There are no words to describe how crazy this is

"There is a pretty strong mental dialogue and engagement with fear"

So says Steph Davis a free climber in a video I found on the web. The clip is at the end of this blog. Read on and bear this quote in mind. At the end of the blog watch the clip and reflect just how much of a monumental understatement her quote is

The May edition of National Geographic had this article of free climbing at Yosemite National Park. In particular they featured a climber called Dean Potter. The article focussed on a rock face known as El Capitan

The prominent leading face is a vertical rock face 891m (2,884 feet) high  called the Nose. First climbed in 1957 it took 47 days of patient assault. It includes an overhang called the Great Roof two thirds of the way up. In 1975 two climbers managed to climb the Nose in a single day. But they needed cimbing aids to get past the Great Roof. In 1994 a lady - Lynn Hill - free climbed the nose - including the Great Roof - without ropes or technical aids in 23 hours. According to the National Geographic, climbers rate this effort as one of the greatest climbs of the 20th century

In 2010 Dean Potter climbed the Nose free style in 2 hrs 36 minutes! Think about that. 16 years ealier it took the greatest climb 23 hours. Dean does it is less than a tenth of that. He actually runs up the rock. You dont believe me - then watch the clip

Dean Potter soloing the Nose

And now the clip that I referred to at the start of the blog. If you though Dean running up the Nose was bad enough, the climbs in this clip are even worse. There truly are no words to describe this. (Apologies for the advert at the start - I dont know how to get rid of it)
Touching the Void