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xanx
Nov 9, 2003, 7:06 PM
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this is from www.8a.nu:
Kehl solos The Fly, 9a! 2003-11-09
Jason Kehl has soloed/bouldered The Fly, 9a/8B/+.
This is the hardest route ever soloed, the previously hardest being Dani Andrada's ropeless ascent of Archipel.
It should be mentioned, both these routes' status, especially The fly, have been questioned. If the landing had been better The fly would probably be considered a boulder problem. Route or not, Jason's ascent is extremely impressive. Don't try this at home folks...
I guess all u lame wankers can sit here and criticize Sharma and Lamiche and even Dave Graham and Luke Parady for being such pussies and using a rope. maybe we can start another, equally intelligent discussion about why Action Directe hasn't been free solo'd yet... or Realization for that matter... that wuss Sharma...
LET THE MEANINGLESS QUIBBLING BEGIN! MUHAHAHA
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photon
Nov 9, 2003, 7:32 PM
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I think highball would be more appropriate, all the other guys who roped climbed it are swell too but Solo to me implies maiming injury/death when falling off. I doubt Kehl onsite soloed this route rather worked it with crash pads until he setn. Like I don't think saying soloing Astroman is the same thing as soloing this "route".
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climbingpride
Nov 9, 2003, 7:41 PM
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I don't promote Soloing in the slightest bit. It's those that do it that give "climbing" a bad/scary/deadly connotation. But none the less Kehl does have an impressive amount of skill and talent that i am impressed by.
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mountnotyalc
Nov 9, 2003, 11:05 PM
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how high is the fly?
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japan
Nov 9, 2003, 11:10 PM
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about 20ft
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rockfax
Nov 9, 2003, 11:14 PM
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In reply to: this is from www.8a.nu: Kehl solos The Fly, 9a! 2003-11-09 Jason Kehl has soloed/bouldered The Fly, 9a/8B/+
Absolutely amazing. Good effort man with the funny haircut.
Did he do it ground up or did he practice with a rope then solo which is the British "headpoint" style.
Was the ground padded out?
Important style information.....especially for those who want to climb it in better style (?), and for those who are just interested.
Mick
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arostecrux
Nov 9, 2003, 11:59 PM
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Well, props to Jason. Hard send for sure.
IT shoud be noted that with three cordless evil crash pads, plus smaller ones around, almost anything is highball possible. I mean, I think the guy is fairly intelligent and rather than waste time clipping bolts on a very short route, he lined the ground with soft, impact absorbing crash pads? what do you think? Would you highball 20 feet with an EVIL pad below you?
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moeman
Nov 10, 2003, 12:31 AM
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Its a bit strange to note that this is his hardest "solo", dialing at 20 feet, but his "highball" problem, Evilution, is 60 feet tall. So a highball that is 3 times the hieght of a solo???? Huh??? It probably has to do with the landings- Evilutions nice flat soft sandy landing versus The Fly's rocky nightmare landing.
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camhead
Nov 10, 2003, 12:44 AM
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BEHOLD THE AWESOME POWER OF KEHL'S SKULLET!!!!!
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tenn_dawg
Nov 10, 2003, 1:10 AM
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In reply to: Its a bit strange to note that this is his hardest "solo", dialing at 20 feet, but his "highball" problem, Evilution, is 60 feet tall. So a highball that is 3 times the hieght of a solo???? Huh??? It probably has to do with the landings- Evilutions nice flat soft sandy landing versus The Fly's rocky nightmare landing.
What about when astroman got bouldered? 2000 and some feet of climbing, they must have used EVIL pads for sure...
Travis
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quietseas
Nov 10, 2003, 1:17 AM
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So, how much are you guys getting paid to shamelessly promote the EVIL pads? 8)
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tenn_dawg
Nov 10, 2003, 1:38 AM
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In reply to: So, how much are you guys getting paid to shamelessly promote the EVIL pads? 8)
And then Dean bouldered most of the Nose, and also the regular route on Half dome, how many EVIL pads did he use? Was he getting running beta? Was there chalk already on the holds?
Well, he probably saw a picture of Halfdome in a magazine so there's no way he could have onsighted it.
Travis
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cliffhunger
Nov 10, 2003, 4:20 AM
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Mick,
He did try it on a rope first, and when he came close on a roped attempt, decided to try ropeless.
He was spotted by one person and used 3 pads, among them one Evel pad, on his early attempts, and fell from the 4th move without getting hurt.
The landing conditions are simply not as bad as they seemed.
Regarding style of ascent, I doubt anyone would be interested in working the upper beta without a rope (still in the hard 13 range, and tired after the two consecutive 5.14 moves). If you end up making the wrong sequence for the redpoint, you might fall head first in the boulders below.
If you use his sequence though, you get less problematic positions. He is the only one to have done it with those exit moves.
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kalcario
Nov 10, 2003, 4:31 AM
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So if the pads negate the consequences of a fall, then what's the difference between that and toproping? Why not just rig a safety net like they use in circuses? Be cheaper than $600 worth of foam would'nt it?
What a joke.
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stickclipper
Nov 10, 2003, 4:51 AM
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Yeah, I think that's a great idea. That whole impressive Wiamea wall could be made "solo safe" by rigging circus webbing below. That would be a sight to see!
Kehl is the man. Congratulations go to the man who bouldered what is the hardest route I've ever seen. The size of his balls must have impeded with his first boulder attempt, when he fell.
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kalcario
Nov 10, 2003, 4:59 AM
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*The size of his balls must have impeded with his first boulder attempt, when he fell.*
Huh? It's 20' tall and he rehearsed it on tr. The landing was padded with enough foam to comfortably bed the homeless population of a small city. Leading a Grade IV ice climb, or A3+, requires more balls than this. Hell, people break arms and legs all the time ROLLERBLADING, or skateboarding, and you sure as hell don't see THEM carrying mattresses around. When's the last time you saw a skateboarder practicing a potentially lethal trick on top rope? That guy would get clowned RIGHT out of the skate park. Now, soloing something at your limit where you actually might die? That's the definition of "ballsy" in this sport, kids.
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manacubus
Nov 10, 2003, 4:59 AM
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So any time anyone goes bouldering and chooses to use a pad, they "might as well be toproping"? That sounds more like a joke to me. What exactly are you taking exception to kalcario? The thickness of the pads used? Do we need some kind of pad-thinkness rulebook? Can you see the flow of this kind of logic getting out of hand? I can.
Personally, I think throwing some pads on the ground and soloing the route is better style than leading it. It's obviously the style that more appealed to Kehl - so well done man.
I just can't understand why people would take the time to diss such a great effort.
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kalcario
Nov 10, 2003, 5:08 AM
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*Personally, I think throwing some pads on the ground and soloing the route is better style than leading it. It's obviously the style that more appealed to Kehl - so well done man.*
Better style? Yeah...if a top rope was'nt employed first.
*So any time anyone goes bouldering and chooses to use a pad, they "might as well be toproping"? *
Pretty much, yes. What's the difference between your spotters catching you and the rope catching you? Not enough to crow over some improvement in style, IMO.
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manacubus
Nov 10, 2003, 5:19 AM
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If you choose to call bouldering and toproping the same thing, I'd suggest you stick to the aid forum.
I don't even boulder, yet I find your stance objectionable! (of course, you've the right to your opinion, which you've now amply expressed)
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philbox
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Nov 10, 2003, 5:24 AM
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In reply to: *Personally, I think throwing some pads on the ground and soloing the route is better style than leading it. It's obviously the style that more appealed to Kehl - so well done man.* Better style? Yeah...if a top rope was'nt employed first. *So any time anyone goes bouldering and chooses to use a pad, they "might as well be toproping"? * Pretty much, yes. What's the difference between your spotters catching you and the rope catching you? Not enough to crow over some improvement in style, IMO.
There`s an absolutely huge difference in headspace. The risk is much greater even if you do have some pads. It is a highball after all. I can`t believe that we are even arguing about this.
You are seriously trolling when you say that a top rope = mats. No contest as far as I am concerned. A top rope will build a headspace safety net however going out on the pointy end with no rope on a seriously thin climb with every expectation of peeling and no rope to catch you, come on, yer a troll.
Not even T0.
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kalcario
Nov 10, 2003, 5:34 AM
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* You are seriously trolling when you say that a top rope = mats. No contest as far as I am concerned. A top rope will build a headspace safety net however going out on the pointy end with no rope on a seriously thin climb with every expectation of peeling and no rope to catch you, come on, yer a troll.*
On something 20' high? Your feet are barely 12' off the ground when your hands are on the summit holds, unless you're a dwarf or something..a 12' groundfall with pads and spotters? C'mon. Are we really talking about some big improvement in style because somebody risked a 12' groundfall with 3 foam pads and spotters? Gimme a break here.
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climb_plastic
Nov 10, 2003, 6:11 AM
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In reply to: If you choose to call bouldering and toproping the same thing, I'd suggest you stick to the aid forum.
They're not the same thing but they have the same difficulty. Actually, climbing with no rope is the easiest way to climb something. You don't want to use a rope unless you have to. It's just riskier. That's why he'd rathers well have just toproped it. It doesn't make it any harder doing it without rope. He probably thought it would be easier with out the rope and the risk was worth it.
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cliffhunger
Nov 10, 2003, 6:38 PM
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Kalcario:
the Fly is a 20-25 feet peice of rock, yes.
But, it starts a good 6 feet off the ground.
The landing changes dramatically between the first move and the next ones, because you stand on a big rock whne you start, and will fall next to it while higher up.
While it can be argued that the actual risk is "too low to be impressive", which might be true, what you have to see here, is that deciding to try it ropeless, and comitting to it is the impressive thing.
No one tried it like that before, because the landing looked like it would cripple you, for sure. Like, certain outcome.. Because you WILL fall while trying it.
Jason was the test pilot, so to speak. The next guy to do it will not have that little plus balls-wise that made him decide it was safe enough, because he knows it's safe.
Like piloting a new plane model, the test pilot doesn't know if the plane is safe, whereas subsequent pilots know the plane is safe.
And he did not litter the place with pads.
Finally, it's not physically easier without a rope, duh.
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hasbeen
Nov 10, 2003, 6:58 PM
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What the frick is wrong with some of you? To slag this off is insane.
First off, it's harder than 99.9% of any of you will ever climb, so it's impressive to have free climbed it in any style.
Next, I don't care how unscary some of you think it is, but until you've risked that particular fall yourself you just don't know. I'm tellin' ya, the difference between being 20' off the ground with a questionable landing (meaning no one else has ever fallen from that particular point before) and toproping is almost infinite on the scare meter. So while this may not be the most impeccable style, it's by far the best style the route has been done in yet.
Look, I'm sure someday, somebody will solo this route in flip-flops with a pool of crocodiles awaiting them should they fall but, for now, this is the most impressive ascent there's been. It may not not be soloing Astroman but, hell, I dunno. Kehl could probably do Astroman in flip-flops. To dismiss this implies that some of you think you could do this in better form. So have fun. For one, I'll be impressed when you do.
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climb_plastic
Nov 10, 2003, 7:16 PM
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In reply to: Finally, it's not physically easier without a rope, duh.
Of course it's easier to climb without a rope, unless your belayer pulls you up the route. Think about it, what help is the rope in climbing except to catch you when you fall or let you hang for a while?
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