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Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

cnn.com

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Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#71

Post by qnpnpmqppnp »

komali2 wrote: post #41
SecretDreams wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did he do this climb with no safety equipment for Taiwan or for Alex? I'm with the OP - watching people so willfully put their lives in danger isn't my cup of tea. I'm just glad he didn't die.

You put your life in danger every time you get behind the wheel of a car. Statistically more danger than a free solo climber.

> Statistically more danger than a free solo climber.

While I don't have statistics on free solo death rate per climb compared to death per car trip, this is most likely very, very wrong. You should really stop throwing such strange wild claims..

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#72

Post by kqr »

potamic wrote: post #59
botacode wrote: post #4

We had the privilege to watch at first from the SE corner of the building and later as he climbed by the the observation deck on the 89th floor. Hair raising stuff I'll never forget.

I, on the other hand, had the privilege not to watch this. I don't know how one can without feeling sick to the stomach.

There are many answers depending on what you meant by this, but in terms of actual risk this is probably not much worse to him than e.g. riding a motorcycle, and certainly better than what it would have been to be crew on the space shuttle.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#73

Post by threethirtytwo »

Barrin92 wrote: post #55
tempestn wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not 25% per climb, but it's not near zero either, especially in aggregate. It only takes one mistake. A fairly high percentage of famous free soloists (I'd say over 25%) have died prematurely, either while free soloing, or during other extreme sports.

>A fairly high percentage of famous free soloists (I'd say over 25%) have died prematurely Yes but I'd also say Alex is a bit of a different beast. He's clearly not a thrill seeker who attempts climbs he isn't sure about. And as he has once said, there's a very real risk of dying when you get in your car, play football, are a boxer, and so on. People have a stark reaction to the visual of a guy being 200 meters above…

He is a thrill seeker. He does it for the thrill which he feels but in a muted way compared to us.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#75

Post by TheAceOfHearts »

I need to share a video [0] which helped contextualize Alex Honnold for me by contrasting him with another climber I've watched for years: Magnus Midtbo. In this video they're solo climbing a fairly simple and safe mountain, and Magnus is visibly stressed out while Alex calmly shouts encouragement all while recording.

When watching Alex Honnold in Free Solo, I understood there was a exceptional aspect to him, but it took me seeing him climb with other people to really grasp the magnitude.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyya23MPoAI

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#76

Post by pengaru »

kelnos wrote: post #49
komali2 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You put your life in danger every time you get behind the wheel of a car. Statistically more danger than a free solo climber.

False equivalence. It's by no means required to free climb a skyscraper. While you might say it's also not required to get behind the wheel of a car, the difficulty in getting places (like a job, for example) without doing so in many locations makes it more or less required.

Some people drive to their jobs, some people climb shit as their jobs... where's the problem?

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#77

Post by EnPissant »

burritosnob wrote: post #47
EnPissant wrote: post #37

[flagged]

People often confuse severe consequences (a fall = death) with high probability. Alex, like most climbers, reduce that probability to near zero through obsessive prep. The travel to/from Taiwan was statistically riskier than the climb. Selfish? Not even close.

> The travel to/from Taiwan was statistically riskier than the climb.

You just made this up.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#78

Post by dmazzoni »

andrew_lettuce wrote: post #63
bmitc wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was able to practice El Capitan over and over, though. Was he able to in Tapei?

I'd assume - unlike El Capitan - the pitches here are all pretty much identical, so by the time he got to the third or fourth floor he had it figured out

If you watch the climb you'll see that the skyscraper definitely wasn't quite so straightforward - there were some interesting challenges along the way.

Of course, no question El Cap was technically far more challenging.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#79

Post by emilbratt »

About to watch the film now. I know there are controversial aspects to this, but in my opinion this is something I myself need to allow happen. Alex know it himself, that there is a risk of ending it, but most people will not understand the feelings he get before, during and after a climb. So who am I to judge from my couch in my livingroom whether he should be allowed to pursue his lifestyle or not. He is not actively hurting anyone.

Re: Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net

#80

Post by pcthrowaway »

potamic wrote: post #59
botacode wrote: post #4

We had the privilege to watch at first from the SE corner of the building and later as he climbed by the the observation deck on the 89th floor. Hair raising stuff I'll never forget.

I, on the other hand, had the privilege not to watch this. I don't know how one can without feeling sick to the stomach.

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