Elite rock climber Alex Honnold dreamed the same dream for eight years. In it, he was climbing a giant rock face—scaling the mighty El Capitan in Yosemite National Park without ropes or harnesses to catch him if he fell. But every time he looked at the real-life granite wall, his dream dissolved. The rock was too daunting.
But one day this summer, Honnold reached El Capitan’s summit using only his hands and feet. His record-breaking climb made him the first to climb the almost 3,000-foot granite wall alone and without safety equipment.
Honnold began practicing indoor rock climbing at age 11. “I could see how for a non-climber it might seem completely insane. But I’ve devoted 20 years to climbing and probably six or seven to this particular project, so it’s not like I’m just some crazy kid who in the spur of the moment decided to do this crazy thing,” he says.
Crazy. Honnold says it himself. The climber takes risks you should never take. But soon you may be able to experience climbing famous rock faces in the safety of a gym—thanks to new technology that simulates difficult climbs from around the world.
After spending time hiking in the Alps, Dartmouth College computer scientist Emily Whiting wanted to relive those ascents back home. So she and a group of colleagues decided to recreate the climbs indoors.
Using 3-D modeling and digital construction, Whiting’s team developed a system that copies the hardest stretches—the cracks and clefts and outcroppings—of a climb. That way, various moves and holds of a specific locale could be practiced on climbing walls.
The Dartmouth team addressed problems that vex many climbers: the challenge of mastering a route that’s far away or too fragile to practice on.
“You would still have the physical experience of climbing it without causing the erosion and damage to the location,” says Whiting.
The team does 3-D reconstruction using hundreds of photos from different angles. They combine that with video showing climbers’ movements. That data helps researchers identify key parts of the climb, allowing them to create fabricated holds and attach them to a climbing wall.
So far, the team has replicated climbs in New Hampshire and Utah.
Eventually, researchers envision a large database of outdoor climbs that are available to climbing gyms. They want to improve the texture of the holds so they feel more like the actual rocks. Whiting also hopes to add virtual reality or projected images of the climb to a wall.
Climbers who have tried the new system say their outdoor ascent matched their indoor practice.
“I was kind of blown away at just how precisely the body movements on the indoor climb recreated the outdoor movements,” says Billy Braasch, a climber in the study.
Braasch says this could serve as a good practice tool, but he admits it might not be for everyone.
“One aspect of climbing that I really love is traveling to a new place and exploring new terrain,” he says. “There is something special about being in a new place and testing yourself against a new climb.”
