Climbs

Originally climbed as an easier variation of Salathé Wall, avoiding the hard crack pitches on the headwall, Freerider is now one of the most popular free routes on the main face of El Capitan.

Todd Skinner and Paul Piana considered bypassing some of the hardest climbing on the Salathe via parts of what was to become Freerider but opted to follow the original aid line as closely as they were able to. The line was conceived by Alex Huber whilst working on his free ascent of the Salathé Wall in 1995. He rope-soloed the 4 pitch variation to the headwall that year but waited three years before climbing the whole route with his brother Thomas.

There are two common variations that make up the crux of the route, The Boulder Problem at around 7c+ sport or 7B/+ boulder or The Teflon Corner at around 7c sport. The boulder problem is short, technical and crimpy while the teflon corner features extremely technical smearing. While the rest of the route is seldom easy the other notable hard pitches are The Monster Offwidth and The Enduro Corner.

Dan McManus on The Monster Offwidth:

Left side in! The first time I climbed this pitch I had been told that it was crucial to climb it with a specific side in the crack, but I couldn’t remember which side. I guessed right side, I was wrong, but I did miraculously manage to chicken-wing my way up by the skin of my teeth. In doing so I removed the skin on my tricep which oozed for the next few days and made further offwidths very painful. [1]

References

[1] https://danmcmanus.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-guide-to-freerider.html

[2] https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199901800

The prow at Black Rocks is one of the most impressive and uncompromising features on gritstone and for decades was regarded as a Last Great Problem. Attention in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s focused on the prow’s left arête, with climbing said to be around 8b.

Whilst top-roping Seb Grieve on the line, Quentin Fisher suggested trying to link to a line of better holds on the right arête. With a bit of beta refinement from Dave Jones, the line of Meshuga was unlocked and Seb made his ascent in 1997. It was perhaps the boldest route on gritstone at the time, comprising unpredictable 7c climbing, a long way above a terrible landing. The name comes from the Yiddish word for Insane. [1]

Despite its boldness, it has become one of the most repeated E9s.

The left arête remains unclimbed.

Not much gear until all the hard climbing is completed (though initial pocket may take a F1.5). Instead, protection would appear to take the form of several futon mattresses and a wandering clutch of Frenchmen lashed down to prevent them from running off. The landing is possibly the worst on gritstone although Neil Gresham miraculously only got concussion when he fell off the crux slap. One other thing to think about to savour the full atmosphere is that The Promontory is a historically popular suicide spot. [2]

References

[1] ‘Peak Rock’, Vertebrate Publishing, 2013.

[2] https://www.geocities.ws/readza1/climbing/gritlist/grit_e9.html

Ted Kingsnorth on hold deterioration:

Regarding holds changing, there are 2 key holds that have altered a bit since the FA in 95. Firstly the crux sidepull/ pod between the second and third bolt for your left hand has got smaller due to it crumbling. Apparently it used to be significantly bigger. Secondly the slopey pod for your right hand used to have more of a lip on it in the 90's and this broke off making this bit harder. Its the redpoint crux now - this broke agin majorly last summer but was repaired back to its former state as the piece that broke was retained and put back exactly how it used to be.

Thirdly, there were some holds between the 6th and 7th bolt that broke about 8 or 9 years ago [2015/16] but a repair was done to a key crimp so this section is about the same as what it used to be (the old holds can be seen in the Chris Savage video or the Malc pics).

I understand that this year [2024] the jug by the kneebar rest higher up has crumbled plus some other sika has decayed (not sure where) but I don't have any knowledge of this as haven't been up there to look. [1]

On balance it is not possible to know whether the route has gotten noticeably harder since the first ascent because no one has tried the route in it's previous state vs. it's current state to know if the difficulty has changed.

References

[1] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,33869.msg697741.html#msg697741

Named after Yosemite climbing pioneer John Salathé. 5.13c/8b if the headwall is climbed in a single pitch.

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/culture/climbing-style-el-capitan/

Details of the incremental freeing of the route:

[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20170213064201/http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/longhf.htm#salathe

First climbed by Mark Leach after one of the most legendary sieges on Yorkshire limestone.

Originally 8b+, the route has been upgraded in recent guides, despite no holds having broken since the FA and an easier sequence than the original nails method on the top crux being found.

Originally 8A, upgraded to 8A+ after holds were chipped off in June 2001.

Has also been done as a static stand start: Karma (départ statique).

First climbed to an intermediate lower off (La Rambla (L1) (8c+)) by Alex Huber in 1994, it was then extended to the current lower off by Ramón Julián Puigblanque in 2003 for which he suggested 9a+, while also suggesting Alex's original line was likely harder than the 8c+ that was originally suggested.

Notably Ramon did not use a jug that was slightly off-line to rest on. Using this jug is now considered routine and does not alter the grade.

References

[1] https://tenaya.net/en/story/?r=the-legacy-of-la-rambla&

References

[1] https://fanatic-climbing.com/il-etait-une-voie-once-upon-a-line-les-voillage-faurmes-la-jenaice-aka-le-voyage/