The Purest Big Wall Style: Ranked Worst To Best
While I have no experience big wall climbing, I've dug deep into the media and ethics surrounding it. From siege-style pushes to lightning-quick free climbs, style is what determines the purity of an ascent. I am in no way trying to discount a certain style. All are impressive in their own ways! Below I have ranked the purity of methods of big wall climbing (in my opinion) from the slowest of aid climbs to the most bare-bones of free climbing. I will give examples from one wall for sake of simplicity... you guessed it: El Cap.
Let's begin...
21) Aid Wall Climbing In Multiple Pushes: This style was originally coined on the FA of El Captain by Warren Harding. Harding and others made many attempts after returning to the ground. It took 50 days of climbing to lay in El Cap’s first route, The Nose.
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| Harding on the FA of El Cap |
20) Aid Wall Climbing In A Single Push: One committing attempt over several days.
19) Aid Wall Climbing Solo: Climbing alone with a rope.
18) Aid Wall Climbing Solo In Day: Climbing alone with a rope in a single day, a logistical nightmare.
17) Aid Wall Climbing Solo FA: Laying in a new route all alone, a tough prospect.
16) Big Wall Speed Climbing: The famous and coveted Nose Speed record is a good example. While it is faster and often incorporates more free climbing, it’s still “By any means climbing.” This began with the first Nose in a day (by John Long, Billie Westbay, and Jim Bridwell in 1975) to Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honold's sub-2 hour sprint in 2018.
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| Caldwell and Honold after the Nose's first sub-2 hour climb. (Photo taken from Alpinist Magazine) |
15) Big Wall Free Climbing (Multi-Day) With Review: This is the common style of free climbing with a few subcategories: team free (such as Paul Piana and Todd Skinner swapping leads to make the first free ascent of the Salathe Wall) and leading every pitch yourself (which Alex Huber later did on the Salathe).
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| Rock And Ice cover after Skinner and Piana's FFA |
14) Big Wall Free Climbing In A Day With Review: Using either team free or single free style to accomplish an ascent in less than 24 hours. Some recent examples include Emily Harrington and Jordan Cannon’s ascents of Golden Gate (5.13b). The most famous of course is Lynn Hill's groundbreaking free climb of The Nose in a day.
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| Lynn Hill on The Nose (photo from lynnhillclimbing.com) |
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| Goris on her one push ascent of the Salathe (photo from Climbing Magazine) |
12) Big Wall Free Climbing Rope Solo: Terrifying at best, and major hassle (especially while free climbing). Keita Kuarkami's fifth free ascent of The Nose was done in this way. This includes rapping back down to clean the pitch and jumaring back up!
11) Big Wall Free Climbing Rope Solo In A Day: Pete Whittaker's rope solo of Freerider is still the only climb in such a style. An insane endurance feat.
10) Big Wall Free Climbing In A Day (No Review): Several onsight attempts have led to this result (still very satisfactory, even if you botched the first try rule).
9) Big Wall Free Climbing FA In Multiple Days (With Review): The challenge of going into unknown terrain, adding bolts/anchors, and not knowing if it’s possible warrants respect. The shining example of this would be Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgenson’s masterpiece: The Dawn Wall (5.14d).
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| Jorgenson at the crux of the Dawn Wall (photo taken from restjug.com) |
7) Big Wall Free Climbing FA In One Day: An impossible laughable venture for El Cap.
6) Big Wall Free Climbing FA Ground Up: With no review or rappelling from the top... every bolt drilled on lead. The only attempt at such a futuristic style on El Cap is Leo Houlding’s Prophet (5.13d), an impressive effort that ultimately required rapping from the top to increase safety. In my opinion, this is one of the most impressive and underrated climbs on El Capitan.
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| Houlding, with his unfailing sticky hat, on the Prophet. (photo taken from planetmountain.com) |
5) Big Wall Free Climbing Flash Or Onsight: Climbing every pitch first try (flash). If done without any previous knowledge of beta it would be an onsight. Despite many attempts by climbers like Adam Ondra and Yuji Hirayama (on the Salathe), Leo Houlding on El Nino, and Ueli Steck on Golden Gate, El Cap is yet to be onsighted. In 2014, Freerider (5.12d) was flashed by Pete Whittaker.
4) Big Wall Free Climbing To Stances: An ascent with no hanging on gear, even at belays! Often this includes huge pitches to ledges where standing is possible. The only example of this on El Capitan that I know of is Yuji Hirayama's link of multiple pitches on the Salathe Wall in 1997, climbing the route without weighting the rope!
3) Big Wall Free Solo With Review: Climbing the route with no rope or partner, but with previous knowledge. If you don't know of El Capitan's only ascent in this style you've been living under a rock (quite likely considering the blog's demographic). Alex Honold's solo of Freerider remains the only of its kind.
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| Just in case you haven't seen this one yet.. (Photo taken from Red Bull) |
2) Big Wall Free Solo Flash Or Onsight: A style yet to be taken to The Big Stone.
1) Big Wall Free Solo Naked Without Shoes Or Chalk: The purest of the pure. No aid of any kind. The hardest ascent in this style (that I know of) isn’t even near El Cap... That would be Austin Howell’s climb of Dopey Duck, a 5.8 somewhere in the South.
Now I'm sure there are several styles or ascents I've forgotten, or my ranking grinds your gears. Feel free to tear me apart. I'd love to hear it.
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