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solo stories


westie

12-Dec-2007
10:30:25 AM

Does anyone else doubt the veracity of the claim that visiting Canadian Peter Croft and local Geoff Weigand 'cruised' (read: soloed)110 hard pitches in one day back in the 80s as detailed in the 2001 Araps guide? Its not (only) going up I have an issue with but as you know what goes up must come down. There aren't that many climbs there with a staircase at the top. Also, what did they have for lunch that day? a hot meal would have cost them at least another 10 lines they could have 'cruised'.


shiltz

12-Dec-2007
11:00:25 AM

Does it say 110 pitches? I remember the reference vaguely but thought it was expressed more loosely as thousands of feet.

It you knew your way around the mount well enough (and Geoff would have) then you could solo down easy routes and do a lot of climbing without having to do very much walking in between.

Would be interesting to knwo which areas they chose to "cruise" around that day.


westie

12-Dec-2007
11:08:07 AM

On 12/12/2007 shiltz wrote:
>Does it say 110 pitches?

it does. 110 000 feet - would love to see that - classic! having visions of some Benny Hill style footage.

>Would be interesting to knwo which areas they chose to "cruise" around
>that day.

sure would.

widewetandslippery

12-Dec-2007
11:14:02 AM

They did the crag, left to right. I think Geoff only did 80 or so pitches.


westie

12-Dec-2007
11:19:19 AM

On 12/12/2007 widewetandslippery wrote:
>They did the crag, left to right.

uh-huh.


mousey

12-Dec-2007
12:20:06 PM

well i believe him!

dalai

12-Dec-2007
12:30:11 PM

Pitches downclimbed included in the count. Legit - next question.


Eduardo Slabofvic

12-Dec-2007
12:57:35 PM

I was there at the time and met Peter. I had just had an unsuccessful attempt at Kachoong, involving a
head first dive off of the move around the lip.

I was telling Peter about this later that night, and he remarked to me that the route sounded great. The
next morning while I was having my breakfast coffee, he came up to me to tell me that he’d just been and
done Kachoong and thought it was so good he did it 6 or 7 times already that day.

He always wore the same blue shirt and white pants and you’d see him all over the place soling one thing
or another. I’d believe the numbers, and having met Geoff at this time, I believe he would have tried to go
with Peter.

kieranl

12-Dec-2007
1:44:25 PM

On 12/12/2007 westie wrote:
>On 12/12/2007 shiltz wrote:
>>Does it say 110 pitches?
>
>it does. 110 000 feet - would love to see that - classic! having visions
Even allowing for the dodgy arithmetic (hint: drop a zero) most pitches at Arapiles are much less than 30 metres long. It's probably around 1500-2000 metres of climbing which Peter Croft would have been capable of doing. Also his days started with sunrise. As Eduardo pointed out, he would do an astonishing amount of soloing before anyone else had breakfast.

Onsight

12-Dec-2007
2:44:09 PM

Yeah I agree Kieran. Peter would regularly solo dozens of pitches before breakfast. If you saw how he moved when in form you wouldn't doubt it.


BigMike

12-Dec-2007
2:52:46 PM

On 12/12/2007 Onsight wrote:
> If you saw how he moved when in form you wouldn't doubt it.

But OUT of form, he was terrifying ...


wallwombat

12-Dec-2007
2:55:37 PM

From what I have read, I didn't think he has ever been OUT of form. The guy is a machine.

His free solo of Astroman in Yosemite still ranks as one of the greatest climbing feats ever.


Macciza

12-Dec-2007
10:49:54 PM

Only 110 routes ? Easily . . .

Michael Reardons record

Vertical Feet in a Day:
280+routes equaling Two Miles up to 5.13a - Joshua Tree -1/3 harder than 5.9
12,000 via three Grade IV and one Grade V - Temple Crag, Sierras
16,000 via 160+ pitches (plus descents) - Tahquitz

Some Onsight Solos
"Romantic Warrior" (V 5.12b) - Needles, California
*Sea of Tranquility (V 5.11d, A0) with rappel pre-inspection - Needles, California
"Neon Dust" (bottom crux then joining "Valkyre" as per guidebook) - Froggatt, England
"Outrage" (5.13a) - Boney Bluffs
"Angel's Crest" (14-pitch 5.10b) - Squamish, Canada

Some First Ascent Solos
"Shikata Ga Nai" (IV/V 5.12) - Needles
"MRSR" (5.12) - Joshua Tree
"Rainy Reality" (5.12) - Burren, Ireland
"Dancing on Mirrors" (III 5.11) - Sierras
"Devil's Arete" (5.11) - Little Egypt
"Wonder Woman" (5.11) with the Outlaws - Malibu
"Of Death and Panties" (IV 5.10) - Mt. Galey

Additional Fun Solos and Adventures
"Ghetto Blaster" (5.13b) - Malibu Creek
"The Pirate" (5.12d) - Suicide Rocks
"Fear and Loathing" (5.12a) - Las Vegas
"The Vampire" (III, 5.11a) - Tahquitz
"Equinox" (5.12c) & "EBGBs" (5.10+) - Joshua Tree (same day)
"An Puca" (E5 6b) - Ailladie, Ireland
"Airy Interlude" (III, 5.10b) naked - Needles

1,000 solos in 30 days (400+ 5.9-5.13) - Joshua Tree
240 onsight solos to 5.12+ - Ireland 2006
214 onsight solos to 5.13 ( "routes" as listed in guidebook) - England 2006

RIP Michael 'Life without Limits' Reardon


westie

13-Dec-2007
8:44:18 AM

On 12/12/2007 Onsight wrote:
If you saw how he moved when in form you wouldn't doubt it.

I'm happy to proven wrong. sounds like quite a chap.


Capt_mulch

13-Dec-2007
8:55:03 AM

On the subject of Michael Reardon, does anyone know any details of his passing? The only thing I have read is that a wave washed him off rocks "and the sea took him". Has anyone read any accounts from someone who saw what happened? Did he drown straight away? Did some big sea beastie eat him? I just find it curious that someone who was so obviously fit and at home with the water would be just 'taken by the sea'.

widewetandslippery

13-Dec-2007
8:57:18 AM

he is the same Chinese submarine as Harold Holt.


cruze

13-Dec-2007
8:58:19 AM

Macca:

You being the aiding type, how do you solo a climb with an associated A0 rating (Sea of tranquility). I presume it is a tension traverse, mid-climb abseil, or something like that. Did Michael climb it with a rope on his back??

qman

13-Dec-2007
9:19:01 AM

I recently heard a great soloing story (which is actually recorded in the new Classic NZ Rockclimbing book from mark seddon.

Bryan moore was apparently doing his first ever route solo at the Mt Eden Quarry (NZ)when the whole column that the route was on pulled away from the wall and crashed to the ground leaving him hanging on the finishing holds.

The rubble was apparently so large you could boulder on it.

Scarey

13-Dec-2007
9:47:50 AM

On 12/12/2007 Macciza wrote:
>Only 110 routes ? Easily . . .
>
>Michael Reardons record
>
>Vertical Feet in a Day:
>280+routes equaling Two Miles up to 5.13a - Joshua Tree -1/3 harder than
>5.9
>12,000 via three Grade IV and one Grade V - Temple Crag, Sierras
>16,000 via 160+ pitches (plus descents) - Tahquitz
>
>Some Onsight Solos
>"Romantic Warrior" (V 5.12b) - Needles, California
>*Sea of Tranquility (V 5.11d, A0) with rappel pre-inspection - Needles,
>California
>"Neon Dust" (bottom crux then joining "Valkyre" as per guidebook) - Froggatt,
>England
>"Outrage" (5.13a) - Boney Bluffs
>"Angel's Crest" (14-pitch 5.10b) - Squamish, Canada
>
>Some First Ascent Solos
>"Shikata Ga Nai" (IV/V 5.12) - Needles
>"MRSR" (5.12) - Joshua Tree
>"Rainy Reality" (5.12) - Burren, Ireland
>"Dancing on Mirrors" (III 5.11) - Sierras
>"Devil's Arete" (5.11) - Little Egypt
>"Wonder Woman" (5.11) with the Outlaws - Malibu
>"Of Death and Panties" (IV 5.10) - Mt. Galey
>
>Additional Fun Solos and Adventures
>"Ghetto Blaster" (5.13b) - Malibu Creek
>"The Pirate" (5.12d) - Suicide Rocks
>"Fear and Loathing" (5.12a) - Las Vegas
>"The Vampire" (III, 5.11a) - Tahquitz
>"Equinox" (5.12c) & "EBGBs" (5.10+) - Joshua Tree (same day)
>"An Puca" (E5 6b) - Ailladie, Ireland
>"Airy Interlude" (III, 5.10b) naked - Needles
>
>1,000 solos in 30 days (400+ 5.9-5.13) - Joshua Tree
>240 onsight solos to 5.12+ - Ireland 2006
>214 onsight solos to 5.13 ( "routes" as listed in guidebook) - England
>2006
>
>RIP Michael 'Life without Limits' Reardon

It amuses me that people seem to do 'crazy things' to seperate themselves from the pack.

Eh macca ?

simey

13-Dec-2007
9:55:50 AM

We used the word 'cruised' in the guide because there wasn't any conscious decision by Peter and Geoff to see how many routes they could do in a day.

Had they tried to climb as many routes in a day as possible, they could have done considerably more. I think they were finished by early afternoon.

I suspect they probably soloed most of the routes along Central Gully Left Side as well as down past the Organ Pipes, Pilot Error Cliffs and King Rat Gully, in which case you can knock a lot of them off pretty quickly.

There are 68 messages in this topic.