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Weekend Whippers

Weekend Whipper: How to Survive a Free Solo Fall

At the end of the day, this climber decided to take one more run on a 40-foot pitch, but this time without tying in to the rope still hanging on the route...

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This climber had already lapped Grab Your Balls, which is a 5.9 at a small cliff called Breakneck, in Southwest Pennsylvania. He had even hung a top-rope
on the route for others to take a burn. At the end of the day, however, he decided to take one more run on the 40-foot pitch, but this time without
tying in to the rope still hanging on the route. Reaching the technical crux at about 35 feet, the climber grabbed an edge at full extension and began
to pull up …  but slipped, and suddenly found himself taking the fall of his life. After the fall, he’s unknowingly filmed while he talks about
free soloing to a group of inexperienced climbers.


Watch last week’s Weekend Whipper: “I probably should have had a spotter!”