First Ever continuous solo ascent of a Grade VII

[EWolfe]

to summit:

 

Taste the Paine

 

TR is on page 2.

 

Freaking bad-ass!!!!!!

 

Many props to Dave!

[pink]

oh my

 

[111]

piolet d' orr anyone?

 

i rpeated this process jugging the length of el cap one and a half times that day, until i was on the last rappel to the ground. another note- all of my ropes were completely screwed up by this point. core shots like a mother f er. as the last rope on the last rappell was being abused for the last time, it broke. i sick crack is what i heard, and i then i dropped. luckily after six feet of terror, the belay device stopped me. i looked up to see 2 meters of exposed core looking me in the face. then i smelled it. the overheated atc was burning the core strands through, as they cant take the heat like the sheath can. they started to go. i desperately looked for my knife to cut the load loose, but couldnt locate it fast enough on the back of my harness becaus of all the sh#t on my harness. so i did all i could do, and started to let the atc strip its way down the core, bunching the sheath up under it as it went. this was the burning of the core was distributed, and eventually it wasnt burning any more. but not the bunched up sheath wouldnt let the rope pass through the device, so i cut off my belay loop, and continued down un just the gri gri.

i made the ground a few minutes later, thinking light thoughts on the way down with the ridicously heavy load on my system, and let out a big monkey call when my boots made contact with the glacier. oh my god, i did it, and lived through it!

Edited February 1, 2008 by 111

[Farrgo]

Dave is a very strong willed climber. My partner and I waited for a weather break at Taullipampa last year at the same time Dave was attempting a new route on Taulliraju. Every day we expected to see them come down when the afternoon storm hit, but they just kept going. An undeniably proud accomplishment.

[G-spotter]

So Charlie Porter soloed a Grade VII on Baffin in the 1970's but it wasn't all solo (he finished it solo after his partners bailed) and he had fixed lines to the ground for the first bit (so it wasn't continuous), is that the idea?

[TrogdortheBurninator]

yeah, I think the insane level of commitment is the point. He only had like 3 or 4 ropes total, and did it all in a solo single push. Did you read that TR? It is mind blowing!

[G-spotter]

I read it.

 

It reminded me of those stories of Beyer and Singer soloing routes on the west face of Thor. Except I guess Singer's was a second ascent and Beyer's wasn't continuous (and anyways Beyer's versions of other ascents have been documented to be tenuously connected to reality)