Originally posted by WPRESTO You definitely brought back images worth seeing. For a while my son, not an adventurer, had a friend who was what I think is called a "free climber." He'd jump and latch unto a molding up near the ceiling with his finger tips, then work his way around the room holding on that way. I'd be hesitant to shake his hand.
Just to point this out, there is some confusion between "free climbing" and "free soloing". Free climbing means that you're using climbing equipment (such as ropes) only to protect yourself against falling, but not to assist progress in any way. You're doing everything on your own but if you fall you're protected. Free soloing is like free climbing expect that you have no rope or any safety gear, just your shoes and chalk. It is considered "a niche of a niche", reserved for the sport's elite. I have never attempted any free solo (well except for maybe couple meters heights), nor am I going to. Some of the world's very best climbers (like Adam Ondra) have never attempted free solo (not as far as I know). Maybe it's physically possible, but the mental component of it it's insurmountable for the most,
However, Alex Honnold managed to free solo El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, in 2017. I consider it to be the greatest sport achievement in the history of mankind. I really can't think of anything that compares. Maybe it's like trying to get the Gold at the Olympics, and if you don't do it, you die, but even that seems putting it too short. For people that don't know much about climbing, it's hard to understand how amazing this really is. Before him, it's not like somebody tried it and failed. Nobody even considered it because it just seems impossible... and it still does. If you're interested, there is a Oscar winning documentary from 2018 describing it all ("Free Solo").