Adventure｜25-year-old boy conquers South America's 1,000-meter peak by solo rock climbing

In January 2019, young rock climber Jim Reynolds was familiar with the terrain in Patagonia, Argentina. At this time, he still used traditional safety equipment to reach the summit. Three months later, he completed a solo free climbing here without using ropes and equipment.

In 2019, a rock climber completed a remarkable free solo climb in Patagonia, Argentina. He completed more than 1,500 meters of free climbing on Fitzroy Peak, which is more than 3,400 meters high, without any equipment or safety rope protection. He also climbed a round trip - climbing down the original route without any manual assistance. But it's more difficult than going up.

This warrior's name is Jim Reynolds, from California, USA. He is only 25 years old this year. When he's not fighting for his life on the rock wall, he looks like an ordinary American guy. He wears rectangular rimless glasses, plays the mandolin, and works for the Yosemite Search and Rescue Team in the summer. His previous most famous achievement was in 2017, when he climbed El Capitan in California with free climbing star Brad Gobright, completing the 914-meter route in 2 hours, 19 minutes and 44 seconds.

2019 was Jim’s first expedition on Fitzroy Peak. This jagged and steep mountain took him several months. "After three months here, I finally found my flow. I found the best way to express myself."

On March 21, Jim completed a solo round-trip free climb on a huge rock called Afanassieff on Fitzroy Peak. The rock is 1,524 meters high and the round trip took 15.5 hours. This is definitely a severe test of both body and soul. A small mistake or a slight slip can mean falling to death on the spot.

In the "Yosemite Decimal System" that specifically measures the difficulty of rock climbing routes, the route Jim conquered was rated 5.10c, which may not be the most difficult. But what really stood out about Jim’s success was not the technical difficulty, but other conditions: the mountain was covered with ice and snow, the route was long, the location was remote, and no rappelling was used throughout the entire process.

"I let out a primal scream in the dark night"

If you have watched the 2018 documentary "Free Solo", you may remember the scariest section on El Capitan: it is not a 90-degree vertical slope, but the rock wall is smooth, there is no place to start, and it is frightening. Jim's toughest climb on Fitzroy was similar: bare rock with no cracks to step on. As he climbed up, Jim marked the small protruding rocks with chalk, hoping that he would have a path to follow on his way down. This was easier said than done; the small rock outcrops were difficult to find, and the new terrain offered few clues. Not to mention Jim's insistence on using neither ropes nor equipment on the way back and forth - even though he had some with him, it was just for added safety in case he needed to save himself when one of Patagonia's notoriously fierce mountain winds hit. Jim had nothing else on him but his climbing shoes, a bag of chalk, and his rock-climbing skills.

In fact, the short rope Jim was carrying soon proved useless: he later discovered that he had forgotten his seat belt and tether device. In addition, he forgot to carry the local travel guide with him, so he could only rely on memory and instinct to find routes to go up. This brave and big-hearted guy didn’t even wear a helmet. As he approached the top of the mountain, ice cubes melted and fell from his head, forcing him to change to a new, more difficult route to reach the top. Fortunately, Jim succeeded in the end. He described the feeling of climbing to the top as incredible. Standing alone on the top of Fitzroy Peak, with mountains and glaciers rolling in front of him, he felt as if he was standing on the edge of the world. "It was a surreal experience...but I knew I couldn't stay too long. At that time It was 3:13 p.m. and it took me 6 hours and 38 minutes to get to the top. If I stayed at the top for too long, I would have to go down in the dark." After all, reaching the top only means completing the adventure. half of.

Going down the mountain takes longer than going up. Jim took the wrong road, and between taking a potentially dangerous shortcut and going back the other way, he chose the latter. When he finally reached the most difficult section of stone slabs, it was indeed dark. Jim turned on his headlamp and tried to find the chalk marks he had left when he came, but found that the rocks had been wetted and some of the marks had long disappeared.

"It was a moment of real fear and panic," Jim recalled. "I never felt like I was going to die, but I had this strong feeling that I really, really wanted to live. I had to get back alive. My days.”

Jim walked steadily, slowly, fighting against the darkness and fatigue. As he climbed down the cliff, he couldn't even see his feet and could only try to find a landing spot. At this point Jim almost gave in to the temptation to rappel, but he decided to stick with the free solo since he had already come so far.

"I had to try hard... When I climbed down, I even let out a primitive war cry into the night, just to encourage myself." Jim said, "I have never felt more uneasy than at this moment. I screamed loudly and concentrated on climbing as steadily as I could."

15.5 hours after setting off, Jim returned to the ground and completed the entire rock climbing solo without rappelling.

"I said out loud to myself: Well done, Jim, great job."

record success

"This is amazing," commented Rolo Garibotti, a world-class rock climbing star from Argentina. "Jim did something amazing that we can talk about for a long, long time."

Jim was not the first climber to climb Fitzroy; several others had successfully reached the summit before, using as little rope and equipment as possible. In 2002, a competitor named Dean Potter used no ropes or equipment at all during the ascent, but rappelled on the descent. Therefore, Garibaldi called Jim's feat "the first time anyone has ever climbed the Fitzroy Peak without a rock solo." He believes that rock climbers go to great lengths to reach the top with "free hands" and do everything possible to ensure that they do not use equipment and only use their hands and feet to reach the top. So why don't these rules also apply when going down the mountain?

In fact, as early as more than a hundred years ago, mountaineers almost turned "unaided without aids" into a strict standard that is almost an industry code of ethics. In 1911, the famous Austrian mountaineering expert Paul Preuss wrote: "Mountain climbing tools turn the mountain into some kind of mechanical toy."

But for Jim, choosing to climb up and down rocks without equipment is simply "the art of expressing oneself in nature." In 2019, he not only conquered the Afanassieff Rock on Fitzroy Peak, but also completed two free solo rock climbs on two other smaller peaks in the same mountain range. He also did not use rappelling, but did not return the same way when descending the mountain, but chose to climb with Different way up the mountain. “To me, free solo climbing is a way to combine the beauty of humanity with the beauty of nature to create a higher art,” Jim said. “In an era when many people have no goals, this is something worth pursuing. s things."

love is stronger than fear

Jim has worked for Yosemite Search and Rescue for four years and has conducted more than 70 rescue missions. He knows very well the consequences of falling off the cliff. "Rock climbers need to have enough respect for the mountains. The mountains are beautiful but also cruel. I have seen what happens when a person falls from more than 300 meters. These images of death are part of me."

Despite his love for the high-risk sport of rock climbing, Jim doesn't consider himself an adrenaline junkie seeking thrills. Garibaldi was impressed by his calm demeanor throughout: "He climbed without any stress at all...His key advantage was that he was very comfortable on this terrain, very happy and calm."

Garibalti, a former free climbing star, is actually worried about how promoting this dangerous game will affect the younger generation: "I was affected when I was young. But the important thing is that you have to understand that there are many other things besides risk-taking and heart-beating. way to create a meaningful life.”

And Jim seems to have found a healthy balance: “I live for a lot of things outside of climbing…I have friends and a wonderful family that I care about very much, and they’re part of the reason I want to live—I I want to live forever and live a beautiful and fulfilling life. But I also don’t want to give up my love for rock climbing because of fear. The fear of death is one of the biggest fears we are born with, but, love than Fear is more powerful.”