Sky hooks AKA free soloing with a faint whisper of “security”

@jesuismanu

4 ай бұрын

Well that just sounds like free soloing with extra steps

@NPC-fl3gq

4 ай бұрын

Active pro Passive pro Psych pro All are legit imo.

@SMathai

4 ай бұрын

@@NPC-fl3gq Alex Honnold calls all three of them feet and hands.

@Solonaima

4 ай бұрын

emotional support gear

@suomihauva

3 ай бұрын

”Don’t fall - but if you do, there’s a slight chance you might not die”

You should reach out to "how not to highline" to find out about how much your sky hook anchor would hold! I'm super curious to see how many kN that system would hold! :) nicely done

@isaacgutierrez5283

4 ай бұрын

He has checked before

@piti3811

4 ай бұрын

They got 2.73kn for one so id say maybe 6kn for all 3 combined maybe 7kn so it should catch you i think Most „langer“ falls create around 3-5kn of Force on the quickdraw. Still i would not whip 😅

@bscorax

4 ай бұрын

Actually Ryan tested this stuff 3 years ago. kzread.info/dash/bejne/dmuTtcGOeNfNdqQ.html

@HowNOT2

4 ай бұрын

kzread.info-jMWcLySSQc

@Cragdognamedbear

4 ай бұрын

It might be able to catch a fall, but the whip might produce some odd forces that aren't straight down that would pull them off the wall

"skyhooks" sounds like something u send the apprentice scaffolder to get

@Shrrrg

4 ай бұрын

It is literally one of the things I got told to get

@SpartaSpartan117

4 ай бұрын

Get the scaffold stretcher

@blow-by-blow-trumpet

4 ай бұрын

Now you can actually come back with one. Not so for long weights and tartan paint.

@CAMSLAYER13

4 ай бұрын

Its a classic

@Idiomatick

4 ай бұрын

Or an apprentice wizard.

In the industry we call this homeopathic protection

@Phoenixhunter157

4 ай бұрын

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🙌

@grumpygardner3059

4 ай бұрын

'Psychological pro' back in my day.

@Phoenixhunter157

4 ай бұрын

I call this an “emotional support cam”

@federicoventurini1133

4 ай бұрын

You win bro

"If they stay on there and they hold, they're good" I mean that kind of feels true for all gear. :P

@chimpwithagun

4 ай бұрын

And climbers themselves...

Mari placing the pair of shoes on top of that rock at 09:12 is marvellous spotting

Just a casual warm up on an E2 highball that says all I need to know about my climbing and yours 🤣!!

@dougthebuilder1

4 ай бұрын

It's a scary slab that too, easy to fluff it up just before the break.

@tommybinson

4 ай бұрын

Me too. I'm inspired by guys who climb many times harder than I do. At least we're not armchair-only types.

Production levels get better every video, that was bloody great. I'm pretty happy knowing that I will never climb a route hard enough to need those hooks, jeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus.

@acmesalute76

4 ай бұрын

There’s plenty of routes much harder than this with bolts

@tommybinson

4 ай бұрын

I guess those hooks are more like brakes - for slowing a fall. That's how I view poor gear.

3:50 Pete, there are two more issues with skyhooks for pro, which occur when you fall on it: 1. You fall on it, it's steel, so it's a tiny bit springy, it springs up... and out of its position. 2. It's also not rated to hold a fall, so if the fall has enough force, the skyhook can open up, i.e. go from bent to straight. A friend of mine has a few straight pieces of metal hanging from his rearview mirror that used to be skyhooks, before he fell on them.

@Jesus_friggin_christ

4 ай бұрын

atleast he survived the fall, jeez louise

@LoveAndClimbing

4 ай бұрын

@@Jesus_friggin_christ Yeah, if I'm remembering correctly, he stayed off the ground with a micro-nut on the first fall, but he's got metal in his heel and lower leg from the second fall. He doesn't climb stuff protected with skyhooks any more.

Seeing that you don't just have weight on them but something more akin to a tensioning ratchet that was hugging the wall all the way down made it look almost like reasonable protection. Still would never do this just for the heck of it 😅

Hey Wide Boyz! :) Today I was able to climb on some of your fine fibreglass cracks in Gaswerk Wädenswil, Switzerland. Damn was it hard (I'm a big noob at crack climbing)!!! You make it look so easy! It was a lot of fun, the route is always occupied and highly coveted by the climbers. I love your content! All the best, Andi

Its like russian roulette but with one empty chamber. The gear eliminates the certainty of death but leaves open the likelyhood of death upon a fall.

@jk-qe3jj

4 ай бұрын

On the other hand, having to place gear takes time and effort, so it increases the probability of a fall a bit. It is probably safer to free solo than to use extremely ineffective gear in some cases.

@ip2862

4 ай бұрын

@@jk-qe3jj Maybe - but is this one of those cases? Perhaps you'll report back when you've checked both options!

I caught my partner who fell on a skyhook while climbing Mescalito. It is now a cam hook. A poorly placed black totem caught him when the hook opened up. Of course, he was daisied into the hook, so it wasn't like the lead belay system absorbed any of the force

I don't know if it was in one of your past scary unprotected climbs or in an Adam video, but I remember seeing this kind of climb described as free solo with an emotional support rope and yeah, I'm glad you pulled it off

“Skyhook” because falling on them sends you to a world beyond the sky

Aside from the weighted rope idea, another development in skyhook tactics is, if the situation allows, to join your skyhook to a prior placement (or another skyhook below in opposition) via a bungee cord/tiedown strap in order to tether down the skyhook. Or, you know, just toprope it.

@MartinStein-mc7oe

4 ай бұрын

That reminds me of a rather simple climb in Elbsandsteingebirge, with an awkward friction greenish move too high up. There was a horizontal slot for a knot, which would easily be pulled out to the left in a fall. We almost gave up, when we had the idea to use the other end of the rope and connected the knot to a block at the bottom, pulling the knot to the right into the slot. Once that was in place, the protection felt good and we reached the summit 😅 Btw enjoyed the video

Thank you for this video. Another great moment seeing you climbing

The gear logistics on this route is super interesting! 👍🏼

I saw your talk in Leeds recently, was great to see you in person I loved the talk lot, thanks

Remember to always bring enough tape to secure the hooks!

Pete = beast mode great climbing it's weird its pretty relaxing watching you climb. Great video guys

Awesome. Thanks for posting. I don't think I've seen a posting on using them before. I like the weighting bit. I used skyhooks on a couple of slab routes here in the US after reading about them somewhere. One route is about 35m with a single bolt about halfway with no gear other than the skyhook above the bolt. I taped the hook in place, hoping it'd stay, hoping more so not to fall and need it. Always enjoy your postings and your crack technique book.

I held my breath for the entire climb. I will never put my life on this hook ^^ You are amazing bro.

Pete is a mad scientist! I love it

The spicy boyz! Great vid 😁

I would not trust those hooks to just stay in place 😅

@NPC-fl3gq

4 ай бұрын

Wrap 10 inches of duct tape around the shank and use it to keep it stuck in place when necessary

@josetanago

4 ай бұрын

@@NPC-fl3gqdid u have any experience falling into duct taped hooks? did any held the wipe? Or do you have any informal statistic, like of many hooks duct taped lets say 10%,... hold? My guess would be that if one tries to get that experiment, I would not bet in more than 5% holding, 95% ripping off. I always had the feeling that relying on hooks to catch your wippe is more like a psychological trick, not really based on evidence that they will held the wipe. Especially if the wipe has any side movement. Not to talk about the hook breaking the rock, rather than just pulling out (that would be my guess, as most likely to happens).

We just needed a final dummy test on the hooks out of curiosity! Great video as always

I got sweaty hands just from the hook explanation...

Spicy 🌶️ great send! but also good to see a belayer not short roping the leader before they’ve even placed their first piece of gear.

Good idea to tention those hooks downwards for the upcoming traverse onto the arete, not sure I'd trust them otherwise

Lovely highballs at start. The Peak District must be a great place to live near. I want to train on the nearest schist in the Highlands today. Inspiring video. 😊❤

Personally I love skyhooks, I have some holding a pull up bar at present. But they will be used in a project later this year, pulling in opposite, with a little sticky putty for good measure,Epic send ! , keep up the amazing work.

Nice to see the peak district again. Haven't been climbing up there for years.

Nice one Pete. Hope you had a nice pint to celebrate!

This is beautiful!

This is crazy. Pete you’re a beast and your fear management is so impressive but this route is bonkers 😅

The top-down angle works really well here. Great way to film vertical routes

love the tick mark at @13:25 that's completely out of sight and gets completely ignored hahaha

That was sweet! Have you considered checking out Connecticut climbing? Surprising number of routes first ascended with tied down hooks. It would be really cool to see modern climbers exploring that connection between British and Connecticut climbing.

They work but I’d rather not prove it again. I had two in opposition with bungee between them hugging two horizontal lips. Quite stable but worrying, especially when I fell as I was fiddling in a rock-3 some ten feet further up. My mate immediately lowered me level with a reliable bit of protection, told me to clip in and suggested we go down. Wise man, I went green once we’d reached the floor. Remember, climbing is not the meaning of life. Do climb hard but don’t put your mates in a position of having to explain to your mother why you didn’t come home.

Wicked! The hooks!!! 😂 👍

12+/13- on sky hooks? Well done Pete, you're a mad lad.

amazing stuff

i think u mad lad. Just 1 point on the route is a madness. Take care uself bro.

Man, UK climbing is something else 😂

There should be an episode of Pete and Alex soloing together for the day. I don’t know how much Pete free solos, but it would be an exciting episode.

I got sweaty palms watching this and feel like I need to chalk up as a spectator on KZread.

That's doesn't look so much safer than actually free soloing and that's only E9? Thank god for the sport climbing bolts.

@acmesalute76

4 ай бұрын

Someone should tell the Brits about bolts

@Finimabob

4 ай бұрын

Bear in mind E9 is a big grade, a lifetime achiement for most trad climbers

@tomyoung5563

4 ай бұрын

​@@acmesalute76the first 9a sport route in the world (debatably!) is in the UK, we know about bolts lol

@ip2862

4 ай бұрын

"That's doesn't look so much safer than actually free soloing and that's only E9?" "Only E9"? Go on, then - impress us. How many have you done?

I am *absolutely fine* with top rope, thanks

There are many reasons why I'm not a pro climber. This video exemplifies most of them!

what a mad lad

Skyhooks were a well known band in Australia in 70's-80's. They were a glam rock band. Which kinda fits really.

We did not have floor pads when I was climbing (Johny Dawes..... Dawes of perception era ...if you fell off you broke stuff that was attached to you...sky hooks I remember being terrifying and utterly appallingly useless "Mental lentils" in Vivian quarry is my claim to fame, basically a staircase and warm up to everything else on the level above it. gotto say you made that look easy.... good job

You gotta have a PhD in physics to protect this route!

Did you test your construction on a top rope pendulum fall? :) Awesome climbing btw 😸

NICE DUDE I JUST CLIMBED A E22 5A IT WAS NUTS

Sky hooks, adequately named because that's where they take you

I started climbing in the 70ies, when the skyhook turned up I quickly decided to NOT buy any, since I would not be climbing anything where that was required. I have heard about using a combination skyhook/duct tape setup, just to reduce the change of rope wiggles shaking it lose. My main issue with all this is the fact that skyhooks are made of high tensile strength steel, likely to act as a very strong spring: Any shook load on them will cause a bounce back up, and that could very well dislodge it.

"You could say that there's issues." "A lot could go wrong." :D I mean that's just the standard of what you like to hear when your life's on the line.

I had a woolly Svalbard neck thingy but sadly lost it. Still miss that thing… although in Svalbard itself it just froze into a block on ice around my neck. In the uk was ideal tho

ah, Done Years Ago, an absolute gift of a micro route at E3 6a, one of the rare occasions I burned off my far stronger pals!

At least the second climber on the sky hooks wouldn't have any issue "extracting" the gear; just a quick shake and the whole lot would come spinning off :)

Great video ya mad cnt 😂

At what point does the gear on the rock actually makes the climb more dangerous (because of fatigue) than a free solo?

You should test it in a collab with @HowNOT2

Beautiful rock, and lovely climbing, but I really don't get the appeal of the danger. Just get some bolts in the damn thing! Reduces the risk of damaging the rock as well.

Sky hooks are super useful on mountain rock and other rock types on with finger jugs. You still don't want to fall on one, but if you need to back off... Good effort Pete anyway. I knew The Zone used the arete of Peapod (Curbar 5.10 ;-) ), but did John Arran also bridge across the entire chimney, or was that in the heat of the moment?

How about climbing the arete straight all the way to the top? You would be essentially free soloing but seems like the most natural line. Maybe with a mountain of pads?

Flipping hell, I know you are a pro climber and things turn out alright but this is nerve-wracking to watch! 👀

love some spicy trad (watching that is)

These hooks are the sketchiest thing I ever saw, they are as sketchy as you are bold, crack power is on another level

God pete this is terrifying.

Hey i don‘t kniw if its ethical or not but i heard about an local climber who taped the skyhook on the wall with an pice of climbing tape…. So help held ih in place wile climbing… Nice video bzw

@NPC-fl3gq

4 ай бұрын

It's fairly common in big-walling.

We used to send young gullible workers to the hardware store telling them to buy some sky hooks, a box of medium brightness blue sparks etc etc. I couldn't place any faith in a product named a sky hook. Good job I now only watch climbing nowadays then

When were you on Svalbard!!?

Gravity held. Got it.

I'm surprised you didn't use a locking quickdraw on that nest, like at least some Edelrid sliders which can be clipped one handed.

Interesting, didn't know that trick of weighting the sky hooks to keep them singed. Perhaps also doable in comparable situations with other gear as well - when nothing quite fits and could come off, but would hold if weighted in place. By the way, this UK trad stuff feels scarier than Honnold style free solos on much safer routes. Alas, for the average layperson this thing here looks safer "because there's rope protection".

Getting the belayer to assist in placing the skyhooks (eg tying them down) is surely combined tactics?

I'm probably missing it, but how are you tensioning the skyhooks to the ground? Is the belayer doing it? I understand how the first one works, but how do you tension the subsequent ones? Unless there is a different anchor and rope for each hook?

Have you seen the newish “punky” skyhooks from fierro equipment? Even the tiny ones are rated for 7.5 Kn removing the risk of the hook bending open.

@WideBoyz

4 ай бұрын

Yes I have some. Unfortunately they do not fit properly on these placements

Lovely lead Pete. Warming up on my hardest lead too😂

Hey Pete might be a dumb question but at what point would it be better to just climb it as a highball with no harness or gear placements consider the weight and placements make it somewhat more difficult compared to just climbing it?

Thats suicidal 😮

I only ever used skyhooks for aid. Scares the crap out of me to think about them holding a leader fall or testing them anyway! So when thinking about using them to free climb a route……DONT!

I have a cuestion: why dont you use a disipation system? It would help the hooks to resist a fall

My palms are sweating

I could imagine, a piece of tape on the sling would be a good way to hild it in place

Free soloing with extra steps and weight.

Bit of fear is good for keeping you sharp, as a military friend once said. For the al gorithem really.

give us more trad content please!!!

Gonna be honest I love your guys stuff but my main takeaway from this was how quietly insane Dave McLeod is.

'climber go sky'-hooks

Using a skyhook to fall on sounds mental to me. I mean i always thought they were just for positioning, not that much of a climber, though in all fairness.

Does it come with Tartan paint and a glass hammer? 😉

Probably doesn't matter at the end of the day, but I think you should have tensioned the rope at the skyhook end instead of your belayer.

I think it'd be safer to just not worry about placing gear. Less weight, less time holding on with one hand while placing gear, less distraction while climbing since you're not constantly thinking about if the gear held and watching your movement so the rope doesn't pull them out.

Bridging out to the peapod ?!! Not sure about that !

Back in the old days, when I was m-u-c-h younger, hooks like that were only aimed at aid climbing, where one would stand on that stirrups attached to the hook. They were never thought of as protection.

@ip2862

4 ай бұрын

No idea how old you are - but I think that the idea of leaving the odd hook in place for protection during a section of hooking, possibly with a sling to reduce movement, has been around for decades. And back in the 1970s French climbers at Ste Victoire were pushing free-climbing grades into the F7s - 5.11d and up - using skyhook protection.

You brits need to find a bolt gun, this is crazy