There is no reliable, exact count of how many free solo climbers have died worldwide, but climbing historians and accident reports suggest that the number is at least in the dozens, not just a handful , and it is certainly undercounted because many accidents are not formally recorded.

Why there is no exact number

Free soloing means climbing without a rope or protective gear, so any serious fall is usually fatal. However, several factors make precise statistics impossible:

  • There is no single global registry of climbing accidents.
  • Many climbers free solo informally, without competition or official oversight, so incidents in remote areas may never be reported publicly.
  • Accident databases (like those run by national clubs or magazines) usually record all climbing accidents, not a clean subset specifically labeled “free solo.”

So when people ask “how many free solo climbers have died?” , any specific number you see online is usually an estimate or based only on a partial dataset (for example, deaths in just one country or on famous cliffs).

What we do know (named cases and expert comments)

Writers and climbers who have tried to track this often list prominent free soloists who died in falls:

  • John Bachar died in 2009 while free soloing near Mammoth Lakes, California.
  • Derek Hersey died in 1993 while attempting to free solo a route on Sentinel Rock in Yosemite.
  • More recent accident reports show ongoing fatalities, such as a 22‑year‑old climber who died free soloing a multi‑pitch route in Southern California in 2022.
  • Tribute and accident pieces from 2023–2024 also include free‑solo falls among “climbers we lost,” such as the death of Martin Feistl in Austria after a free‑solo fall in 2024.

A climbing writer summarizing Alex Honnold’s comments on famous soloists listed multiple well‑known solo climbers and highlighted that at least some of the most famous ones died specifically while free soloing (e.g., Bachar and Hersey), while others died through other causes like BASE jumping, avalanches, or non‑climbing events.

These examples show that even at the elite level—among the best in the world—a non‑trivial fraction have eventually died in the mountains, and a subset of those deaths are directly from free‑solo falls.

Interpreting “how many have died”

Given the incomplete data, the most honest way to answer your question is:

  • The number of documented free solo deaths is at least in the dozens worldwide, looking across historical and modern accident reports, memorial pages, and news coverage.
  • The true number is almost certainly higher, because not all deaths are public or clearly categorized as free solo accidents.
  • What is clear from accident write‑ups and expert commentary is that when free solo climbers fall from any serious height, the fatality rate is effectively 100%.

A useful way to think about it is that free soloing turns any significant slip into a likely fatality, so the question is less “how many have died so far?” and more “how much risk are climbers accepting each time they climb without protection?”

Safety and well‑being note

If you are drawn to free soloing yourself, or this topic connects to feelings about risk, danger, or self‑harm, it is important to talk to someone you trust—friends, family, a climbing mentor, or a mental‑health professional. Climbing with ropes, partners, and good instruction can already be deeply intense and satisfying while keeping risk at a far more manageable level.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.