Jim Erickson:
The late, great British climber Derek Hersey is remembered for his buoyant personality and amazing free solos in the 1980s, perhaps the most famous of which was the Naked Edge, a five-pitch climb with three pitches of 5.11a/b, which he did at least twice. But, despite the Hersey lore and aura, he was not the first person to free-solo it—it was in fact Jim Collins in 1978. Collins was emotionally upset about some personal matters, so he went to Eldorado Canyon on the spur of the moment and, although wearing a harness and carrying a sling and one carabiner “just in case,” free-soloed the whole climb. Collins had done the route before, five times, but it was not well-rehearsed. On two of those five roped ascents, Collins had fallen off. [1]
References
[1] https://www.climbing.com/people/cleaning-up-climbing-history/