thumb|[[Alain Robert free soloing (on sight) the multi-pitch route, No Self Control , in the Verdon Gorge, 1991.|alt=Alan Robert holds onto a rock wall far above ground, preparing for his next move. He is not attached to a climbing rope.]]

Free solo climbing (or free soloing) is a form of rock climbing in which the climber (or free soloist) climbs on technical terrain without ropes or any form of protective equipment — all they are allowed to use are climbing shoes and climbing chalk (or ice tools and crampons if ice climbing). Free soloing is the most dangerous form of climbing, and, unlike bouldering, free soloists climb at heights where any fall can be fatal. Though many climbers have free soloed routes with technical grades that they are very comfortable on, only a small group free solo regularly and at technical grades closer to the limit of their abilities.

The international profiles of some climbers, such as Alex Honnold, Alex Huber, Alain Robert and John Bachar, have been significantly increased by their free soloing activities, but others question the ethics of this and whether the risks that they are undertaking should be encouraged and commercially rewarded. While "free solo" was originally a term in climbing slang, after the popularity of the 2018 Oscar-winning film Free Solo, Merriam-Webster added the term to their English dictionary in September 2019.

In addition to being done on single-pitch and multi-pitch rock climbing routes — including the even longer big wall climbing that features in the Free Solo film — free soloing is performed in a wide range of other climbing-types, including, for example, in the disciplines of ice climbing and of mixed climbing (which is featured in the 2021 climbing documentary film The Alpinist), as well as in setting speed-climbing records on alpine climbing routes (which is featured in the 2023 climbing documentary film Race to the Summit).

Description

Free solo climbing (which is sometimes just called soloing in the UK, or third-classing in the US),

Many early 20th-century rock climbers who began to free climb (i.e., avoiding any form of aid), were often practicing free solo climbing (or rope soloing), as the effectiveness of their climbing protection (usually a rope around their waist) was minimal. In the history of rock climbing, the first ascent of Napes Needle by W. P. Haskett Smith in June 1886 – an act that is widely considered to be the start of the sport of rock climbing – was effectively a free solo. Early leaders of free climbing such as Paul Preuss, were also strongly interested in free solo climbing as being ethically purer. The 1958 ascent by Don Whillans of Goliath, one of the world's first E4 6a routes, was effectively a free solo (with a rope around his waist). By the 1970s, when climbing protection was sufficiently developed to be effective, the discipline of free solo climbing began to stand apart. Many companies have taken these views into account when working with free soloists. Clif Bar, 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 and Red Bull have promoted free soloists and helped the free soloing community grow. In addition, Alex Honnold, a free soloist who was previously dropped by Clif Bar, was featured in the 2018 documentary Free Solo, which was met with critical acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The director of Free Solo, Jimmy Chin, talks in the film about the ethics of undertaking the documentary, and the effect that his film team and project could have had on the outcome.

Even in the climbing community, free soloing is controversial. In 2022, when Climbing did a feature on free soloing, they caveated all articles with: "This article is not an endorsement of the practice", and emphasized that in their research amongst climbers, it was only practiced by a very small minority, with many telling Climbing: "I have in the past but not anymore". He described the feeling of self-control over one's fears as a form of addiction that had brought benefits to his life outside of climbing.

Notable climbers

thumb|[[Alain Robert free solo of Pol Pot (5.12d, 7c), Verdon Gorge, 1996]]

thumb|[[Steph Davis free solo of Outer Limits (5.11a), Yosemite, c2002|alt=Steph Davis, far above ground and not attached to a climbing rope, ascends a rock wall using two extended seams within its face.]]

While many rock climbers have free soloed routes (single-pitch or big wall/multi-pitch), at climbing grades well below their ability, a very small minority have practiced free soloing regularly, and at grades closer to their overall limits. The most prominent of this smaller group are those who have broken new grade milestones in free solo climbing and gained a significant profile from their soloing:

  • Hansjörg Auer – the prolific big wall and high-altitude big wall free soloist, whose 2007 free solo of Fish Route on Marmolada was then the most daring in climbing history.
  • Michael Reardon – prolific free soloist whose 2005 free solo of Romantic Warrior won him National Geographics "Adventurer of the Year".
  • 2004 : Alexander Huber free soloed Kommunist in the Tyrol, Austria; the first-ever free solo at grade .
  • 1961 : John Gill free soloed—onsight—the first ascent of Thimble, the first-ever redpoint, and thus the first-ever free solo, at .

Big wall, multi-pitch routes

thumb|[[Alex Honnold's famous 2017 free solo of the big wall climbing route, Freerider (5.13a, 7c+), on El Capitan in Yosemite]]

  • 2017 : Alex Honnold free soloed El Capitan via Freerider, first-ever big wall solo at ; becomes Oscar-winning film, Free Solo).
  • 2007 : Hansjörg Auer free soloed Fish Route, on Marmolada, in the Dolomites, Italy, first-ever big wall solo at (35-pitches).

Climber fatalities

A number of notable free solo practitioners have died while free soloing:

  • Paul Preuss (3 October 1913; age 27) died in a fall from the attempted first ascent of the North Ridge of the Mandlkogel (in the Gosaukamm) as a free solo.

Climbing magazine reported that a number of prominent free solo practitioners died in related or other extreme sports, including: Dan Osman (died at age 35 while rope jumping at Yosemite), Michael Reardon (died age 42 while rock climbing sea cliffs when he was carried out to sea by a rogue wave), Dean Potter (died age 43 while wingsuit flying when he crashed at Yosemite), Brad Gobright (died age 31 while abseiling at Potrero Chico), and Hansjorg Auer (died age 35 in an avalanche at Howse Peak).

  • Buildering: Some free soloists scale buildings, such as Alain Robert ("The French Spider-Man"), and Dan Goodwin ("Skyscraperman"), who have scaled dozens of skyscrapers around the world—a sport known as buildering—without any safety equipment.
  • Deep-water soloing (DWS), is a subtype of solo climbing performed on rock faces overhanging water where in the case of a fall, the climber lands in the water.
  • FreeBASEing, is a subtype of free solo climbing performed on long multi-pitch big wall routes with a BASE jumping parachute as the sole means of protection. A falling climber opens their parachute to arrest their fall.
  • Highball bouldering, is where the boulder exceeds in height, and any fall, even where bouldering mats are used, presents a risk of serious injury.
  • Ice climbing: Some ice climbers are notable for ice free-soloing, as well as mixed free-soloing. As well as the specific risks of free soloing, performing it on ice adds the serious and unpredictable risk of parts of the ice route spontaneously breaking off. Notable ice free-soloists include the late Canadian Marc-André Leclerc, whose free-solo ice-climbing on the Stanley Headwall features in the 2021 film, The Alpinist, the late Austrian mountaineer who fell while free soloing on the , and Swiss mountaineer Dani Arnold.

In film

A number of notable films have been made focused on free solo climbing (both on rock and on ice) including:

  • Race to the Summit, a 2023 documentary film about the rivalry between Ueli Steck and Dani Arnold in setting solo alpine speed records.
  • The Alpinist, a 2021 documentary film about the late Canadian alpinist Marc-André Leclerc, featuring various free solo ice and alpine ascents.
  • Free Solo, a 2018 documentary film about Alex Honnold's free solo climb of Freerider on El Capitan.
  • King Lines, a 2007 documentary film about Chris Sharma, featuring his free solo climb of the DWS route, Es Pontàs , in Mallorca.
  • Hard Grit, a 1998 documentary film about rock climbing on gritstone routes in the British Peak District, which features free soloing.
  • Skyscraper Live, a 2026 Netflix special about Alex Honnold's free solo climb of the Taipei 101 building.

See also

  • Free climbing
  • Rope soloing
  • Solo climbing

Notes

References

Further reading

  • 13 Best Free Solo Climbers in the World, HardClimbs (November 2023)
  • VIDEO: Catherine Destivelle Free Soloing Devils Tower, Wyoming , Rock & Ice (February 2018)
  • VIDEO: The Fallen Soloist, Climbing Magazine (May 2019)