Honnold Solos 5.12b Up, 5.10a Down

Erik Lambert

Posted on: May 12, 2010


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Free soloist Alex Honnold has pulled off another staggering achievement, this time in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area just outside Las Vegas, Nevada. Honnold's 8a.nu climbing scorecard suggests that he free soloed Rainbow Wall's Original Route (V 5.12b, 1,000') and Black Velvet Canyon's Prince of Darkness (III 5.10c, 700') in a single day, April 28. Perhaps more astounding is that the scorecard states that he "downclimbed Dream of Wild Turkeys [III 5.10a, 700'] to get back off" of the latter.

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Honnold's other notable standard-setting free solos are Moonlight Buttress (V 5.12+, 9 pitches) in Zion and the Regular Northwest Face (VI 5.12a, 23 pitches) of Half Dome in Yosemite, both climbed in 2008. The year before he free soloed Astroman (5.11c, 300m) and the Regular North Face of the Rostrum, also in Yosemite. Read an interview with Honnold in the June 28, 2008 Feature.

Please visit climbingnarc.com for more on this story.

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