The only way to survive soloing at that level is to eventually quit doing it. Look at Derek Hersey, John Bachar and Michael What's-his-name.

The odds don't seem great, but Peter Croft seems to have beaten them so far. Of course, he is Canadian ;)

sounds like a soloing accident

If a fee-soloer is in a car-crash on the way to/from the cliff, is that a soloing accident?

Did somebody actually witness what happened? He was alone on the ledge and prolly had to do some kind of climbing, either up, down or traversing to get there.

That would be, killed in a car crash while free soloing.

So......

If your on top of a route, anchor cleaned, roped coiled and your getting ready to do the walk off when a rock clips you and knocks you off the cliff, we should say that you got killed soloing? You weren't using a rope at that point in time and you were near a cliff.

Sounds like something some reporter would say, not a climber.

From what I've read they figured that he was hit in the head by rockfall after topping out, knocking him down the route. That's what was deduced from evidence found.

citation?

If I was all alone, yes, I would consider it a soloing accident.

Quote from Jeff Lowe;
"Well, Paola, you were obviously a great match for John's mental strength and honesty. How anyone could read the facts of the accident as you've presented them and not conclude that to a high degree of certainty that John was first hit in the head by a falling stone, and only after that fell to the ground, is beyond me. The rope - or no rope in this case - would have had no bearing on the outcome. John's death should probably be attributed to stonefall rather than a free-soloing fall.

Thank you again for your grace and strength."

Or you can read the whole thread here.

That's not a citation. that's someone on the internet (albeit Jeff fricking Lowe) speculating. What WERE the "facts of the accident" that Lowe is talking about?

The only way to survive soloing at that level is to eventually quit doing it. Look at Derek Hersey, John Bachar and Michael What's-his-name.

citation?

The only way to survive soloing at that level is to eventually quit doing it. Look at Derek Hersey, John Bachar and Michael What's-his-name.

In spite of the arguments and hair-splitting I stand by my comment: if you keep soloing at a high level, sooner or later something is bound to go wrong. I know a number of climbers who used to solo up and down 5.11's but gave it up and are glad they did. I myself used to solo up to 5.10 but gave it up after a couple of close calls.

No one can climb at a “high level” indefinitely, no matter the discipline. If people are honest with themselves and moderate the level at which they solo as their overall abilities change, I doubt their death rates will be significantly higher than any other climbers. Somewhat higher sure, but not significantly.

I agree, but what does "high level" mean? Honnold is a 5.14+ sport climber, a vee-double-digit boulderer. So, when he solos even at his highest levels (I think that Phoenix is his hardest? 13a?), it is roughly the equivalent of 5.11+ climber soloing 5.10a. Not easy, but not what we would call reckless, either.

For the most part, soloists are not soloing at their physical limits. Dereck Hersey was one of the few who did, as I recall reading in his profile in the book "The High Lonesome."