FREE SOLO ON FREEWAY ?!

[solojourneys]

hey, just heard from a very trustworthy source that somebody freesoloed the entire Freeway route (11d) a few days ago. Definitely not Alex Honnold (apparently he denied it) .. anyone got the beta on who did this????

[Brendan]

Interesting.
Having said that, it's not like Freeway is a "heavy hitter" route (like Astroman or Regular NW Face of Half Dome or those routes).

[dirty]

Hey Brendan. ... Big Slugger...
say, thanks for your excellent input.
ever climbed this route?
Helluva day out...I say!

[Brendan]

Hey Brendan. ... Big Slugger...
say, thanks for your excellent input.
ever climbed this route?
Helluva day out...I say!

Hardly a "Big Slugger". Rofl.
I was actually referring to Alex Honnold's solos of those two routes. I would definitely never consider soloing Freeway ever (I don't even solo 5.7)

Yes, like most people on here, I have climbed Freeway.

Freeway has very short cruxes which most often have both a rest before/after them. The crux pitch, IMO, is the long 4th pitch (the full Fifth Wheel pitch not separated by the hanging belay), which has rests all over the thing. The route lets up after this pitch.

And yes, it is a helluva day out if I may say. It is definitely one of the best routes in Squamish and definitely a proud solo

[Cloudraker]

Who was it who sent the gnar?

[MarkR]

http://www.8a.nu/?IncPage=http%3A//www. ... rId%3D7653

Looks like it was Honnold after all.

[Brendan]

http://www.8a.nu/?IncPage=http%3A//www. ... rId%3D7653

Looks like it was Honnold after all.

Or not.

I'm no 8a expert, but look at the date posted. He soloed it on 10/08/20, no?

[J Mace]

Interestingly around half the climbs he did in Squamish he found soft and most all of them at Horne he thought were soft.

Something to keep in mind when you head for that Spanish rock crushing holiday...

[Cloudraker]

Squamish grades are soft. Anyone who has ever climbed in the valley and had their a$% handed to them on a climb that they figured they should be able to do cuz they climb at the same grade in Squamish understands this.

[paulc]

Squamish grades are soft. Anyone who has ever climbed in the valley and had their a$% handed to them on a climb that they figured they should be able to do cuz they climb at the same grade in Squamish understands this.

Oh yeah. Totally soft. I've never been so beat down in my life than the two weeks I climbed in the Valley...

Paul

[slopr]

I don't know if i agree that all squamish grades are soft, there are definitely soft climbs and entire areas that may be considered soft, in this case freeway is not know for being crazy sustained 11+ climbing the entire way. Lets not forget that there are also a lot of testpieces in squam too, just not many burly fist/OW cracks. For a guy like Alex Honnold i would imagine that most areas are soft and maybe rock climbing in general is also soft. If you look at the very bottom of his scorecard it says he onsight free soloed Prince of Darkness (5.10a - 1100' sustained vertical edges) @ red rocks then downclimbed the neighboring route Dream of wild turkeys (5.10a - 1100')!! Despite the grade and in comparison to other climbs he has soloed the idea of walking up to a dead vertical 1000'+ wall you have never climbed, onsight soloing it, then downclimbing it like it was a boulder problem is just __________________________!!! This guy is seriously a machine!

[marc_leclerc]

Alex is an incredible climber.... a while ago I was all happy, just having finished the second ascent of 'Bruce Lee Vs. The Kiss Army', the infamous 5.13R at Neat and Cool. Then Alex joins us and after spraying him down with the beta, he ties in and flashes it.... flashes a 5.13R! Then seeing as there were no biners at the anchor he just unties, drops the rope then down free solo' Neat and Cool to get down... pretty sick!

[thebigchin]

Interestingly around half the climbs he did in Squamish he found soft and most all of them at Horne he thought were soft.

It's not like I've climbed in hundreds of different areas, but the 10-12 that I have visited seem to indicate the softness of Squamish grades. For a while I put that up to the fact that I was visiting new areas with new rock and it took me a while to figure it out. I think the more plausible theory is MacLean's constant softening of the grades in every guidebook.

Ok, I can get behind changing the grade of the Buttress from 5.9 to 5.10, but there's been some pretty suspect grade changes in the last 2 or 3 books.

[Anders Ourom]

Interestingly around half the climbs he did in Squamish he found soft and most all of them at Horne he thought were soft.

I wonder what Alex would say about Skaha grades?