i've been wondering about the term freepoint, does anyone know the exact meaning, is it freepoint if you for example fall during an acent and just keep climbing from were you fell to?
i would like quite an exact definition.
For freepoint: What about leading (redpoint) and taking a rest in the rope and/ or wall before finishing the whole route? I'm not sure whether freepoint = toprope is the correct definition.
A freepoint is a valid ascent, done without going through the trouble of leading the whole thing.
The term was put forward, I think, to encompass toprope ascents and yo-yo ascents; they both involve the same difference of difficulty in comparison to a correct lead.
According to this site, if more than 3 protections are pre-clipped (that includes the anchor, duh!), the ascent is a freepoint.
Hanging in a route before you complete it is not a valid ascent.
What if your crag is only 30 feet tall. If you clip the rope through 3 draws, you have probably clipped past one of the crux moves if not the crux move and through at least half of the route. Is there a height of crag stipulation according to this site's definition of Freepointing? Many routes in this area are 30 to 40 feet tall and only have 3 to 6 bolts on them with a difinative crux.
consiter the fly, It's only 2 bolts and your only climbing 10 feet really even though the route is 30 feet tall. Is it a valid assent if you clip both those bolts such as chris sharma did even though it's really a TR through the crux?
Well, Sharma preclipped the first bolt on his flash attempt and both when he send it but that seems to be common practice considering the others who send it aka Tony Lamiche and Dave Graham. Jason Kehl soloed it then...I think it`s a valid ascent...its just a boulder with a rope...do worry about ehtics but don`t worry too much...
The way I see the situation with preclipped carabiners it's mostly about common sense. If it's dangerous and I fear that I might fall before clipping the first qd I'd pre-clip it. If there is a REALLY BAD need to pre-clip the second qd for safety, I'd do that, too. I've never had to start with more than one pre-clipped though...
About the route length - there was this route that had just 4 qds. What if I had pre-clipped two of them? What kind of a red point would have it been?
My suggestion: ask yourself whether you really needed pre-clipped qds for safety only. If the honest answer is 'yes', then mark it a red point, otherwise - it's a freepoint and you're lying yourelf if you mark it otherwise.
You are right, you can climb as you want. Normally, your example is called "Hang-dog" with the "rules" actually did accept until the beginning of the 80-ies in Europe and in 1986 in USA. Check the news, "The Great Debate" which discussed this in USA.
Redpoint and freepoint