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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

#491

Post by bhandziuk »

hluska wrote: post #374
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…

I have a couple of things that might help you a bit: 1. Alex Honnold's brain is atypical. His amygdala simply does not respond to stimuli the way that it does in most people. To learn more, read this (excellent) article: http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-wor... 2. While I am (at best) a mediocre climber, the section you quoted rings true to me, particularly this section - "Climbing is an intima…

I heard Alex speak once and he said that if he's in the position of having an adrenaline rush while climbing something has gone wrong. He needs to be calm and calculating to make every move right.

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

#493

Post by usrusr »

maxxxxx wrote: post #118
takk309 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand your position but I disagree. Honnold is well aware of the risks and has prepared as necessary to accomplish this feat. The media needs to better report on that aspect.

There will be people trying to imitate this who don't know what they are getting into. In my view he could have shown the same level of accomplishment in a safer way and set an example.

The amount of skill development required to even try something like this cannot happen without picking up a deep safety habit along the way. And that habit requires so much preparation to be satisfied for each individual free solo climb that the fast and loose fame and thrill seekers would be turned off, taking to easier, quicker fixes like e.g. BASE jumping.

It gets interesting when you look at the population overlap: more free soloists seem to die BASE jumping than free soloing. That says little about the "per unit" risk, because people can do so many more BASE jumps per year than reasonably prepared free solos. Risk mitigation for BASE jumping tops out pretty fast, risk mitigation for free solo otoh is an iterative process. They probably declare preparation done when they think that having a very rare deadly accident during preparation becomes more likely than having a moderately rare deadly accident in the actual free solo. (Now an on sight free solo, that would be an entirely different story...)

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

#494

Post by jaggi1 »

adjkant wrote: post #489
paulmd wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

That is a rational fear. What you are describing is a normal fear. In my caseit would be more of a phobia where even when I am perfectly safe I would sweat, heartbeat would increase and I might get into a panic attack as suck.

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

#495

Post by petertodd »

idlewords wrote: post #457
petertodd wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're missing a very important distinction though: for a solo climber the main thing out of their control that's different from normal rock climbing is holds breaking unexpectedly. For that risk, having lots of people climbing the rock helps increase the chances that such unexpectedly weak holds will have been broken already by someone else; obviously loose rock isn't so much of an issue, for the simple reason that…

This is an exceptionally interesting comment. Thank you! It occurs to me that this phenomenon will also be a big risk factor in lunar exploration, if people ever go back up there.

Thanks!

Oh, is http://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda_weehawken_burrito_t... yours? That's basically my favorite blog post ever.

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

#496

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

Fricken wrote: post #420
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No it doesn't. There are other places and countries where you can BASE jump. They chose to do it where it was banned and selected times where they would evade authorities. This sort of entitled attitude doesn't help IMO. Breaking local laws just confirms that you can't trust these communities and you give everyone a bad name.

Do you honestly think anyone who BASE jumps gives a fuck what you think? Why even waste your time saying it? They're obviously not here to obey the rules. Like, really obviously.

I'm not really sure I understand the point of this comment.

Of course they don't have to listen to me. But people express their opinions all the time.

Of course they should follow local access rules, local ethics and etiquette.

Most outdoor communities I've seen try and keep good relationships with local authorities. We want to maintain areas as much as they do so we can keep using them.

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

#497

Post by hluska »

justinator wrote: post #481
hluska wrote: post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I know, but I was replying to a comment about El Capitan. As far as I know, Dean Potter didn't freebase from El Cap.

With that kind of exposure, I'm pretty sure that the Yosemite rangers would have an easy time catching an El Cap freebaser and confiscate all the jumper's gear.

Thanks for the YouTube link! I hadn't seen that before, but holy shit, do I ever miss sharing a planet with someone like Dean Potter.

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

#498

Post by CamperBob2 »

DoubleCribble wrote: post #259
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't call him gangly. He isn't even skinny in the sense most people assume (no muscle, stick figure). He seems to have a lot of lean muscle ( http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/06/05/ap_17155772401614... )

No? He looks gangly to me. gangly, adj., \ˈgaŋ-glē\ : long and thin [1] [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gangly

Watch the '60 Minutes' interview with him that somebody else linked to in the thread. His fingers are the size of household water pipes.

It would be rude to call him a mutant, but that's pretty much what he is, for better or worse.

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

#499

Post by sillysaurus3 »

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.

I wanted to know more about Potter's final jump and found this: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/sports/dean-potter-final-...

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

#500

Post by taneq »

algesten wrote: post #387
kbenson wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are certain things we humans can do which give us access to unique highly desirable mental states. Sure. If cheating death is the path to that state for some people, that's understandable , and not really something new. I'm not judging him, this isn't some roundabout way to say people shouldn't free-solo. I'm literally trying to figure out if there's something else to it I'm missing, because the way it's stat…

Taking risks is not the same as cheating death. Driving a motorcycle is not something you do to get an adrenaline high, yet from a strictly transportation perspective, it's a bigger risk than driving a car. I think it has to do with priorities. Death is not the worst that can happen to me, hence I don't chose the safest option in every decision, because even though a long life is desirable, it's not the most importan…

> Driving a motorcycle is not something you do to get an adrenaline high

As a rider who's done a fair bit of social riding over the years, I have only met one rider for whom the thrill of it is not a factor.

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