UKC

Soloing the hardest mixed climb in Hyalite CanyonFri Night Vid

© Matt Cornell

This week's Friday Night Video is about dirtbag climber Matt Cornell soloing the hardest mixed climb in Hyalite Canyon, Montana. Conrad Anker provides some context to the difficulty and notoriety of the route through a series of clichés, but overall the lasting feeling from watching the film is how scary soloing a mixed climb looks...


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31 Jan, 2020

Nope, nope, nope.

It looked like a great route. I've never done any mixed with M grades. What's the hardest that goes on natural gear?

31 Jan, 2020

Watched earlier this week when it popped up on Facebook. Quite alarming somehow.

I sort of see the beauty in soloing pure ice, it is quite meditative in a way, but somehow soloing mixed routes feels a bit 'wrong'. Particularly this case where the rock is said to be dodgy, but generally there is something a bit disjointed and often changing about mixed routes that just makes them 'not right' to solo. I'm sure this is just me though, and actually at much much lower level have really enjoyed climbing some UK scrambly- winter mountaineering routes on my own, and I guess technically they are mixed routes.

I remember seeing those pics of Alex Lowe soloing back in the 90s, didn't fully get why he didn't wear a helmet then and still don't now! Sure, it won't work like a parachute if you fall but probably most ice climbers can remember a time when ice they've displaced has clocked them on the lid with enough of a "clunk" to make you think - "glad I put my helmet on!"

1 Feb, 2020

Is Anker gently taking the piss? A bit hard to tell.........

1 Feb, 2020

In reply to TobyA

you are not alone in feeling this is going too far. Solo in solitude meditating ok. When someone eventually peels off will the camera keep rolling ? The camera is the problem

1 Feb, 2020

I share that feeling. I worry, particularly after Free Solo, that there's going to be more pressure on people who want to publicise their climbing to solo things. Sooner or later that's going to end badly for someone. The popularity of these videos just makes that more likely.

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