Scary Half Dome Route Gets Second Free Ascent
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Leo Houlding and Dean Potter have free-climbed the notoriousSouthern Belle(V 5.12d) on the South Face of Half Dome in Yosemite Valley. The 14-pitch route has four pitches of 5.12 and six pitches of 5.11, including some extreme runouts.Southern Bellewas established by Dave Schultz and Walt Shipley in 1987, and then free-climbed in 1988 by Schultz and Scott Cosgrove. During a 1994 attempt to repeat the climb, Hank Caylor broke his ankle in a 60-foot fall.
Houlding and Potter free-climbed the route in a day on their second ground-up attempt, making only the second free ascent in 18 years. “It was pretty dang serious,” Potter said in an email. “On a fair bit of the upper ground, if you fall you might as well be dead.” Referring to his British partner, Potter added, “I was glad to be with such a strong lad.”Sources: Dean Potter,http://www.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/longhf.htm,Yosemite Climbs: Free Climbs
