Move over Alex, there’s a new climber in town.
An American rock climber from California has pulled off an incredibly creative and cutting-edge free solo in Patagonia, Argentina. Jim Reynolds climbed up a technical 5,000-foot rock climb on 11,171 foot Cerror Fitz Roy without any rope or gear. But maybe even more impressive is that he also climbed down the route without any artificial assistance, writes National Geographic.
The 25-year-old climber works on the Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) team in the summer, and is probably best known for briefly holding the coveted speed record on the Nose of El Capitan with Brad Gobright. He came out with a time of 2:19:44 on the 3,000-foot route in 2017. In 2018, Alex Honnold went sub two hours.
But what is most impressive about Reynolds’ free solo of Fitz Roy is the nature of the climbing. “Its length, the remoteness of its position, and this curious decision to eschew using a rope to rappel out of stylistic purity and heightened adventure,” writes Nat Geo.
“It is mind blowing that this came to pass,” says Rolo Garibotti, a world-class Argentinian climber and Patagonia expert, to Nat Geo. “Jim is making a big statement here. We’re going to be speaking about this for a long, long time. I have a hard time imagining how somebody is going to up the ante over this.”
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