El Cap Free Soloed

Great story and write-up.

Quite the accomplishment.

That's just crazytown.

Incredible! I hope there aren't a bunch of idiots who fall off trying that in the near future.

Count me as another who had that thought. There will be others who will die trying to outdo him.

People thought the Wright brothers were crazy. Columbus? Nucking Futs. People followed both of them and many of them did indeed die.

I don't think either of us said they should be stopped. Just that it's a bit regrettable that some of those who will try will not really have a clue, and die trying.

It's worth noting how many illustrious climbers decided to forego the opportunity.  Pondering at the route graphic underscored the concatenation of probabilities that make success so unlikely, even under the best of circumstances.  If there are 70 places on the route with a 1% chance of falling, the overall probability of falling is more than half, and that's assuming they're independent trials.  More realistically, one near miss will lead to another and the odds are worse.  His extensive physical and mental preparation was the key, especially the way in which he planned all the moves, along with his willingness to call it off if the conditions weren't right.

I suspect the preparation process would weed out many potentially worthy climbers who decide it's too risky or not worth what it takes to burn down that risk.  I figure the casualties would be disproportionately people who tried to shortcut the preparation.