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

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

#91

Post by komali2 »

qnpnpmqppnp wrote: post #71
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.

> 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..

Of all the thousands of times tens of thousands people climb, only 30 die per year. Of that 30, 30% are free solo deaths.

Free solo climbing is incredibly dangerous, but the people who do it (usually) prepare extensively and train their whole lives.

https://gitnux.org/rock-climbing-death-statistics/

This is in contradiction to the experience of driving, where any number of people on the road with you are untrained, undertrained, drunk, or suffering diseases that affect their ability to drive. Or just doing crimes like speeding or dangerous driving. So when climbing, your fate is entirely in your hands and that of nature's. When driving, it's in the hands of many strangers.

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

#93

Post by eric_khun »

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.

Do you know if there was any guidelines to not "disturb" during his climb? Was shocked by how many people tried to distract him during that climb

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

#94

Post by botacode »

eric_khun wrote: post #93
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.

Do you know if there was any guidelines to not "disturb" during his climb? Was shocked by how many people tried to distract him during that climb

They kept most folks pretty far away, you needed a pass or to work in one of the offices to get really close.

I was also terrified when ppl would engage with him directly lol

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

#95

Post by botacode »

keepamovin wrote: post #8
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.

Wow that's awesome! You saw him climb past your windows! Must be a Googler

Nope! Startup founder who happened to be visiting Taiwan at the right time.

The Googlers had way better views XD

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

#96

Post by remus »

mykowebhn wrote: post #54
iamcreasy wrote: post #15

In his El Capitan climb (Free Solo), Alex was worried about cameras or presence of friends watching interfering with the climb. As oppose to that, this climb must have felt very different!

I'm wondering if this is because El Capitan is a much more technically difficult climb and thus posing much more risk than Taipei 101.

Yes, Freerider (the route he climbed on El Capitan) is much harder than the climbing on Taipei 101. The style of climbing is also very important, some of the moves on Freerider are very insecure and hard to climb in a reliable way, whereas on Taipei the difficulty largely comes from doing the same moves over and over again which means your body gets tired in a specific ways.

The climbing on Taipei was way more chill for him than the climbing on Freerider.

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

#97

Post by kqr »

tempestn wrote: post #48
komali2 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's spoken about it extensively in interviews. Watch his El Capitan movie or recent interviews before this climb. He just finds it very peaceful and thrilling. "Just him and the climb" kind of language. Also I suppose clout has to be involved: only person to free solo El Capitan, as far as I know the only person to climb Taipei 101 let alone free solo (did the spiderman guy ever make it or was he arrested?)

I believe it's also documented that he has an underdeveloped amygdala, so he literally doesn't experience fear in the same way most people do.

...which is easily misconstrued as "feeling less fear" which I don't believe for a second. If that was the case he'd be dead by now.

But it's certainly time we admit everyone feels feelings diferently. Even something basal like pain experience is hugely individual with large variation.

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

#98

Post by kqr »

prein wrote: post #11

I know nothing about climbing. beyond the straight flex of "I could die if I make a mistake", is there a point to doing this without safety equipment?

Money! He has a family to provide for and his unique skillset is "climbing below his grade but with no support", so that's the service he offers the world.

(I get that there are more motivations underneath free soloing in general, but I doubt Taipei 101 with a million cameras is the climb he'd choose if it were not for the money.)

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

#99

Post by kqr »

thefz wrote: post #92

After watching the documentary about him I don't really like the person, but here's my take: will he be doing the same if there was no TV, nor social media?

He's been doing this since he was a child, much of it without TV and social media. But this specific tower? Doubt it.

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

#100

Post by tasuki »

eudamoniac wrote: post #88
emilbratt wrote: post #79

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 active…

He has a young child.

Many people do.

He mentioned he considers partying more dangerous than climbing. I can't tell how dangerous his stunts are, but he's still alive, so perhaps he knows what he's doing?

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