All-Free Rope Solo of El Capitan

by Dougald MacDonald El Cap Canadian Stéphane Perron capped a remarkable string of solo ascents in Yosemite Valley with an all-free rope solo of Free Rider (37 pitches, 5.12d) on El Capitan. Perron spent six nights on the route, leading all but three of the pitches without any falls. After falling on each of those three pitches, he finished the lead, cleaned the gear on rappel, and then sent the pitch free on his second go. Perron had previously climbed the bottom half of the route (shared with the Salathé Wall), but he was onsighting from the top of the Ear (pitch 18) to the summit.Perron uses a Rock Exotica Soloist to belay himself, click here to see one. Dougald MacDonald gives a full report at climbing.com ( Source: Climbing magazine )

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