Solo

Notes on Solo.

James Salter wrote about a rock climber named Rand Vernon who moves through Solo Faces the way Salter writes every sentence: from a slight, admiring distance, giving nothing away that isn't earned. Rand climbs alone by temperament rather than circumstance. No rope crew, no one to perform for, just a wall of granite that doesn't care whether he succeeds and a body that has to answer for itself in real time. Salter never explains why a man would choose that. He just shows the choosing, over and over, until it stops needing an explanation.