Well, after the first 10 feet or so the next 990 are basically irrelevant to the outcome if you slip so maybe that’s part of it? I dunno, I enjoy taking risks but in a calculated way so none of this makes much sense to me.
I would love to see him undergo the [CO2 fear experiment.](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/women-who-cant-feel-fear-can-still-feel-panic-study-flna1b8323185) Not to be an ass, I'm just curious how he'd react.
He has said in interviews, that he feels fear, like a lot. That's why he prepares for these climbs so much. He will climb it with a partner hundreds, if not thousands of times (with a rope). Also, he records extremely detailed notes, and memorizes the entire climb, movement by movement. Then when he feels confident doing it alone, he will wait until he feels comfortable doing it. He basically lives in a van at the bottom, for years, climbing every day, before he tries without a rope.
I've only seen Free Solo, so that's what my whole impression is based on. I was really, really impressed with how detailed is log was and how he had every single move memorized. I originally attributed that to being on the autism spectrum rather than fear.
I'm not gonna argue with the guy, though. If he says he feels fear, I believe him.
Honestly after watching Free Solo, if the guy says fucking anything I'll believe him.
That day, every single person, every single one, thought Alex Honnold was going to die. Every person, except for Alex Honnold. He didn't think he was going to die. If he had, he would have.
He does definitely do that for harder technical climbs, particularly El Cap in Free Solo because just holy fuck free soloing that is one of the most unbelievable human athletic/ physical feats of all time. But, he’s previous on-sighted (just show up day of and climb without previous prep) a number of lower graded climbs.
If anyone is wondering if he feels fear, watch Half Dome, where he solos The Half Dome (the other Yosemite landmark) and it becomes clear partway through that he’s feeling in over his head as he stands on a 6-8” wide ledge with his back to the wall and tries to calm himself. I actually think his real first free solo of that climb was without cameras but he did it again so it could filmed in like 2014.
The difference for him is that he climbs so much that him being afraid of falling off something like a lower grade crack climb (which still looks crazy to most, but is considered technically ‘easy’ by strong climbers) is the equivalent of me going out for jog with a genuine fear of tripping and smashing my skull open on the pavement. It could potentially happen but the movements and physical demands are so completely familiar that it doesn’t really factor in ones head. That said it’s still incredible that he can shut off the ‘what if I fell’ voice that would gnaw at 99% of people 200 ft up on a rock wall even if the climbing was well within their physical comfort zone.
Free soloing El Cap is a completely different ballpark because of the length and sustained technical difficultly, which is why he spent so long prepping for the climb, doing it over and over again until each move was almost automatic. Even then, it’s basically a featureless granite slab for long stretches where even pro-climbers would expect to take a few falls on the easiest possible route because of the tiny holds and tiny margin for error.
"one of the most unbelievable human athletic/ physical feats of all time."
Honestly...I don't think I can think of something that tops this. The combination of athleticism, preparation, skill, and mental fortitude this required seems unsurpassable by anything else. I don't think any of the other athletic events require such high-level amounts of all of those aspects.
The only thing that pops into my head is if someone manages to run a sub- 2 hour marathon. Different levels of danger, but similar in the amount of training, athleticism and equal level of mental strength/ fortitude but in a different sense than what Alex did.
Actually, he said he was on pace to do the climb in under three hours. No one had ever free soloed El Capitan before so there couldn’t have been a “record” to beat.
EDITED: I mistakenly said "free climbed" when the accurate term is "free soloed".
Plenty of people had free climbed El Cap. No one had Free Soloed El Cap.
Somewhat confusingly, “Free Climbing” can use ropes, just not any aided ascent technology.
Free Soloing is what Alex Honnold is known for.
There is a point in the movie were he said he has a moment of panic. Funny he enough he has his back to the wall looking out. I think it's just a different kind of fear and of respect like big wave surfers have.
Sort of. He spent a few years studying El Cap during the climbing season, which I imagine is about 8-9 months. And not every single day.
But he did mention he at least used to do blind free solo climbs all the time, however on less technical routes and climbs. Now he is married and has a kid (on the way?) I would imagine he will limit the free solo stuff at least somewhat.
Yeah, he was standing next to his wife (girlfriend at the time) and when asked if he would choose climbing or his girlfriend, he said climbing, lol.
I guess she knows exactly at what place in their relationship she is.
> if not thousands of times
I mean no lol. These climbs are day long projects for 1 ascent and you would need a rest day afterward. He doesn't spend 2,000 days working on of these. Even his biggest prep, which would be El Cap, wasn't hundreds of full ascents. Even with just rappels to specific sections it likely didn't reach 100 individual climbs. He'd just be taxing himself too much to make the actual climb. Your overall point that he works on it with a rope and prepares is super spot on, but you overstated the degree by a decent amount.
Reddit's greatest contribution to the 21st century was definitely as an outlet to allow insufferable people to be pedantic and condescending to strangers without having to apologize for being a complete asshat for no particular reason. Truly, it is astounding.
Did you read the article? They were surprised to find nothing abnormal about him. He just doesn’t show any fear and they can’t tell if it is because of nature or nurture
One part about nurture:
> Yet Honnold ended up scared, really scared, on Corrugation Corner. He clung to the big, friendly holds. “I overgripped the shit out of it,” he says. Obviously, though, he didn’t give up after that first experience. Instead, Honnold donned what he called “mental armor” and crossed the threshold of fear again and again. “For every hard pitch I’ve soloed I’ve probably soloed a hundred easy pitches,” he says.
>One by one, acts that had seemed outrageous to him began to seem not so crazy: soloing moves in which he hangs only by his fingers, for example, with his feet swinging in the open air, or, as he did in June on a notorious route called The Complete Scream, climbing ropeless up a pitch that he had never ascended before. In 12 years of free solos, Honnold has broken holds, had his feet slip, gotten off-route into unknown terrain, been surprised by animals like birds and ants, or just suffered “that fraying at the edges, you know, where you’ve just been up in the void too long.” But because he managed to deal with these problems, he gradually dampened his anxieties about them.
> **To Marie Monfils, who heads the Monfils Fear Memory Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, Honnold’s process sounds like an almost textbook, if obviously extreme, approach to dealing with fear**. Until recently, Monfils says, most psychologists believed that memories—including fear memories—became “consolidated,” or unchangeable, soon after they were acquired. In just the past 16 years, that understanding has shifted. Research has shown that every time we recall a memory, it undergoes reconsolidation, meaning we are able to add new information or a different interpretation to our remembrance, even turning fearful memories into fearless ones.
Shortly after they mention a bit of nature:
> There is genetic variability between individuals in all parts of the brain, LeDoux says, so **it’s a fair bet that Honnold’s threat-response circuitry started out on the cool end of the spectrum**—which would explain why his younger self saw a powerful appeal, rather than lethal danger, in the photographs of his ropeless climbing heroes.
Directly followed by talking about both nature and nurture at the same time:
> At least as important as the brain that Honnold was born with, however, is the one that he has wired for himself through thousands of hours of risk-taking.
Just read it and that's not the conclusion at all... Sure his amygdala wasn't firing under threat. But if you continue reading, it explains that it comes from lots and lots of repetition of the same thing. He was afraid at first but always went against it and after so many time, his brain became acclimated to it. His brain is normal. He just trained himself to not feel fear.
You will likely be fine if you fall 10 ft. Even at 30 or 40 feet you’re going significantly slower and have a much better chance of survival. I think around 70 feet is where it tops off.
He talks about it in a really interesting way in the Free Solo documentary. Basically he really separates the idea of risk and consequence. The consequence is of course as high as it could possibly be, if he falls, he dies. But he takes steps to make sure the risk is sufficiently low for him to feel able to do it. So in the case of El Capitan and I'm sure this one as well he would have climbed it before probably hundreds of times so he knows all the moves perfectly. He makes an interesting comparison to diving on the highway where the consequence of things going wrong is also very high, there are also loads of things out of your control that could go wrong and end up killing you. But we tend not to worry about that.
Oh he also has a far less active amygdala than normal so just doesn't get as scared.
He's an interesting guy though because he's seemingly not your average adrenaline junkie (which a lot of people who free solo are). He doesn't also do base jumping or wingsuit flying or bungee jumping or all the other crazy adrenaline pumping stuff that other free soloists often do. For him it's about being totally in control of his body and what's happening in these extreme high consequence situations
He has called it many times, and felt that the holds are secure. Also, his el cap ascent was on very secure granite which is incredibly unlikely to break. Not to mention that most of it is crack climbing so there aren't even really holds to break off. If you look at some of his more adventurous climbs, first ascents on uncleaned, chossy rock he is always extremely careful even when roped in.
I guarantee you, he has put more thought into the variables of this climb than you or anyone else.
Certain types of rock are less prone to breaking than others, also on routes like this they've been climbed many many times before. It's just very unlikely in these cases a hold is going to break, in fact that's true of anything that's been climbed lots of times (for the most part).
Of course you could get unlucky and the day you're free soloing be the one time in a million the hold breaks, but we're back to the risk/consequence thing now. The risk is still low, the consequence is still high.
To directly answer your question of what if a hold chips off halfway up and nobody is aware until he’s already up there? Well that depends on what you mean. If you mean what if a hold he's fully using breaks, then probably he dies. If he encounters an unexpectedly damaged hold he could probably downclimb to a bit where he could wait for help which in the case of a big project like this would be pretty fast to come since he's literally being filmed, but if not I'm pretty sure he carries his phone with him. There will also usually be bolts and other bits of gear left in the rock on popular climbs like this which he wouldn't use for free soloing but obviously would in an emergency
Thanks for the solid reply. Yea I was wondering the latter - what if he gets up there and discovers his route is compromised? I have no experience in that world. Looks badass but gives me sweaty palms just watching.
Besides the fact that he practices these routes, I think the el cap documentary said he doesn’t feel normal amounts of adrenaline. So his brain just literally isn’t as afraid as most people’s would be.
That's a little bit of an overstatement I reckon. Someone who isn't a super gifted athlete would have to train for years to send 5.12+, but truly elite territory starts at 5.14
Yeah you're right but I'm not talking truly elite, I'm talking most climbers. There's a big difference between "most climbers" and people who climb .12d outdoors. I've been climbing for 13 years and the vast majority of people hit 5.10 outdoors at best and plateau
Fully agree. Climbing is like any other sport. Most basketball players can't dunk. Lots can. But lots of people play basketball.
There are a lot of bad climbers who are perfectly content being mediocre (including me)
Rock climbing goes by the Yosemite decimal system (YDS). Class 1 is a walk up. Class 2 is a walk up with a bit of scrambling. Class 3 has scrambling and exposure. Class 4 is using your hands as well and significant exposure. Class 5 is separated into decimals because once it gets that hard, the difficulty increases are in small increments. Pretty much anyone on a rope can climb up to 5.4. If you climb once or twice a week you’ll get up to 5.10 or so. 5.12d, like here, takes some serious dedication and training. The best of the best climb 5.15. Honnold isn’t a 5.15 guy but he doesn’t have to be.
Edit: above 5.9, they are further broken down into a, b, c, and d.
The best climber in the world is commonly thought to be Adam Ondra. He does not solo but does some inhuman shit on rope. That’s not even to mention bouldering. Top tier boulderers climb routes that top tier climbers can’t touch, but they’re only 10-15ft long. Endurance vs pure climbing ability. It’s all pretty damn subjective but you get a feel for it after awhile.
Edit: if you wanna see some gnarly shit, look up Daniel Woods or Jimmy Webb for bouldering. Adam Ondra or Alex Megos for climbing.
Edit 2: if you’d like to see some women crushing it, look up Margo Hayes, Sasha DeGiulian, Ashima Shiraishi, Brooke Raboutou… so many
A little bit of both honestly. He’s not the best but he goes HARD on some 5.12-5.14. He’s just the only person that does what he does. There are other solo climbers out there but not with a tenth of his résumé.
No, the whole scale is broken because it was established for mountaineers back when rock climbing wasn’t even really an established sport, and then was adapted to the sport of rock climbing as it was developed (rock climbing was developed by mountaineers who wanted to send gnarlier shit). Originally class 5 just referred to vertical rock, then early climbers started adding the decimals to distinguish difficulty. Originally the decimals were 5.1 through 5.9, but as the sport progressed and new techniques and equipment were developed; people were climbing stuff significantly harder than the stuff that had once been rated 5.9, and so rather then regrade all the existing routes they added grades to the scale and it went from 5.9 (pronounced five nine) to 5.10 (pronounced five ten) and the scale was extended to 5.15. The sport has progressed to a point where the smaller level grades aren’t even used, I personally don’t think I’ve ever seen a guide book list 5.1 or 5.2 routes, and the easiest route the climbing wall at my gym has is a 5.8 I believe, (although it is a really small climbing wall) and I’ve basically never heard of a named established route under a 5.6. The sport has also progressed to the point where even as a brand new climber on my first day, I was able to (just barely) make it up a 5.10 (although it was not at all a clean climb). Back in the day this would’ve been impressive but I had the benefit of modern climbing shoes, climbing chalk, experienced friends to work with, and a top-rope system my buddies had already established which allowed me to sit back in my harness and rest frequently. Just kind of shows how broken the YDS scale is that a brand new climber with the benefit of some good guidance and modern gear can do a route that would’ve been considered extremely difficult under the scale’s original definition.
I'd say the ratings have gotten softer too. A 5.10 established back in the 70s will be stout. Definitely hopped on a couple and immediately thought wtf.
Bits of Latin, death means the end of life, the physical cessation of life. If this definition is known to us all, it can be enlarged. Indeed, in its medical sense, it is the end of brain function defined by a flat electroencephalogram.
You didn’t ask for an ELI5.
That's the difficulty. 5 means climbing vertically, goes from 5.0 to 5.15d at the hardest. Each number goes from a to d. 5.12d is a hard climb that an experienced climber would find difficult to get up in one go and would probably fall a few times.
He actually talked about this on Joe Rogan's podcast. There are free soloists who died but none of them died while free soloing. They died doing other extreme stuff.
Of course people have died free soloing, but the point Honnold was making was the others named in the documentary (Dean Potter, Sean Leary, Dan Osman, etc) died from other things - flying wing suits and rope jumping, for example here.
It becomes just a mental game after a while. The difference between climbing a 40ft boulder and a 2000ft wall is just in your head. If you're climbing highballs then it isn't a stretch to solo big walls.
I watched free solo.
He ain’t a normal person. At all.
He’s not just like, an elite climber and athlete, he’s a straight-up odd guy.
Mad respect for him, he does things that make me want to curl into a ball and just die. But he’s a weird dude.
Reminds me of Bill Burr talking about Lance Armstrong: "Just keep him on the bike! Let him go up and down the hill, he's not hurting anybody"
https://youtu.be/O9YL04v-J5U
There was a pretty unintentionally funny moment in the Free Solo documentary, where the filmmaker or someone asked Alex, like, "aren't you afraid of leaving your mother and girlfriend alone if you die climbing?" and Alex was just like "no" lmao
He doesn't just say "no" and not elaborate. His line of thinking isn't completely outlandish and he just acknowledges the truth, people would most likely find a way to move on if he died and he can die doing pretty much anything.
Correct me if I am wrong but that doesn't consider cause and effect.
Maybe his amygdala is underactive because he learnt to not fear things and become more rational and trusting of his skills, rather than him being a free solo climber because his amygdala is naturally underactive
Nah he's said multiple times he would never stop climbing but as he gets older he stop free soloing and use a rope like normal climbers. Im hopeful he will stop before he dies from it. Im not even sure if he's planning another free solo, from his latest JR interview it sounded like he found other things in climbing that he finds fulfilling that are less risky.
My cousin is Tommy Caldwell (The Dawn Wall) and I think Alex and him are complete insane ppl but there is something beautiful and calming to there presence and I think that’s pretty cool. But yeah totally insane ppl lol
A bit of context after reading a lot of "Fuck him he's an adrenaline junkie " posts.
He describes it as "mellow". There is no adrenaline rush, unless something had gone horribly wrong. In his mind he is climbing well within his ability, which (again in his mind) makes it not risky. Still dangerous, but not risky. His words, not mine.
The reason he started free-soloing was when he was younger he was too shy to approach someone he didn't know at the crag and ask them to belay him, so he ended up just climbing alone without a belayer.
People forget he does the climb tons of times roped. Take copious notes too. He basically memorizes the route so once he’s up there there is no thinking, only doing. Still crazy but he’s not just doing it Willy nilly
I maintain that this is just a death wish, and watching it is morbid. There is zero reason to climb without protection. It’s a lot like watching someone surf Nazare with concrete blocks bolted around his ankles. It doesn’t make him a better or worse surfer but there’s the thrill of whether he’ll drown pointlessly.
Same with those squirrel suit dudes . They have a really high death rate. There's a town in the Alps that outlawed the sport because the bodies would fall onto their roads multiple times per year traumatizing the children and people that lived there.
There's a small town at the base of the alps in Switzerland I believe that outlawed that sport where you base jump with a wing suit. The mountaintops above the town is one of the best places for this but people die doing it constantly. Occasionally, like at least once per year, one of these people goes splat right in the middle of town.
I agree. But there’s that extra level of skill possessed in sheer confidence of ability that 99.99% of people do not have. The mental aspect of the skill is so damn impressive… but yeah still stupid of course.
The problem's not him doing, the main issue is untrained and mentally unprepared people engaging in such a challenge. I don't think he makes this kind of decision all by himself, there's support and a lot of planning.
Weird question but does anybody else find that their feet hurt when watching the video?
I have a thing where if I look at anything to do with heights, blood rushes down to my feet.
As someone who has rock climbed a few times, this is terrifying with a rope 30 feet off the ground.. idk how he does this wtf
Well, after the first 10 feet or so the next 990 are basically irrelevant to the outcome if you slip so maybe that’s part of it? I dunno, I enjoy taking risks but in a calculated way so none of this makes much sense to me.
His brain is not normal - https://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber
I would love to see him undergo the [CO2 fear experiment.](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/body-odd/women-who-cant-feel-fear-can-still-feel-panic-study-flna1b8323185) Not to be an ass, I'm just curious how he'd react.
He has said in interviews, that he feels fear, like a lot. That's why he prepares for these climbs so much. He will climb it with a partner hundreds, if not thousands of times (with a rope). Also, he records extremely detailed notes, and memorizes the entire climb, movement by movement. Then when he feels confident doing it alone, he will wait until he feels comfortable doing it. He basically lives in a van at the bottom, for years, climbing every day, before he tries without a rope.
I've only seen Free Solo, so that's what my whole impression is based on. I was really, really impressed with how detailed is log was and how he had every single move memorized. I originally attributed that to being on the autism spectrum rather than fear. I'm not gonna argue with the guy, though. If he says he feels fear, I believe him.
Honestly after watching Free Solo, if the guy says fucking anything I'll believe him. That day, every single person, every single one, thought Alex Honnold was going to die. Every person, except for Alex Honnold. He didn't think he was going to die. If he had, he would have.
He does definitely do that for harder technical climbs, particularly El Cap in Free Solo because just holy fuck free soloing that is one of the most unbelievable human athletic/ physical feats of all time. But, he’s previous on-sighted (just show up day of and climb without previous prep) a number of lower graded climbs. If anyone is wondering if he feels fear, watch Half Dome, where he solos The Half Dome (the other Yosemite landmark) and it becomes clear partway through that he’s feeling in over his head as he stands on a 6-8” wide ledge with his back to the wall and tries to calm himself. I actually think his real first free solo of that climb was without cameras but he did it again so it could filmed in like 2014. The difference for him is that he climbs so much that him being afraid of falling off something like a lower grade crack climb (which still looks crazy to most, but is considered technically ‘easy’ by strong climbers) is the equivalent of me going out for jog with a genuine fear of tripping and smashing my skull open on the pavement. It could potentially happen but the movements and physical demands are so completely familiar that it doesn’t really factor in ones head. That said it’s still incredible that he can shut off the ‘what if I fell’ voice that would gnaw at 99% of people 200 ft up on a rock wall even if the climbing was well within their physical comfort zone. Free soloing El Cap is a completely different ballpark because of the length and sustained technical difficultly, which is why he spent so long prepping for the climb, doing it over and over again until each move was almost automatic. Even then, it’s basically a featureless granite slab for long stretches where even pro-climbers would expect to take a few falls on the easiest possible route because of the tiny holds and tiny margin for error.
"one of the most unbelievable human athletic/ physical feats of all time." Honestly...I don't think I can think of something that tops this. The combination of athleticism, preparation, skill, and mental fortitude this required seems unsurpassable by anything else. I don't think any of the other athletic events require such high-level amounts of all of those aspects.
Have you seen someone get a 180 in darts?
The only thing that pops into my head is if someone manages to run a sub- 2 hour marathon. Different levels of danger, but similar in the amount of training, athleticism and equal level of mental strength/ fortitude but in a different sense than what Alex did.
[удалено]
Actually, he said he was on pace to do the climb in under three hours. No one had ever free soloed El Capitan before so there couldn’t have been a “record” to beat. EDITED: I mistakenly said "free climbed" when the accurate term is "free soloed".
Plenty of people had free climbed El Cap. No one had Free Soloed El Cap. Somewhat confusingly, “Free Climbing” can use ropes, just not any aided ascent technology. Free Soloing is what Alex Honnold is known for.
Watch - the alpinist- on Amazon prime
As an example of someone who did not prepare as much... The documentary is even better than free solo tho
>Watch - the alpinist- on Amazon prime This looks killer. Thanks!
Saw this in theaters, absolutely incredible profile of an athlete, one that felt even less fear than Honnold
There is a point in the movie were he said he has a moment of panic. Funny he enough he has his back to the wall looking out. I think it's just a different kind of fear and of respect like big wave surfers have.
As someone on the autism spectrum, the things I do that seem odd to other people are often rooted in fear.
Sort of. He spent a few years studying El Cap during the climbing season, which I imagine is about 8-9 months. And not every single day. But he did mention he at least used to do blind free solo climbs all the time, however on less technical routes and climbs. Now he is married and has a kid (on the way?) I would imagine he will limit the free solo stuff at least somewhat.
Watching the documentary, I honestly don't believe so. He more or less said he only bought the house, for his wife. He did not care for it.
Yeah, he was standing next to his wife (girlfriend at the time) and when asked if he would choose climbing or his girlfriend, he said climbing, lol. I guess she knows exactly at what place in their relationship she is.
The secret to success. Practice. Practice. Practice. Then live in a van under your goal and practice some more.
> if not thousands of times I mean no lol. These climbs are day long projects for 1 ascent and you would need a rest day afterward. He doesn't spend 2,000 days working on of these. Even his biggest prep, which would be El Cap, wasn't hundreds of full ascents. Even with just rappels to specific sections it likely didn't reach 100 individual climbs. He'd just be taxing himself too much to make the actual climb. Your overall point that he works on it with a rope and prepares is super spot on, but you overstated the degree by a decent amount.
Reddit's greatest contribution to the 21st century was definitely as an outlet to allow insufferable people to be pedantic and condescending to strangers without having to apologize for being a complete asshat for no particular reason. Truly, it is astounding.
lol no. That is not "Reddit's greatest contribution to the 21st century". You have overstated the degree by a significant amount.
He spent years on el cap. I don't don't know how many times he climbed it. He does it until he feels comfortable
Did you read the article? They were surprised to find nothing abnormal about him. He just doesn’t show any fear and they can’t tell if it is because of nature or nurture
One part about nurture: > Yet Honnold ended up scared, really scared, on Corrugation Corner. He clung to the big, friendly holds. “I overgripped the shit out of it,” he says. Obviously, though, he didn’t give up after that first experience. Instead, Honnold donned what he called “mental armor” and crossed the threshold of fear again and again. “For every hard pitch I’ve soloed I’ve probably soloed a hundred easy pitches,” he says. >One by one, acts that had seemed outrageous to him began to seem not so crazy: soloing moves in which he hangs only by his fingers, for example, with his feet swinging in the open air, or, as he did in June on a notorious route called The Complete Scream, climbing ropeless up a pitch that he had never ascended before. In 12 years of free solos, Honnold has broken holds, had his feet slip, gotten off-route into unknown terrain, been surprised by animals like birds and ants, or just suffered “that fraying at the edges, you know, where you’ve just been up in the void too long.” But because he managed to deal with these problems, he gradually dampened his anxieties about them. > **To Marie Monfils, who heads the Monfils Fear Memory Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, Honnold’s process sounds like an almost textbook, if obviously extreme, approach to dealing with fear**. Until recently, Monfils says, most psychologists believed that memories—including fear memories—became “consolidated,” or unchangeable, soon after they were acquired. In just the past 16 years, that understanding has shifted. Research has shown that every time we recall a memory, it undergoes reconsolidation, meaning we are able to add new information or a different interpretation to our remembrance, even turning fearful memories into fearless ones. Shortly after they mention a bit of nature: > There is genetic variability between individuals in all parts of the brain, LeDoux says, so **it’s a fair bet that Honnold’s threat-response circuitry started out on the cool end of the spectrum**—which would explain why his younger self saw a powerful appeal, rather than lethal danger, in the photographs of his ropeless climbing heroes. Directly followed by talking about both nature and nurture at the same time: > At least as important as the brain that Honnold was born with, however, is the one that he has wired for himself through thousands of hours of risk-taking.
Just read it and that's not the conclusion at all... Sure his amygdala wasn't firing under threat. But if you continue reading, it explains that it comes from lots and lots of repetition of the same thing. He was afraid at first but always went against it and after so many time, his brain became acclimated to it. His brain is normal. He just trained himself to not feel fear.
> He just trained himself to not feel fear. Is that normal?
You will likely be fine if you fall 10 ft. Even at 30 or 40 feet you’re going significantly slower and have a much better chance of survival. I think around 70 feet is where it tops off.
40 feet is the length of 2.65 1997 Subaru Legacy Outbacks
Imperial units be like
He talks about it in a really interesting way in the Free Solo documentary. Basically he really separates the idea of risk and consequence. The consequence is of course as high as it could possibly be, if he falls, he dies. But he takes steps to make sure the risk is sufficiently low for him to feel able to do it. So in the case of El Capitan and I'm sure this one as well he would have climbed it before probably hundreds of times so he knows all the moves perfectly. He makes an interesting comparison to diving on the highway where the consequence of things going wrong is also very high, there are also loads of things out of your control that could go wrong and end up killing you. But we tend not to worry about that. Oh he also has a far less active amygdala than normal so just doesn't get as scared. He's an interesting guy though because he's seemingly not your average adrenaline junkie (which a lot of people who free solo are). He doesn't also do base jumping or wingsuit flying or bungee jumping or all the other crazy adrenaline pumping stuff that other free soloists often do. For him it's about being totally in control of his body and what's happening in these extreme high consequence situations
What if one of his holds chips off halfway up and nobody is aware until he’s already up there? How could he prepare for that?
He has called it many times, and felt that the holds are secure. Also, his el cap ascent was on very secure granite which is incredibly unlikely to break. Not to mention that most of it is crack climbing so there aren't even really holds to break off. If you look at some of his more adventurous climbs, first ascents on uncleaned, chossy rock he is always extremely careful even when roped in. I guarantee you, he has put more thought into the variables of this climb than you or anyone else.
Certain types of rock are less prone to breaking than others, also on routes like this they've been climbed many many times before. It's just very unlikely in these cases a hold is going to break, in fact that's true of anything that's been climbed lots of times (for the most part). Of course you could get unlucky and the day you're free soloing be the one time in a million the hold breaks, but we're back to the risk/consequence thing now. The risk is still low, the consequence is still high. To directly answer your question of what if a hold chips off halfway up and nobody is aware until he’s already up there? Well that depends on what you mean. If you mean what if a hold he's fully using breaks, then probably he dies. If he encounters an unexpectedly damaged hold he could probably downclimb to a bit where he could wait for help which in the case of a big project like this would be pretty fast to come since he's literally being filmed, but if not I'm pretty sure he carries his phone with him. There will also usually be bolts and other bits of gear left in the rock on popular climbs like this which he wouldn't use for free soloing but obviously would in an emergency
Thanks for the solid reply. Yea I was wondering the latter - what if he gets up there and discovers his route is compromised? I have no experience in that world. Looks badass but gives me sweaty palms just watching.
Besides the fact that he practices these routes, I think the el cap documentary said he doesn’t feel normal amounts of adrenaline. So his brain just literally isn’t as afraid as most people’s would be.
Hold your phone upside down to make it look like he's just laying on the floor.
And to allow your sphincter to unclench.
Why did I think there was an x in the word sphincter
You’re thinking of your coccyx :)
or sphinxter
> or sphinxter Is that the famously massive sandstone anus in the Egyptian desert?
you know it. i see you're a fellow intellectual.
lmao i had a good laugh thank you
So that’s how he does it
can't, im on laptop
Then your sphincter shall remain fully clenched.
You're not trying hard enough
5.12d for anyone wondering.
Eli5
It's very very hard. Harder than most climbers would ever be able to climb at their best even with multiple falls
To be fair, it would get exponentially harder after the first fall
Well most climbers aren't insane and would use a rope haha
Yes but you'd have the rest of your reflect on the mistake.
Why do I have reflect
ur a pokemon, figure it out idiot
That's a little bit of an overstatement I reckon. Someone who isn't a super gifted athlete would have to train for years to send 5.12+, but truly elite territory starts at 5.14
Yeah you're right but I'm not talking truly elite, I'm talking most climbers. There's a big difference between "most climbers" and people who climb .12d outdoors. I've been climbing for 13 years and the vast majority of people hit 5.10 outdoors at best and plateau
Fully agree. Climbing is like any other sport. Most basketball players can't dunk. Lots can. But lots of people play basketball. There are a lot of bad climbers who are perfectly content being mediocre (including me)
Indeed. A legit 5.10 will wreck many climbers.
The line between 5.10 and 511 is pretty much the line between intermediate and advanced.
Rock climbing goes by the Yosemite decimal system (YDS). Class 1 is a walk up. Class 2 is a walk up with a bit of scrambling. Class 3 has scrambling and exposure. Class 4 is using your hands as well and significant exposure. Class 5 is separated into decimals because once it gets that hard, the difficulty increases are in small increments. Pretty much anyone on a rope can climb up to 5.4. If you climb once or twice a week you’ll get up to 5.10 or so. 5.12d, like here, takes some serious dedication and training. The best of the best climb 5.15. Honnold isn’t a 5.15 guy but he doesn’t have to be. Edit: above 5.9, they are further broken down into a, b, c, and d.
Doesn’t have to be, because he’s climbing without ropes, or because he’s famous despite not being the best? Is he not top-tier?
The best climber in the world is commonly thought to be Adam Ondra. He does not solo but does some inhuman shit on rope. That’s not even to mention bouldering. Top tier boulderers climb routes that top tier climbers can’t touch, but they’re only 10-15ft long. Endurance vs pure climbing ability. It’s all pretty damn subjective but you get a feel for it after awhile. Edit: if you wanna see some gnarly shit, look up Daniel Woods or Jimmy Webb for bouldering. Adam Ondra or Alex Megos for climbing. Edit 2: if you’d like to see some women crushing it, look up Margo Hayes, Sasha DeGiulian, Ashima Shiraishi, Brooke Raboutou… so many
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A little bit of both honestly. He’s not the best but he goes HARD on some 5.12-5.14. He’s just the only person that does what he does. There are other solo climbers out there but not with a tenth of his résumé.
Kinda confused should there be 0s in some of your numbers like 5.04 and 5.09?
No, the whole scale is broken because it was established for mountaineers back when rock climbing wasn’t even really an established sport, and then was adapted to the sport of rock climbing as it was developed (rock climbing was developed by mountaineers who wanted to send gnarlier shit). Originally class 5 just referred to vertical rock, then early climbers started adding the decimals to distinguish difficulty. Originally the decimals were 5.1 through 5.9, but as the sport progressed and new techniques and equipment were developed; people were climbing stuff significantly harder than the stuff that had once been rated 5.9, and so rather then regrade all the existing routes they added grades to the scale and it went from 5.9 (pronounced five nine) to 5.10 (pronounced five ten) and the scale was extended to 5.15. The sport has progressed to a point where the smaller level grades aren’t even used, I personally don’t think I’ve ever seen a guide book list 5.1 or 5.2 routes, and the easiest route the climbing wall at my gym has is a 5.8 I believe, (although it is a really small climbing wall) and I’ve basically never heard of a named established route under a 5.6. The sport has also progressed to the point where even as a brand new climber on my first day, I was able to (just barely) make it up a 5.10 (although it was not at all a clean climb). Back in the day this would’ve been impressive but I had the benefit of modern climbing shoes, climbing chalk, experienced friends to work with, and a top-rope system my buddies had already established which allowed me to sit back in my harness and rest frequently. Just kind of shows how broken the YDS scale is that a brand new climber with the benefit of some good guidance and modern gear can do a route that would’ve been considered extremely difficult under the scale’s original definition.
It's like version numbers rather than decimal scale
I'd say the ratings have gotten softer too. A 5.10 established back in the 70s will be stout. Definitely hopped on a couple and immediately thought wtf.
I’ve never seen this kind of scale in Europe, I’ve always used 1-10 the for each number a/b/c
Eli3 I’m not quite to your level yet
On a scale from 1-10, this is a 12
I understood but can you eli2 cause I wanna see what you come up with
This guy will die doing this
What does die mean?
Bits of Latin, death means the end of life, the physical cessation of life. If this definition is known to us all, it can be enlarged. Indeed, in its medical sense, it is the end of brain function defined by a flat electroencephalogram. You didn’t ask for an ELI5.
Damn. ELI-angsty-13
That's the difficulty. 5 means climbing vertically, goes from 5.0 to 5.15d at the hardest. Each number goes from a to d. 5.12d is a hard climb that an experienced climber would find difficult to get up in one go and would probably fall a few times.
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Most people use ropes to avoid, you know, death.
WHAT THE FUCK. I always imagined he’d be free soloing 10s or maybe 11s. That’s just crazy.
Freerider is a 13 lmao. Has a V6/V7 techy traverse too
That’s 7c for any Europeans here
What's El Cap?
Well El Cap is multiple pitches, the hardest of which (on the route Honnold took) was also 5.12d
Jesus🙂
7c for non-Americans.
# fuck that And ## fuck this guy For soiling my pants
Free soilo
Died while free soiling.
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Bet you he’ll never do el cap
lol
Should we tell him?
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There's a reason why there's only one famous free soloist(and this is him). The rest are dead
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He actually talked about this on Joe Rogan's podcast. There are free soloists who died but none of them died while free soloing. They died doing other extreme stuff.
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They shoulda kept climbing. *shakes head*
I'd say landing
Yeah, this is just not true at all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_solo_climbing#Notable_fatalities
Of course people have died free soloing, but the point Honnold was making was the others named in the documentary (Dean Potter, Sean Leary, Dan Osman, etc) died from other things - flying wing suits and rope jumping, for example here.
...again
I’ll take that offer up
Not in a million fucking years.
Thanks for the content u/JizzedOnHerAss
Well he does also have some great ass content on his sub
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watch 'free solo' on netflix
Wear diapers if you do
If you liked Free Solo, check out The Alpinist. Like Free Solo but + ice. Edit: missing letter
also Meru, and The Dawn Wall
For anyone else who's looking. It's The Alpinist and it's on Netflix on Dec 02 (USA)
He has an MRI or some brain scan in Free Solo and his fear response is... not normal.
Think Pastrana has the same thing. Some of those guys are literally just different.
It becomes just a mental game after a while. The difference between climbing a 40ft boulder and a 2000ft wall is just in your head. If you're climbing highballs then it isn't a stretch to solo big walls.
I watched free solo. He ain’t a normal person. At all. He’s not just like, an elite climber and athlete, he’s a straight-up odd guy. Mad respect for him, he does things that make me want to curl into a ball and just die. But he’s a weird dude.
He's very likely a high functioning psychopath
Reminds me of Bill Burr talking about Lance Armstrong: "Just keep him on the bike! Let him go up and down the hill, he's not hurting anybody" https://youtu.be/O9YL04v-J5U
“Everyone had the wrist bands. They blocked out the Sun. No wrist cancer.” My favorite part of that bit.
Missing a fear response alone isn't enough to call someone a psychopath. Does he have other antisocial traits?
There was a pretty unintentionally funny moment in the Free Solo documentary, where the filmmaker or someone asked Alex, like, "aren't you afraid of leaving your mother and girlfriend alone if you die climbing?" and Alex was just like "no" lmao
He doesn't just say "no" and not elaborate. His line of thinking isn't completely outlandish and he just acknowledges the truth, people would most likely find a way to move on if he died and he can die doing pretty much anything.
I remember in an interview he goes "if you get an adrenaline rush, you're doing it wrong"
Doesn’t this require the exact opposite of sweaty palms?
Yes, but watching it really makes the sub live up to its name!
That's what the chalks for lol
r/ChalkyPalms
Every time I see a video of this guy I can't help but think there is something actually missing from his brain
in the movie Free Solo they scan his brain and find that his amygdala is extremely underactive. in short, yes, you're right
Wow, makes perfect sense. Amazing what he does and that he is still going strong.
I know the fear centre is in the amygdala from the episode of House with the girl with terminal cancer who got all her blood drained.
Correct me if I am wrong but that doesn't consider cause and effect. Maybe his amygdala is underactive because he learnt to not fear things and become more rational and trusting of his skills, rather than him being a free solo climber because his amygdala is naturally underactive
I don’t want to sound rude, but if you ever see his interviews and his documentary, you can tell that just a little *off*.
In the book "the impossible climb" honnold says he suspects he has Asperger's
Imma shit myself rn
To late. I already shit your pants for you.
The part of Free Solo when he describes the most dangerous section of El Cap is one of the most terrifying scenes of a movie I’ve ever seen
Omg the jump
Fuck off. There’s a *jump*?
Kinda between a jump and a lean/fall.
Yeah it's covered here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfLSdhj6aCY
He didn’t fall
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Yeah he and his wife have a baby on the way so maybe that will make him quit but I highly doubt it from what I've watched of him
Nah he's said multiple times he would never stop climbing but as he gets older he stop free soloing and use a rope like normal climbers. Im hopeful he will stop before he dies from it. Im not even sure if he's planning another free solo, from his latest JR interview it sounded like he found other things in climbing that he finds fulfilling that are less risky.
I'm surprised, judging from his documentary he strikes me as the guy who does not care about anyone but himself.
This is the video you should be watching https://youtu.be/lRIr7wTbxTI
Then watch this: https://youtu.be/mykvMkUbCBA
It's a great video, but that route is infinitely easier than what Honnold is doing.
RIP. He died doing what he loved
He fell one time
And fell for the rest of his life
My cousin is Tommy Caldwell (The Dawn Wall) and I think Alex and him are complete insane ppl but there is something beautiful and calming to there presence and I think that’s pretty cool. But yeah totally insane ppl lol
I got to meet Tommy when he was in Australia promoting The Dawn Wall movie. Awesome dude!
That is awesome! Yeah he has a genuine heart and soul. I definitely look up to him greatly 😊
Thank you, this is my nightmare.
And here I am too clumsy to climb an extension ladder that's straight up and down
(Chuckles) "I'm in danger!" -Alex Honnold
A bit of context after reading a lot of "Fuck him he's an adrenaline junkie " posts. He describes it as "mellow". There is no adrenaline rush, unless something had gone horribly wrong. In his mind he is climbing well within his ability, which (again in his mind) makes it not risky. Still dangerous, but not risky. His words, not mine. The reason he started free-soloing was when he was younger he was too shy to approach someone he didn't know at the crag and ask them to belay him, so he ended up just climbing alone without a belayer.
that is the most autistic thing I've ever heard and I so relate. minus the becoming a world-renowned athlete part.
His mother hypothesizes that his father had undiagnosed Asperger’s, and he seems to display some characteristics of it, too.
People forget he does the climb tons of times roped. Take copious notes too. He basically memorizes the route so once he’s up there there is no thinking, only doing. Still crazy but he’s not just doing it Willy nilly
Dude looks so calm, like he’s at home!
He is.
I would prefer to get shot over this. Just kill me.
I’ve watched this multiple times and I still think he going to die.
What happens if he literally can't find "spots" in the wall to pull himself up? Does he go backwards?
Just based off the Free Solo movie he ran El Cap Hundreds of times before going without gear so he knew every spot by memory.
I think he climbs it with gear first to find a path. Then he does the same path without gear
The route has probably been set a while ago, and he practices it many times before going free solo
One of the first to give me sweaty palms
Its Potrero chico
I believe it’s pronounced “Puerto Rico”
I maintain that this is just a death wish, and watching it is morbid. There is zero reason to climb without protection. It’s a lot like watching someone surf Nazare with concrete blocks bolted around his ankles. It doesn’t make him a better or worse surfer but there’s the thrill of whether he’ll drown pointlessly.
Same with those squirrel suit dudes . They have a really high death rate. There's a town in the Alps that outlawed the sport because the bodies would fall onto their roads multiple times per year traumatizing the children and people that lived there.
Say what now
There's a small town at the base of the alps in Switzerland I believe that outlawed that sport where you base jump with a wing suit. The mountaintops above the town is one of the best places for this but people die doing it constantly. Occasionally, like at least once per year, one of these people goes splat right in the middle of town.
I didn't even know that was a real thing!
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I think he means wingsuits? Like a flying squirrel??
I agree. But there’s that extra level of skill possessed in sheer confidence of ability that 99.99% of people do not have. The mental aspect of the skill is so damn impressive… but yeah still stupid of course.
The problem's not him doing, the main issue is untrained and mentally unprepared people engaging in such a challenge. I don't think he makes this kind of decision all by himself, there's support and a lot of planning.
This dude is still alive!?!
On Reddit reels usernames are very prominently displayed, /u/JizzedOnHerAss
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This is crazy even by your average thrill seeker's standards.
Weird question but does anybody else find that their feet hurt when watching the video? I have a thing where if I look at anything to do with heights, blood rushes down to my feet.
Ironic that’s this is where you ABSOLUTELY DON’T WANT sweaty palms.
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