If free soloing (using only rock shoes, without the protection of a rope) is the purest form of climbing, then aid soloing is the slowest, most cumbersome kind one can imagine, mixing, as it does, terror and tedium.

WSJ: Training for the Big Wall | By Michael J. Ybarra

To make the weight, Mr Ellicock packed a sleeping bag, climbing rope, biology textbook, ankle weights and "random bits of clothing".

BBC: London Marathon: Ex-paratrooper beats backpack record

To make the weight, Mr Ellicock is packing a sleeping bag, climbing rope, biology textbook, ankle weights and "random bits of clothing".

BBC: London Marathon: Ex-paratrooper runs for record

At the top of each pitch, he pulled up the slack in the rope, fixed it to the anchor and started climbing again, while I used mechanical ascenders to get to the station and put him on belay as fast as I could.

WSJ: El Capitan's Nose in a Day | By Michael J. Ybarra