akamaihd.net..._=1429738142_5e44f161bf8ee4ac2d7d8517f4855a90

Most people will never squat over 500 in their lives, yet 909 isn't impressive? Let alone representing the IPF Team USA for the strongest drug-free raw powerlifter in the world? Please. Your ass wouldn't pucker up, it would explode under 909 pounds as your delicate frame is crushed. Yet you would actually have a chance to train and climb el capitan in 5 years. I'd be willing to bet that in no amount of years could you squat at least 500 or more.
http://youtu.be/BG6E6n_W5v8

 

[DrPizza]

Impressed? Yes.

Mind blown? No.

If you find free climbing interesting, you need to check out Alex Honnold.

He's the undisputed best free climber in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

"What do you consider to be Alex's greatest achievement?" "That he's still alive." A sport for idiots.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Many climbers think Honnold is bad for the sport because he's going to get himself killed.

 

[zinfamous]

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/...ell-kevin-jorgeson-cap-historic-yosemite-feat

Is anyone else not that impressed by this from a sports standpoint? Very surprised it made it on ESPN, while more impressive sporting achievements like Ray Williams drug free heavyweight IPF victory (and record 909lb raw squat) representing the United States doesn't get a sniff of national news. Yes, I understand that climbing for 19 days straight with dime and razor sized cracks would royally suck but the odds of that happening again are high while a certified drug free 909 raw squat won't be happening for a long time, if ever (Ray has since hit 930 btw). Meh.

some meathead lifted a big rock? why are you impressed by that? Even dumber that he didn't juice up to make it easier.

meh.