Solo? Have you or do you?

[denalidave]

In Southern Illinois I once soloed half way up the [standard] short face in Giant City and sat on this particular spot I liked in the sun. It was a beautiful day, absolutely no one was around, and it felt great to just hang out and catch buzz and some rays. Unfortunately I hadn't had much sleep and I eventually found a way to go from sitting, to lounging, to laying down sleeping on the small top of that broad, rounded arete-like feature I was climbing.

 

It was also a part of a time, summer, and environment where lakes near the campus would feature joined flotillas of 200 hundred innertubes and rafts of naked bodies and floating kegs; main street with all the bars would spontaneously erupt on friday nights into a mass streaking exhibition; and all our daily hours long down-and-back swims of Cedar Lake were done nude. So before finally going to a deep, deep sleep on my little perch, I stripped off everything and hung it on the rock in sort of a circle around me.

 

About two hours later I wake up to full-on pandemonium. The park - which is a lawn up to the base of the cliff - is now packed with people and a rescue is well underway. In my groggy state attempting to come out of my haze I hear someone below explaining how, "he must have landed so hard it blew all his clothes off of him!". Everyone I think, including myself, was a bit surprised when I finally managed to get up, collect my wits and bits and top out as quickly as possible. I'm not shy, but I was about three shades of scarlet between the embarassment and sunburn...

[denalidave]

My imagination is much too active for soloing to be fun. What if I trip over a shoelace? What if I'm stung by a cloud of hornets? Now I can add to that list: what if my bicep detaches? It doesn't matter that these things have never happened, or that since I haven't fallen off a 5.9 since forever I should be perfectly safe soloing these things, I just think about how stupid I would feel if I were dead, and then I don't do it.

 

Funny, as over the past few years I have discovered just the opposite. When I lead roped up, I'm always thinking back at my last piece... "is it good, will it hold". That consumes a lot of energy. When soloing, you ARE the next piece. It is so much more simple, therefore, easier. At least on easy ground. Speed is safety on bigger climbs, so some low level solo skills could be a potential life/epic saver. Or, you could get hit by a mack truck and die on the drive to the climb. When yer number comes up, yer number comes up...

[summitchaserCJB]

I guess fall=death is pretty simple.

[summitchaserCJB]

And I agree. Soloing helps you in many ways as a climber. Confidence, speed, ect. It can just as easily save you later as kill you now. Pros and cons...

[kukuzka1]

another note/story on soloing. In 1993 after i had soloed the east face of chair peak i met beckey and a companion comming up the talus. after a breif chat on how beatiful it was today he asked what i did. after i told him he said "i wouldnt do that" and i began thinking that you never hear of beckey soloing. dont get me wrong im sure hes done tons of down climbing and terrain where you dont fall but also in that era soloing wasnt that popular with klunky boots,[although paul preuss was soloing up to 5.8 in europe in the 1920s] maybe thats one reason beckey lived through all the climbs hes done?

[sobo]

...maybe thats one reason beckey lived through all the climbs hes done?

No, it's because Beckey's a god, that's why.