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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

#171

Post by cgh »

dabernathy89 wrote: post #58
imsd wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

If Honnold can solo this route in 4 hours, why do the free climbers need to camp on it? Do they take longer? Or need more rest time between sections?

Honnold and Tommy Caldwell climbed it as a traditional roped team in around six hours while rehearsing for the solo. It comes down to the competence of the team and how well they know the route. I can promise you that Honnold knew every single foot placement off by heart by the time he hiked up to solo it.

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

#172

Post by justinator »

bdalgaard wrote: post #87
Fricken wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'll add Derek Hersey to that list. He's not as big of a name as those on this list, but there is a movie called Front Range Freaks which has a great segment about him and soloing. He died at 36.

Nukie brown, upside-down!

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

#173

Post by mtreis86 »

lordnacho wrote: post #139
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.

I have the same question for this as I do for batsuit flyers. How on earth do you practice it? You can practice bench pressing by pressing a small weight. You can practice boxing by sparring. You can't just climb up to a deadly height - which isn't even very much, as people regularly die from falling out windows - and work your way up from there. You can't just do a little batsuit jump, either. You have to be going f…

You can practice the climb with ropes and gear on. You can practice batsuit flying by jumping from an airplane and using a parachute.

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

#174

Post by avar »

maxxxxx wrote: post #111
avar wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> free solo climbing will kill you one day > [...] [Wikipedia] has a list of free solo > climbers. The Wikipedia article you're linking to does list a bunch of people who've died doing it, but also famous free solo climbers in their 60s and even 80s.

There are plenty of chain smokers and drunk drivers in their 80s. It's still not a good idea.

It's not a good idea and it's dangerous, but we wouldn't say with confidence that smoking or drunk driving "will kill you one day", which is the part of the GPs comment I'm replying to.

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

#175

Post by Florin_Andrei »

jonny_eh wrote: post #156
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read an article recently - someone actually scanned Honnold's brain and it turns out his amygdala does not respond in the usual way to inputs that in most people would elicit fear. In colloquial terms, he's "fearless". If true, that would explain a lot.

Honnold needs the following to do what he did: Absolute fearlessness, talent (most couldn't ever do what he did even with years of practice), and discipline (to train like crazy). People like Honnold are pretty rare.

I would also presume that from a physical perspective he must be above average in ways that matter for this sport.

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

#176

Post by semi-extrinsic »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #141
patejam wrote: post #130

By far the best article I've seen to supplement this: https://www.outsideonline.com/2190306/why-alex-honnolds-free... As a climber, there are very few people that I trust to have a more useful opinion on all this than Tommy Caldwell, a close friend and long time climbing partner of Honnold. It's so out there for most people that most jump to conclusions without proper knowledge of the subject. Caldwell is in an inter…

I've read an article recently - someone actually scanned Honnold's brain and it turns out his amygdala does not respond in the usual way to inputs that in most people would elicit fear. In colloquial terms, he's "fearless". If true, that would explain a lot.

Someone did the same with top downhill skier Aksel Lund Svindal last year, with the same conclusion. They also attached a pinhole camera inside his goggles to study eye movements, and found that he never blinks for the full 2 1/2 minutes of a race.

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

#177

Post by takk309 »

raygelogic wrote: post #164
tshadley wrote: post #150

Assuming Honnold has perfect ability, what are the risks of the route itself? I assume these routes are kept clean of loose rock, holds are inspected constantly and anything showing wear is communicated to the climber community.

hey, actually no one maintains the routes in an official capacity. there are groups of climbers who voluntarily will upgrade fixed protection, or individuals who do the same, but certainly no governing body. it's not like a hiking trail, for example. it's pretty wild west, but generally people work together. as far as the objective risks, they include loose rock, broken holds, wet rock, birds spooking you, base jumpe…

On the subject of maintaining a route like this, it is dangerous to remove loose rocks since there is a reasonable chance that there is someone below you. As a result, some loose rock is still present on these routes.

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

#178

Post by [deleted] »

lordnacho wrote: post #139
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.

I have the same question for this as I do for batsuit flyers. How on earth do you practice it? You can practice bench pressing by pressing a small weight. You can practice boxing by sparring. You can't just climb up to a deadly height - which isn't even very much, as people regularly die from falling out windows - and work your way up from there. You can't just do a little batsuit jump, either. You have to be going f…

[deleted]

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

#179

Post by nthcolumn »

lflux wrote: post #29

Some great pictures from the climb: http://elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-6317-special-edi...

Can you believe the first comment 'Now let's see it done with Total Commitment' dude? My god there are some asshats in this world.

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

#180

Post by FrojoS »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #129
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.

In the end it is his choice.

No, climbing without a rope is the purest form of the sport and has been around for longer than nylon ropes and harnesses.

I don't know much about F1 races but I guess say a fairer comparison would be doing time trials alone on the track versus actual races where you risk the collision with other drivers. The former is safer but the latter is more interesting, not just because it's more dangerous.

Maybe this video gives you a feeling for why free solo is romanticized and worshiped so much in the climbing community. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz5w7q5GHuc&t=3m25s

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