Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 527 posts

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

#261

Post by _vlamacko »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #202
FrojoS wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 gi…

Like I've said elsewhere, I have no problem with people who want to climb this way, and they're free to do whatever makes them happy. My point is that introducing needless risk doesn't enhance the achievement to me. Unless I'm seriously missing something about the "sport" of climbing, the point is to climb. My chosen hobby of auto racing involves plenty of risk, but we don't leave our helmets at home to somehow make…

In my understanding it adds to the mental challenge aspect of rock climbing. Think of it as adding difficulty rather than introducing risk. Therefore it could be argued it does enhance the achievement.

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

#262

Post by [deleted] »

jeffdavis wrote: post #229
ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #89

The thing that I've most loved while following Alex's exploits over the past few year is how he talks about his mental preparation. He always seems very well prepared for whatever route that he is climbing. To me, the biggest evidence of that is the fact that he quit doing this exact climb a few weeks ago because he felt conditions weren't right. That's really hard to do with media, etc. on your tail, even IF your li…

How do you quit a free climb?

[deleted]

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

#263

Post by zzalpha »

hyperbovine wrote: post #169
24gttghh wrote: post #11

It's things like this that make me ask myself, "Why don't I climb rocks more?" Then I remember I have a fear of falling to my death. It's a vicious cycle.

Do not despair: he literally does not experience that feeling ( http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-wor... ). It's like being bummed that you can't spray a fountain of water out of your elephant trunk. There's fundamental physiological difference.

There's fundamental physiological difference.

It's not clear there is. Consider this part of the article:

Yet Honnold ended up scared, really scared, on Corrugation Corner. He clung to the big, friendly holds. “I overgripped the shit out of it,” he says. Obviously, though, he didn’t give up after that first experience. Instead, Honnold donned what he called “mental armor” and crossed the threshold of fear again and again. “For every hard pitch I’ve soloed I’ve probably soloed a hundred easy pitches,” he says.

One by one, acts that had seemed outrageous to him began to seem not so crazy: soloing moves in which he hangs only by his fingers, for example, with his feet swinging in the open air, or, as he did in June on a notorious route called The Complete Scream, climbing ropeless up a pitch that he had never ascended before. In 12 years of free solos, Honnold has broken holds, had his feet slip, gotten off-route into unknown terrain, been surprised by animals like birds and ants, or just suffered “that fraying at the edges, you know, where you’ve just been up in the void too long.” But because he managed to deal with these problems, he gradually dampened his anxieties about them.

So was he born this way, or through repeated exposure did he train himself to be this way?

Or, more likely, is it a bit of both?

The article certainly seems to suggest that we can all improve on our ability to manage fear... perhaps not to the degree Alex has, but enough so to allow us to tackle challenges that might otherwise seem insurmountable.

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

#264

Post by glitchdout »

jeffdavis wrote: post #229
ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #89

The thing that I've most loved while following Alex's exploits over the past few year is how he talks about his mental preparation. He always seems very well prepared for whatever route that he is climbing. To me, the biggest evidence of that is the fact that he quit doing this exact climb a few weeks ago because he felt conditions weren't right. That's really hard to do with media, etc. on your tail, even IF your li…

How do you quit a free climb?

Use a parachute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqEkFBNiP3c&t=2m02s

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

#265

Post by irrational »

raygelogic wrote: post #140

achievements in climbing can be kind of difficult for non-climbers to see the relevancy of, since the conventions of success seem a little arbitrary until you put some time into it. it was interesting to see the news cycle pick up tommy caldwell and kevin jorgeson's ascent of the dawn wall in yosemite in january 2015. it was certainly the biggest thing to happen in yosemite at the time, but no bigger in terms of its…

Looking at the pictures El Capitan seems really tall and flat/sheer. Are there other cliffs in the world that are even taller or more sheer? I'm just wondering since I've seen comments from people saying something to the affect that they can't imagine what could top this. There are thousands of mountains around the world. Surely El Capitan isn't the Mt Everest of climbing.

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

#266

Post by hluska »

petertodd wrote: post #254
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the rock. The sandstone along Sydney's eastern beaches can be fragile in places.

El Capitan is granite, and perhaps even more importantly, it's very heavily climbed so for the most part anything that can break will have already been broken off by someone else.

I don't agree with that. In fact, I wear a helmet whenever I am near a wall because I have seen way too many formerly solid looking rocks fall, even on granite.

Heck, a few years ago, a 2000 ton slab of rock fell off of Half Dome, which is a famous granite dome in Yosemite. I can't find the article now (of course), but I read a great article about how rock expands and contracts with the heat of the sun, water gets into cracks and plates will break off.

This article is okay, though it isn't the one that I'm thinking of. If I can the correct article, I'll edit this answer.

http://www.livescience.com/51490-yosemite-half-dome-rock-fal...

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

#267

Post by irrational »

derefr wrote: post #23
cderwin wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it should be taught -- that doesn't mean everyone ought to try ridiculously dangerous feats like Alex did. But the practices that allowed him to do so are worthwhile nonetheless.

Maybe we're operating under two different definitions of "taught" here. You're using "taught", I think, in the sense of giving someone an "impressive feats in the history of climbing" lecture. Which, sure, why not. The parent seems to be using "taught" in more the sense that a master teaches an apprentice: giving you the skills, yes, but also putting you in that same situation , or encouraging you to participate in s…

I'm a swimmer. I'd like someone to teach me how to have huge hands and feet like Michael Phelps so I can swim like him.

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

#268

Post by tomsthumb »

jeffdavis wrote: post #229
ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #89

The thing that I've most loved while following Alex's exploits over the past few year is how he talks about his mental preparation. He always seems very well prepared for whatever route that he is climbing. To me, the biggest evidence of that is the fact that he quit doing this exact climb a few weeks ago because he felt conditions weren't right. That's really hard to do with media, etc. on your tail, even IF your li…

How do you quit a free climb?

Pretty sure you're trying to ask "how do you quit a freesolo?" In which case the answer is usually "downclimb".

It's relatively easier to quit a vanilla free climb.

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

#269

Post by jojoo »

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #175
jonny_eh wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

there are actually a lot of people who can climb harder (on a rope) than alex honnold; he has done one 8c+; atm 350 people have done 9a or harder and a lot of people have done multiple 8c+ routes:

http://escalade9.wifeo.com/par-nationalite.php

i think what's so special about him are his mental abilities, not his physical.

Post reply on HN