Free Soloing The Great Wall
A random photo I found thats sums up the endless lichen and shrub-whacking. December 6, 2017. I woke up in darkness and was carful not to wake Danielle while getting ready to go. At this point in my climbing career I was still a scatter brained semi beginner who thought of himself as a pro. Though looking back, it was pretty obvious I wasn't. I was going to attempt one of the longest solos I could imagine. The Great Wall. The full traverse to the trapps. And I didn’t even have a proper backpack. I grew up in New Paltz and was curious about climbing, but didnt really get into it until college, when my good high school friend starting to full swing addicted, and brought me down with him. he would climb in the gunks and take me out once in a while. I wanted to jump in way over my head all the time. He’d yell at me for placing bad gear and I’d grin. Onetime he let me lead something actually hard- some 5.10a maybe-but when he got to the top on follow he was seething. “dude...