Earlier quoted context omitted.
link worked for me. https://i.imgur.com/I7RKlW5.png
The test doesn't
You're right. I found the full test and scoring table at http://wsm.wsu.edu/s/we.php?id=200
Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
521–527 of 527 posts
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#522Just reminds me of Ueli Steck who climbed the Eiger within a few hours. Sadly he had a fatal accident in the Himalayas just recently.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#523Earlier quoted context omitted.
>You are still racing cars, you are still playing football with the safety gear on (although football players in Australia do not wear helmets, and F1 cars don't have roll cages nor even roofs). Perhaps your analogies are off also ;) Sure... I wasn't implying that taking part in dangerous sports is something only adrenaline junkies do; I meant to say that doing so _without taking simple safety precautions_ puts you i…
I am trying to explain that there are different classes of climbing philosophically, not just one activity with or without certain safety related items. "Motor racing without a helmet" = "stupid and pointless", we can probably agree on that. "Climbing Everest without oxygen" != "Climbing Everest as an adrenaline junkie as I have deliberately foregone a safety related item". "Free solo" != "Free climbing as an adrenal…
>"Free solo" != "Free climbing as an adrenaline junkie as I have deliberately foregone a safety related item".
That's the part I don't get though. That said, I'm not a climber and I'm trying to logic my way through it as an outsider with zero experience, so I fully admit I may be wrong.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#524Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alex only does dangerous free solos on rare occasions. He's certainly vastly more likely to die on one than the average person on the average day, but the fact that he only does it rarely is how he's still alive at all. Nobody really knows exactly what type of risk he's taking, but my rough guess is that he's probably on the order of ~10x an average mortality rate (which is 1.5% / yr among males his age). Whether tha…
Your average mortality rate is off by 10x. Mortality rate for a 31 year old in the United States is 104/100,000 or 0.104%/year. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/mortfinal2007_worktable23r...
Ah, so that would make my estimate ~100x. Thanks
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#525Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Yeah, Dean is missed. I don't believe he ever did it on El Cap. either - I sort of wished he did, as it would be an interesting argument/philosophical point FOR "basejumping" within the Park, as it would show an extra level of safety when climbing. His relationship with the rangers within the park must have been interesting, as they certainly knew what he was up to...
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#526Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it was filmed/shot by NatGeo, isn't that media on his tail in some sense? It's still pressure he would have to resist. Bailing on an attempt would inconvenience a support team.
It was shot on behalf of NatGeo, but I believe the small film crew was hand-selected from among people he already knew and trusted.
Jimmy Chin* was the primary contracted photographer (through NatGeo, I think). He has been involved in numerous amazing projects as both a photographer and an athlete: he (Mr Chin) was one of the 3 climbers in Meru, which is also an amazing mountaineering movie.
Re: Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, and the Climbing World Reels
#527Earlier 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…
In response...
1. I wonder if amygdala responses in meditators would be similar. The Nautilus article mentions the control of his prefrontal cortex as a possible way he mediates the amygdala's response, and meditation often shows modulation in PFC activity. As a meditator, I also have a strange lack of fear response—for example, it's almost impossible to startle me.
2,3 I have only climbed a few times, and I too felt an unspeakable relationship with the rock itself that I have rarely felt while doing anything. The closest I can relate it to is indeed a deep meditative state, but one that comes with motion. Totally understand these points.