It's pretty crazy with 11 pitches rated 5.12, but it's still not the most difficult free solo that's been done. For example Honnold himself free soloed 5.13, and Dave MacLeod free soloed a 5.14b. These are only single-pitch but they're still tall enough to classify as free solo (as opposed to bouldering/highball). And don't go thinking that 11 pitches of 5.12 is harder than one pitch of 5.14. Lots of people can do 11 pitches of 5.12 without falling. Only an extremely small portion of these can send a 5.14 - rope or no rope, when someone sends that grade it often ends up in the news (well, climber news, of course).
> Only an extremely small portion of these can send a 5.14
> - rope or no rope, when someone sends that grade it often > ends up in the news (well, climber news, of course).
Rarely does anyone make even climbing news climbing 5.14, as the limit now for sport climbing is 5.15c and bouldering is V16. There are routes rated 5.14 at the gym I frequent that get sent nightly. Granted I live in Boulder CO, lots of pro climbers do as well, and grades at gyms are often soft, but still...
The last time 5.14 was newsworthy was the first female ascent of a trad. route in Boulder Canyon
You guys in Boulder CO have all the mutant climbers. You should see our little Ontario climbing news outlets! I'm pretty sure there's only one guy in the entire province that even sets indoor 5.14 (despite having quite a few gyms, I believe at least 15). Anyways, it was a bit overboard and in terms of international climbing news, I very much agree with you.
> You guys in Boulder CO have all the mutant climbers
There's some truth to this. Just today, I was bouldering next to a dude that look somewhat familiar. Turns out it's Paul Robinson, just here traveling through town.
Took a few tries to nail a V12 set, didn't even look like he broke a sweat.
This is like metric vs imperial vs ... all over again. I had no clue what levles you guys are taling about until I looked it up and figured how they compare to the French system. Which then I subconciously converted to the color used for the routes at the local gym (well, it's not really a gym in the common sense, it's purely climbing oriented)
