I think the improved safety equipment has enabled people to climb much harder things, which in turn has led to people being able to live to develop better techn

I think the improved safety equipment has enabled people to climb much harder things, which in turn has led to people being able to live to develop better techniques and share them. I agree with you, but a century ago, Freerider was outside of anyone's capabilities (shoes aside). My understanding is that Honnold has talked about just free climbing freerider being impossible a century ago as a result. If people are capable of free climbing something, they're capable of free soloing it (whether it's wise to do that is a different story) > The main difference between Honnold free soloing in 2018 and a hypothetical climber free soloing in 1918 is knowledge What I'm saying is that "free soloing" isn't relevant here, free climbing it in any fashion would have been impossible To be honest, if we're talking purely about the difficulty of the moves, "free soloing" is easier than protected climbing because you have less weight and don't have to get pumped out trying to manage gear and protection.