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Solo climbing on Mount Logan
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Solo climbing,orsoloing, is a style of climbing in which the climber climbs a route alone, without the assistance of a belayer (or "second"). By its very nature, it presents a higher degree of risk to the climber, and in some cases, is considered extremely high risk (e.g. solo ice climbing, or solo big wall climbing).
The use of the term "solo climbing" is generally separate from the action of bouldering, which is itself a form of solo climbing, but with less serious consequences in the case of a fall. The most dangerous form of solo climbing is free solo climbing, which means both climbing alone and without any form of climbing protection.[1]
Free solo climbing (sometimes referred to as soloing in the UK, or third-classing in the US)[2] is where the climber uses no climbing protection (or any form of climbing aid, except for their climbing shoes and their climbing chalk), and ascends a single-pitch, or a multi-pitch/big wall climbing route.[2] Free soloing is the most dramatic solo technique, and in 2017 became an Oscar-winning documentary film, Free Solo that featured Alex Honnold free soloing the 915-metre (3,002 ft) 35-pitch rock climbing route FreeriderinYosemite, the world's first-ever free solo of a 5.13a (7c+) big wall route in history.[3][4]
There are a number of sub-classes of free soloing:
The following types of "solo climbing" have some form of climbing protection, which typically involves a mechanical self-locking (or progress capture/assisted braking) device that significantly reduces the risk of serious or fatal injury to the climber:[2]
A number of notable films have been made focused on solo (and free solo) climbing (on rock and/or on ice) including:[21]
One of the most rad free-solos caught on film in the 1990s
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