All and Nothing
Inside Free Soloing
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
An insider’s perspective on free soloing
From the author of the critically acclaimed Hangdog Days
Examines what motivates people to climb without a rope
Once considered a fringe activity, climbing without a rope has entered the mainstream consciousness, largely because of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo featuring professional climber Alex Honnold. Yet climbers have been free soloing all along—motivated by reasons as varied as the climbers themselves.
All and Nothing delves into the cultural history of free soloing, ranging across the storied climbing cultures of the Alps, Rocky Mountains, Sierra Nevada, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, the Gunks, Eldorado Canyon, and several other locales. Writer and climber Jeff Smoot explores the interplay of climbing and risk, as well as psychological theories, evolving ethics, the effect of media coverage (particularly the portrayal of extreme sports), and shares original interviews with dozens of free soloists. Smoot also recounts his personal experiences climbing without a rope in the same era as talented climbers like Mark Twight and Peter Croft.
From inside his complex connection to free soloing, he examines our relationship with risk, how we perceive our sense of control, and our perspective on mortality.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Outdoor adventure writer and photographer Smoot (Hangdog Days) lauds the transcendent experience of free soloing—climbing often hazardous rock faces without ropes or equipment—but is unlikely to convince skeptics to give the sport a shot. Practitioners, he writes, "feel part of a great cosmic unity of man and stone, grooving on the authentic experience realized only in that moment between life and death when all ego disappears." He covers the history of societies and cultures where climbing without ropes was routine, such as the Bedouins of Jordan and the "bird snatchers" of the Scottish island of St. Kilda (though he fails to consider that these groups were driven to climb by necessity of terrain rather than recreation). Multiple anecdotes detail the fatal falls of free soloists, and the bereaved they leave behind. Smoot in fact ends the work with an account of an experience he had climbing in the central Cascades, reflecting that if he fell, his corpse would never be found and he would leave behind a widow and fatherless children. Despite a voice in his head telling him that he shouldn't proceed to the summit, Smoot persisted, because clinging to a ledge by his fingers was where he "was meant to be, for better or for worse." This one's for the already converted.
