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Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

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Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#41

Post by Fricken »

vkou wrote: post #4

As a climber, I wish this were less widely publicized. Free soloing is extremely dangerous, and dozens of climbers - including experienced ones die doing it every year.

Amongst the legendary free soloist rock climbers, here's the spread:

John Gill, alive at 80

Peter Croft, alive at 60

Alain Robert, alive at 54

Catherine Destiville, alive at 53

Steph Davis, alive at 43

Alex Honnold, alive at 31

Dan Osmond, died at 45, not free soloing

Dean Potter, died at 43, not free soloing

Michael Reardon, died at 43, not free soloing

John Bachar died free soloing at 52

It's a very small field, not many people make a discipline of it.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#42

Post by mikepurvis »

bogomipz wrote: post #8

If you are interested in this or the history of climbing in Yosemite and and El Capitan I highly recommend the documentary "Valley Uprising." Even if you aren't necessarily interested in climbing its a beautiful documentary. It's available on Netflix. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3784160/

I'll just second this as someone not previously interested in climbing who was really drawn into Valley Uprising. From a purely technical point of view, it does some fascinating stuff bringing decades-old photographs and video clips to life on the rock face.

You can get a taste of it from a number of clips that are in the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o86TpaSBcWw

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#43

Post by praneshp »

wink wrote: post #26
weaksauce wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a different route and significantly harder and will likely never be free soloed for a long time if ever. The crux is so insecure that it's suicide.

Thanks, I figured as much but in the articles on Honnold's ascent I didn't find any mention of a specific route.

Freerider. The other replier has the link for you. Mountain Project is a great website to use if you hear someone say they climbed up a route, and are curious about the route.

You might want to checkout related articles on r/climbing, it's a reasonable community.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#44

Post by Lordarminius »

KboPAacDA3 wrote: post #18
justinator wrote: post #2

Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance. and DEATH. In all seriousness, Alex's mental and physical conditioning to achieve this goal should be lauded, examined, written about, and taught.

I google him about once a year to see if he is still alive, and I'm surprised each time.

> I google him about once a year to see if he is still alive, and I'm surprised each time.

That's wickedly funny :) but alas I'm guilty of that too.

I think he should just stop now

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#45

Post by Zanta »

imsd wrote: post #30
tuna-piano wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any idea of how many people have free climbed this route? I'm really curious to know if Honnold is a one-of-a-kind climber or there are similar skill level climbers who just aren't willing to risk it without ropes? Either way he's amazing, but I'm curious to know how amazing.

As a fairly experienced climber, this is a very difficult route; one that only the most elite climbers can free climb. But, free climbing it isn't necessarily rare and even as Honnold did this free solo, other parties were camping on the wall. There's little data on this sort of topic, but I'd estimate that less than 0.25% of climbers achieve the level of physical skill and technical expertise required to free climb…

Agreed, the other replies to this question seem to understate the difficulty of the route. It's a lifetime achievement for almost any climber. I'd ballpark that it's been free climbed by 100-300 people?

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#46

Post by corpMaverick »

Fricken wrote: post #41
vkou wrote: post #4

As a climber, I wish this were less widely publicized. Free soloing is extremely dangerous, and dozens of climbers - including experienced ones die doing it every year.

Amongst the legendary free soloist rock climbers, here's the spread: John Gill, alive at 80 Peter Croft, alive at 60 Alain Robert, alive at 54 Catherine Destiville, alive at 53 Steph Davis, alive at 43 Alex Honnold, alive at 31 Dan Osmond, died at 45, not free soloing Dean Potter, died at 43, not free soloing Michael Reardon, died at 43, not free soloing John Bachar died free soloing at 52 It's a very small field, no…

TIL about John Gill. Mathematician and climber.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#48

Post by Lordarminius »

Fricken wrote: post #41
vkou wrote: post #4

As a climber, I wish this were less widely publicized. Free soloing is extremely dangerous, and dozens of climbers - including experienced ones die doing it every year.

Amongst the legendary free soloist rock climbers, here's the spread: John Gill, alive at 80 Peter Croft, alive at 60 Alain Robert, alive at 54 Catherine Destiville, alive at 53 Steph Davis, alive at 43 Alex Honnold, alive at 31 Dan Osmond, died at 45, not free soloing Dean Potter, died at 43, not free soloing Michael Reardon, died at 43, not free soloing John Bachar died free soloing at 52 It's a very small field, no…

It's a very small field, not many people make a discipline of it I wonder why ?

But serious question : of the four top people alive, any data on when they stopped climbing ? I would guess that would correlate with longevity.

I also recall reading somewhere that a disproportionate number of elite scientists and researchers in the 1930's - 60's were mountain climbers.

Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels

#50

Post by masterj »

tuna-piano wrote: post #7
justinator wrote: post #2

Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance. and DEATH. In all seriousness, Alex's mental and physical conditioning to achieve this goal should be lauded, examined, written about, and taught.

Alex is famous because he does "free soloing" - which doesn't use any ropes or safety at all. More people do "free climbing" which uses ropes just in case of fall. Anyone have any idea how often free climbers end up falling and needing their ropes? Could many good free climbers do what Honnold did, but just like the added bits of safety?

Successfully free climbing the freerider is a lifetime achievement even for professional climbers, often requiring up to a week on the wall. To do it in under 24 hours is the realm of the most elite climbers only.

To be able to approach it as "four hours of light exercise" as Honnold did is an incredible feat in its own right, even before the whole certain-death-for-one-mistake bit gets factored in.

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