Sadly, most of the really good free climbers inevitably end up dieing in a fall, the few who haven't are the exception.
it’s not just solo climbers.
In the 80s and 90s I climbed at a very high level. Not the top tier but just below. I was a solid 5.12 climber, did a lot of big walls, alpine winter ascents, and lots of ice. And lots and lots of training that was basically soloing thousands of feet a day on easy climbs. I guided most every week.
I was second to a lot of the top climbers of those decades and had a lot of partners who one really knows outside of the West Coast.
Only one of of my dozen regular relatively unknown buddies is not dead or permanently maimed from climbing roped. Two committed suicide and did not die in the mountains. One of the latter was a woman who was just phenomenal in every way.
All the top tier I climbed with are dead. Most while soloing mostly easy stuff.
Out of the twenty or so in our extended group, only myself and one other man are still alive and not in a wheelchair. That’s a stunning statistic.
I can think of a half dozen incidents that could have killed me. Avalanches. Rock fall. Huge flakes breaking off when I was in them. Thunderstorms on a wall. Hypothermia. Broken leg miles from a road while soloing.
i also saw some disasters in the making and saved some lives. Held someone while they died. And pulled two bodies out of the wilderness. All that made me think.
I stopped when I became engaged. Climbing has risks that when measured against family commitments makes climbing an unjustifiably selfish act. I know a lot of spouses that are privately bitter or at a loss still. The saying they died doing what they loved is basically BS when Family is involved
I have some amazing memories and stories and I miss the close friendships of those who are gone. Other than the military, there is no closer bond I had than that between me and my long term successful climbing partners. The level of trust is absolute and you also discuss everything.
You become very kind and compassionate to each other as you live with fear and sometimes despair together.. I came to know them deeply as I spent days and days with them several times a month. Their deaths each took a part of me away. I learned a lot from each of them. And each was an awesome human being.
Climbing has an irony to it not unlike military preparation. You train and become a team, then the act of going to war or going on a hard climb, can mean the deliberate destruction of what you created. And then profound loss.
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