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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

#481

Post by justinator »

hluska wrote: post #476
samstave wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would have also been amazing if he free-claimed up with a chute on his back and as he reached the peak, based off it back to the bottom!

Had Dean Potter lived a little longer, I suspect that he would have tried that. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Potter https://www.outsideonline.com/1981591/dean-potter-killed-bas... Edit -- Added a second, better link.

Dean Potter did do that, off a route of the Eiger. He called it, "freeBASE"

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web08x/newswire-potter-eiger-fre...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMtxGCSsnaI

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

#482

Post by vermontdevil »

vanderZwan wrote: post #423
lflux wrote: post #29

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

I'd love to see a picture of the entire wall, with rectangles showing which tiny part of it we're looking at for each photo, just to get a better feeling for how high the climb is.

Just imagine that the base of El Capitan is about a mile wide.

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

#483

Post by bigato »

zzalpha wrote: post #479
bigato wrote: post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the personality test that this article about Alex mentions? The one that generated that bar graph. I'd like to take it myself.

Something like this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/sensatio...

Well thank you, but the test in that link doesn't work. Anyway, I searched for some high sensation seekers tests, but the graph in the article has far more detailed results than any test I could find. It measures several interesting personality traits.

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

#484

Post by donapieppo »

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…

Hansjörg Auer, alive at 33 Alexander Huber, alive at 48

Auer's free solo of Marmolada 'via Attraverso il Pesce' is something in the same league as Alex's Freeride.

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

#485

Post by donapieppo »

FrojoS wrote: post #159
lordnacho wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

For BASE jumping, many start with sky diving or jumping from relatively easy exits like bridges. Most free solo climbers climb with a rope for the majority of their climbs, although exceptions like Paul Preuss exist. They often rehearse free solo projects many times on rope before going free solo, although there a notable cases of 'onsight' free solos like Hansjörg Auer's 'Weg durch den Fisch'. In the case discussed…

Auer did not onsight 'Weg durch den Fisch'. He did the route some years before and rappelled down the day before to try the hardest moves.

http://www.planetmountain.com/it/notizie/arrampicata/hansjor...

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

#486

Post by TheMagicHorsey »

jraby3 wrote: post #396
TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #392

Why is this celebrated? The man could die. Is it for our amusement? You take someone, you give him sponsors, you make him think risking his life to make a living this way is his own choice? Between fame and money, and a life working as a clerk in some office ... what choice could there be. I imagine it's like the choice for slaves in ancient Rome between being a house slave or becoming a gladiator. Fame and riches ma…

You could die doing anything. It's his life to live and he shouldn't be restricted in how he wishes to live or die. And it's celebrated because it's a form of bravery not all of us have but many of us respect.

It's also brave to play Russian Roulette. Should that be celebrated?

You have to distinguish between brave acts which have a moral purpose. And brave acts which are just displays of bravado.

Bravery to save a person from a fire ... that is worthy of celebration.

Bravery to jump between two tall buildings to impress your bozo friends below ... impressive ... but any society that makes a point celebrating this in its culture might see some problematic developments in how its youth view risk.

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

#487

Post by burkaman »

vanderZwan wrote: post #423
lflux wrote: post #29

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

I'd love to see a picture of the entire wall, with rectangles showing which tiny part of it we're looking at for each photo, just to get a better feeling for how high the climb is.

Not exactly what you asked for, but this is pretty good: http://imgur.com/a/c74MY

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

#488

Post by ryanmarsh »

jjaredsimpson wrote: post #321
kbenson wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s all too easy for headlines about climbing to lean on clichés about the climbers themselves—that these people are daredevils, thrill seekers, adrenaline junkies. But to most climbers, nothing is quicker to trigger the gag reflex. Climbing is an intimate relationship with our world’s most dramatic landscapes, not a self-boasting fight against them. I don’t claim to understand the inner workings of Alex’s mind, but…

You have to embrace the ambiguity in natural languages. Life and death can be simply considered opposites. In this mode of thinking any risky behavior is trading in death at the peril of life. However you can also imagine a justification along these lines: There are certain things we humans can do which give us access to unique highly desirable mental states. Some of these are familiar things like falling in love or…

"War is the most dangerous fun you'll ever have"

– My old squad leader on NPR

Interviewer was aghast.

We're like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

An orgasm isn't called a little death (la petite mort) for nothing. I didnt know what it meant to live till I almost died. I'm definitely not a thrill seeker compared to free solo climbers. So call it what you will, I'm happier feeling life through the new senses I now have.

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

#489

Post by adjkant »

paulmd wrote: post #464
xernobyl wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I climb and I'm afraid of heights, when I'm not climbing. I can't get near a ledge without an harness without feeling slightly dizy.

I'm a pilot and I'm terrified of heights. I get vertigo even thinking about looking over the edge of a cliff. I would also really like to try skydiving one of these years. I think that a better way to express it for many people is we're not afraid of heights, we're afraid of falling and dying. Removing the falling aspect "cures" the phobia.

As a climber who is also scared of heights, I like to describe it as "a rational fear of heights". If I'm actually safe, I'm fine with it. It's the thought that a single slip, mental or physical = death. Even with a waist-high barrier, I'm still not going to look over the edge for fear of leaning too far. Give me a glass room hanging over the grand canyon that's stable and I'll be happy to go inside, lie face down on the floor, etc.

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

#490

Post by basseq »

Bartweiss wrote: post #472
samstave wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the rating of free solo El Capitan?

5.13a, as Honnold did it. There's a route without the dihedral that drops it down to 5.12d, but the rock isn't considered trustworthy anymore.

For anyone else who has no idea what these 5.x[a-d] numbers mean:

http://outdoorswithdave.com/climbing/climbing-ratings

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