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
#2Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance.
and DEATH.
In all seriousness, Alex's mental and physical conditioning to achieve this goal should be lauded, examined, written about, and taught.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#3Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance. and DEATH. In all seriousness, Alex's mental and physical conditioning to achieve this goal should be lauded, examined, written about, and taught.
Lauded, examined, written about - I agree.
Taught - Not so sure. Alex Honnold is an extreme outlier. We mortals may marvel but Im not sure his feat can be replicated so easily. I may be wrong.
The guy is simply rad. I couldn't stop laughing at this:
A lighter moment came later, Honnold said, when he passed some climbers who had spent the night on a ledge. He did his best not to wake them.
"I woke up one guy and he sort of said, 'Oh, hey.' Then when I went by, I think he discreetly woke up his buddies because when I looked down they were all three standing there like 'What the f?'*
Imagine yourself and your buddies 3/4 up the mountain and you see a guy coming down solo. It must take a minute to process the thought that he must have climbed up. wtf did I just see? Oh shit!!
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#4As 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.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#5Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance. and DEATH. In all seriousness, Alex's mental and physical conditioning to achieve this goal should be lauded, examined, written about, and taught.
Lauded, examined, written about - I agree. Taught - Not so sure. Alex Honnold is an extreme outlier. We mortals may marvel but Im not sure his feat can be replicated so easily. I may be wrong. The guy is simply rad. I couldn't stop laughing at this: A lighter moment came later, Honnold said, when he passed some climbers who had spent the night on a ledge. He did his best not to wake them. "I woke up one guy and he so…
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.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#6There's a great documentary on the climbing culture of Yosemite and its evolution (including the equilibrium-punctuating arrival of Alex Honnold) available at least on Netflix: Valley Uprising.
Worth a watch.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#7Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance. and DEATH. In all seriousness, Alex's mental and physical conditioning to achieve this goal should be lauded, examined, written about, and taught.
Alex is famous because he does "free soloing" - which doesn't use any ropes or safety at all. More people do "free climbing" which uses ropes just in case of fall.
Anyone have any idea how often free climbers end up falling and needing their ropes? Could many good free climbers do what Honnold did, but just like the added bits of safety?
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#8If you are interested in this or the history of climbing in Yosemite and and El Capitan I highly recommend the documentary "Valley Uprising." Even if you aren't necessarily interested in climbing its a beautiful documentary. It's available on Netflix.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#9There's a great documentary on the climbing culture of Yosemite and its evolution (including the equilibrium-punctuating arrival of Alex Honnold) available at least on Netflix: Valley Uprising . Worth a watch.
"Climbing the Nose" is also pretty cool, but about a different route as far as I can tell.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#10As 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.
Of course it is, but that is also why it IS widely publicized. It is an incredible feat. I get the perspective of not wanting to encourage others to do X or Y, but everyone ultimately is responsible for their own safety with these types of things.