Tips for free soloing "safely".

Freesolo can never truly be "safe" but here's some tips to tip the scales in your favor.

(Hat tip to Ma Ja)

-Wear a harness with lanyards to clip in for a rest if need be.

-Carry a small rack to place and clip for rest or move an "anchor" through a hard section.

-Stop often and look up to visualize exactly how you do the moves.

More to come from others and myself I'm sure ;)

If you need tips on how to free solo, you should not be free soloing.

Don't take tips from pathetic trolls on MP.

Be sure you have completed an Advanced Health Care Directive.

Are we at the bottom of the barrel yet? 

0. Prepare your last will.

Remember to post to instagram on every ledge.

Wow sure to be some great insights on here, thanks for starting this topic!

A bit of seriousness. When on unrehearsed route do not even try a move you are not certain you can reverse.

don't forget to turn on your GoPro

Pavel Burov wrote: A bit of seriousness. When on unrehearsed route do not even try a move you are not certain you can reverse.

I 50% agree. You can do a move you can't reverse as long as the rest of the climb is a gimmie. Eg, pulling the crux to the "thank god" jugs. It's more having a sense of the future than always needing an escape.

There are so many different contexts and motivations and route size + difficulty + objective hazards and climber experience levels, previous rehearsal versus on-sight, using the danger as an antidote to emotional depression, etc, etc, so that
"free soloing" just is not one thing.
So it cannot have one set of helpful Tips.

No surprise that I'm finding that the "tips" offered by the OP are just irrelevant to my soloing context.

* non-Tip : Know your limits . . . lots of previous experience on this kind of rock, this style of route -- perhaps even for this exact route.

* non-Tip : Try to be honest about your emotional state and motivation.
. . . (I think nowadays we've got better chemicals and better knowledge of how to use them than climbers of previous generations who might have used solo-ing to address emotional issues).

* Down-climbing: Spend lots of time practicing on Top-Rope. Different rock types, different types of moves (especially the ones which lots of "knowledgeable" climbers say are difficult to down-climb). Push your difficulty.
. . . (my personal view is downclimb practice indoors does not count: What matters is perception on outdoor rock).
I think a significant percentage of solo-ing injuries and deaths are caused by going off-route, then either not even considering the option of climbing back down, or being too scared to try to down-climb a segment because of lack of practice + perception.

* Testing for weak / loose rock. Not sure how to practice this, but I think a rather large percentage of solo-ing injuries and deaths are caused by trusting a hold that broke. Practicing making difficult clips while leading is good - (for feeling OK to hang on with one hand while testing some rock with another).

* Larger blocks: Pull downward, not outward. Often it's difficult (or dangerous) to test a larger block first when solo.

* Social context: Do not announce your goal in advance.
. . . (Less important . . .  but likely it's safer to make a habit of not telling anyone afterward either).

* No audience, No video, No photos.
. . . (unless you're playing a different game with known higher risks.

? Light rack of protection gear ?
The big problem with bringing a light rack of gear and/or a sling/leash to clip to it is that it distracts focus from the primary safety strategy of giving up + backing off + down-climbing. It helps me forget to ask before starting up each segment, "Will I feel confident to down-climb this if I decide to give up later?"
Serious danger because it encourages me to feel that the main difficulties with solo-ing are my difficulty-rating-capability and my strength and endurance -- while in most cases the failure points are loose rock and going off route.

Ken

Best tip I can offer is to bring a nut tool. Especially on Monday and Tuesday romps. Amazing how much quicker removing booty can be with the tool for the job...

I'm also going to pretend this thread is a genuine effort to discuss best practice with soloing.

[Edit: I'm also going to put in the disclaimer that I normally have when discussing soloing in real life - I will always discourage soloing to anyone who is considering it.  I do solo, but I don't pretend it is a good idea.  But, for those who have experience and have a good judge of their climbing ability and rock and who are going to solo anyway, I am ok with giving advice on the matter, advice which is invariably conservative on the matter]

Hobo Greg wrote:

If it’s an onsight and you can’t see the finish, it’s never a gimmie. Besides, every day is a different day, so gimmie terrain one day might not feel the same the next. I think it’s wisest to always be ready and *willing* to down climb at any point. Too much “I could down climb if I want to but I really don’t want to” can lead to trouble.

This is definitely a really key thing, I agree 100%. This is particularly relevant for multipitch free solos. In general, I don't like solos above a certain length unless I can go pretty much completely hands free every so often to really be able to pause and contemplate and make decisions (not to mention rest). This also makes staging possible extended downclimbs much less daunting. Even still, above a certain length of route, the desire to just keep going to exit up can be really strong. 

I'd still pretty much always say every move on an onsight solo should be reversible, since route appearances can be deceiving and rock quality can change, as well as the ever present possibility of getting off route.

Unless you are a complete and total bad ass don't onsight anything even remotely close to your redpoint grade and stay at least a full grade or maybe even two grades below your roped onsight level...

kenr wrote: There are so many different contexts and motivations and route size + difficulty + objective hazards and climber experience levels, previous rehearsal versus on-sight, using the danger as an antidote to emotional depression, etc, etc, so that
"free soloing" just is not one thing.
So it cannot have one set of helpful Tips.

No surprise that I'm finding that the "tips" offered by the OP are just irrelevant to my soloing context.

* non-Tip : Know your limits . . . lots of previous experience on this kind of rock, this style of route -- perhaps even for this exact route.

* non-Tip : Try to be honest about your emotional state and motivation.
. . . (I think nowadays we've got better chemicals and better knowledge of how to use them than climbers of previous generations who might have used solo-ing to address emotional issues).

* Down-climbing: Spend lots of time practicing on Top-Rope. Different rock types, different types of moves (especially the ones which lots of "knowledgeable" climbers say are difficult to down-climb). Push your difficulty.
. . . (my personal view is downclimb practice indoors does not count: What matters is perception on outdoor rock).
I think a significant percentage of solo-ing injuries and deaths are caused by going off-route, then either not even considering the option of climbing back down, or being too scared to try to down-climb a segment because of lack of practice + perception.

* Testing for weak / loose rock. Not sure how to practice this, but I think a rather large percentage of solo-ing injuries and deaths are caused by trusting a hold that broke. Practicing making difficult clips while leading is good - (for feeling OK to hang on with one hand while testing some rock with another).

* Larger blocks: Pull downward, not outward. Often it's difficult (or dangerous) to test a larger block first when solo.

* Social context: Do not announce your goal in advance.
. . . (Less important . . .  but likely it's safer to make a habit of not telling anyone afterward either).

* No audience, No video, No photos.
. . . (unless you're playing a different game with known higher risks.

? Light rack of protection gear ?
The big problem with bringing a light rack of gear and/or a sling/leash to clip to it is that it distracts focus from the primary safety strategy of giving up + backing off + down-climbing. It helps me forget to ask before starting up each segment, "Will I feel confident to down-climb this if I decide to give up later?"
Serious danger because it encourages me to feel that the main difficulties with solo-ing are my difficulty-rating-capability and my strength and endurance -- while in most cases the failure points are loose rock and going off route.

Ken

Tradiban now owns you Ken.

Daniel James wrote:

above a certain length of route, the desire to just keep going to exit up can be really strong. 

I agree that beyond some length, it becomes psychologically very difficult to decide to down-climb.
For such a long time and distance, and with the thought that you might get off route down-climbing.
. . . (For me I felt that on the Watzmann Ostwand at Berchtesgaden Germany. But I knew lots of less-skilled climbers had made it all the way).

. . . (If the weather up high turns bad, that might change the psychology).

Not "seeing" to the finish?
Once I down-climbed almost the whole West Ridge of Mt Conness (high Sierra Calif) solo, because I wanted to be sure that if on another day I started from the bottom and made it thru the cruxes of the bottom two pitches, that I would not get stuck higher up.

But then on my reconnaissance mission, I did not feel comfortable down-climbing the bottom pitches. So I "gave up", and climbed all the way back upward on the West Ridge to the summit of Mt Conness. Which was delightful. After the down-climbing had also been delightful.
. . . (It was a bit sad to find how little progress the roped parties had made between me going down + up).
Funny thing is that I never did get around to climbing on the West Ridge again.
. . . (the approach to the bottom is long-ish and has un-fun sections).

Ken

- Bring a belayer and a rope. Have him in position ready to throw you a figure-eight on a bight with two triple-lockers preclipped for redundancy, just in case.

- If your belayer doesn’t have a good throwing arm, consider bringing a stick clip so he can extend the rope to you.

- Hike around to the top and hang a single strand with pretied knots to clip into with your PAS (not a daisy). Some people advocate for overhands but alpine butterflies are superior because they can be loaded in any direction, which is handy in case of an upward fall.

- By definition, all free soloing falls are factor-two falls, so consider incorporating a screamer into your system. At the very least, ensure that you’re wearing nylons instead of Dyneemas to facilitate genital stretch. When it comes to stockings: when in doubt, run it out.

Hobo Greg wrote:

If it’s an onsight and you can’t see the finish, it’s never a gimmie. Besides, every day is a different day, so gimmie terrain one day might not feel the same the next. I think it’s wisest to always be ready and *willing* to down climb at any point. Too much “I could down climb if I want to but I really don’t want to” can lead to trouble.

Also what’s your take on how having a harness and a light rack alters your headspace? Knowing you have an out makes for a much different experience than send, downclimb, or die.

Even onsight you should be able to "read" what you can't see, from the angle of the rock above etc. But really a soloist should do a little research on the route first and know how it climbs. 

A harness and rack doesn't alter my headspace, nothing alters my headspace while soloing, I make it that way. Watch Dean Potter solo the nose, it should be like that.

Regarding downclimbing, making a move up is never the same as making a move down, you can't know you will make a move down until you do it, so best to analyze how you will make the move down first, step by step. Asking questions is how I do it, How will that hold feel in reverse? Where will my feet go? In what order?. Of course these questions happen simultaneously, in seconds, in my head. A good example would be an undercling move, reversing an undercling will feel totally different in reverse, because of your weight transfer and will probably require a different sequence.

If you have children or a spouse or parents or friends, don’t be a dick and get yourself killed doing something dumb. You will never remember it, being dead and all, but they sure as shit will, for the rest of their lives.