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Amongst the legendary free soloist rock climbers, here's the spread: John Gill, alive at 80 Peter Croft, alive at 60 Alain Robert, alive at 54 Catherine Des
by Fricken 9y ago
Amongst the legendary free soloist rock climbers, here's the spread:
John Gill, alive at 80
Peter Croft, alive at 60
Alain Robert, alive at 54
Catherine Destiville, alive at 53
Steph Davis, alive at 43
Alex Honnold, alive at 31
Dan Osmond, died at 45, not free soloing
Dean Potter, died at 43, not free soloing
Michael Reardon, died at 43, not free soloing
John Bachar died free soloing at 52
It's a very small field, not many people make a discipline of it.
- corpMaverick 9y agoTIL about John Gill. Mathematician and climber.
- bronson 9y agoEiger Dreams has a chapter on Gill. Worth a read if you're interested.
- Lordarminius 9y agoIt's a very small field, not many people make a discipline of it I wonder why ? But serious question : of the four top people alive, any data on when they stopped climbing ? I would guess that would correlate with longevity. I also recall reading somewhere that a disproportionate number of elite scientists and researchers in the 1930's - 60's were mountain climbers.
- Fricken 9y agoJohn Gill was doing long free solos on easy 5th class well into his 60s. Peter Croft is still working as a mountain guide out of Bishop, CA, I have no idea if he still goes out for jaunts sans rope in the high sierras, but he free soloed almost daily for decades.
- blackguardx 9y agoReardon's death has been attributed to free soloing on a sea cliff, but the official cause of death was drowning.
- cgh 9y agoWell, he was standing around getting his picture taken when a big wave came in and washed him away. Whether he was free soloing or suntanning, it wouldn't have made any difference. Really sad, he was a massive talent and his solo of Romantic Warrior was astonishing. http://images.summitpost.org/original/281779.jpg http://images.summitpost.org/original/281779.jpg
- pacaro 9y agoDeep-water soloing is its own discipline, with a unique set of hazards. Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-water_soloing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-water_soloing
- yread 9y agoHe also planned to solo the Free rider
- jedberg 9y agoSurvivorship bias (of the most real kind). You can only be great if you live. :)
- Fricken 9y agoThey were all established capable climbers before they earned a reputation free soloing. That's not really true in this case. I mean, every year there are inexperienced climbers who die, but comparing them to the masters is like comparing some kid with a spoiler on his Honda civic who loses control and hits a tree to a professional formula 1 driver.
- jedberg 9y agoWhat I'm saying is there may have been other great climbers that we just don't know about because they happen to have one small slip early in life.
- kem 9y agoSurvivorship bias needs to be taught in schools at a young age, like in kindergarten. It's so insidious.
- betenoire 9y agoadding John "Yabo" to that list.... but I couldn't find how he died, (suicide iirc?)
- blackguardx 9y agoYes, he committed suicide.
- crikli 9y agoDean Potter died in a squirrel suit, not soloing.
- bdalgaard 9y agoI'll add Derek Hersey to that list. He's not as big of a name as those on this list, but there is a movie called Front Range Freaks which has a great segment about him and soloing. He died at 36.
- justinator 9y agoNukie brown, upside-down!
- gnarcoregrizz 9y agoDan Osman still died by falling off a cliff.. equipment failure though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY6YsM5Rh0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY6YsM5Rh0Y
- Faaak 9y agoHe left his ropes during days in the sun and rain, after having made many fall factor ones with it. Not surprising really.
- Fricken 9y agoPotter also died falling off a cliff, in a wingsuit. If only they had stuck to more sensible pursuits, such as free soloing!
- japhyr 9y agoIt's worth noting that both Dan Osman and Dean Potter died in part due to park service policies. The park service allows all kinds of activities that cater to motorized tourists, but bans specialized activities like base jumping. Yosemite is one of the best places in the world to base jump, not just because of its beauty but because the cliffs are oriented well for base jumping. The ban pushes jumpers to fly at dawn or dusk, and hide their activities, in a way that pushes the safety margins.
- 2muchcoffeeman 9y agoA ban doesn't force anyone to do anything to break the ban. The correct response to the ban is to respect the parks wishes and stop BASE jumping. If you want to push the limits that's on you. You should know the risks and act accordingly.
- BHSPitMonkey 9y agoThis starts to resemble something like abstinence-only education in schools, though, where a hard-line stance of "just don't do the risky thing we've told you not to do and you'll be fine" leads to less successful real-world results than embracing the complex realities of human behavior.
- tobltobs 9y agoWolfgang Güllich, free soloed Separate Reality and other gnarly routes, died in a car accident with 32.
- cgh 9y agoYou can also add the legendary Patrick Edlinger, who died after falling down his stairs at the age of 52. Who can forget the epic "Life By the Fingertips": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj1-58EfWpo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj1-58EfWpo
- Fricken 9y agoIt's too late to edit, but yes, he belongs on the list! I forgot about him.
- praneshp 9y agoDean Potter died doing something even more dangerous than free soloing (as opposed to a random, unrelated thing).
- dheera 9y ago... and probably many, many, more who died before making it to this list.
- pinaceae 9y agoThomas Bubendorfer, recently got hurt badly in a climbing accident. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bubendorfer https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bubendorfer there is no English page for him He free solo'ed the south wall of the Aconcagua within a day in 1991.
- donapieppo 9y agoHansjörg Auer, alive at 33 Alexander Huber, alive at 48 Auer's free solo of Marmolada 'via Attraverso il Pesce' is something in the same league as Alex's Freeride.