
The Heart-Stopping Climbs of Alex Honnold - samclemens
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/magazine/the-heart-stopping-climbs-of-alex-honnold.html
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jasonkester
It's a shame that the only exposure that rock climbing gets in the mainstream
media is this sort of thing. "Crazy climbers risking their lives!" There's
actually a little bit more to the sport than that.

It's the reason that Americans tend to ask me "you don't do any of that _free
climbing_ , do you?" whenever I tell them I'm a climber. Yes, that's all I do.
But you're probably thinking of "free soloing", which is much less common, and
would take a lot of explaining to make you understand why it's really not as
dangerous as it looks. But anyway, that's not what climbers do for the most
part.

I guess for the New York Times, regular hard rock climbing and bouldering is
just not that exciting. Yes, this guy is hanging by two fingertips, 30 meters
off the ground and doing things with his body that most folk wouldn't consider
possible. But he's not about to die so this isn't really all that interesting.
Certainly not interesting enough to push a photo of a celebrity getting out of
a car off of page C6.

In Europe, most regular people I meet tend to know some basic things about
climbing and bouldering. In America, nobody seems to have ever heard of the
sport. It's all either Mt. Everest or Crazy Free Solo Guy.

~~~
legohead
I just got into climbing a month ago, I've been to the gym about 7 times now,
and am absolutely in love with it.

I think it's one of the perfect sports/activities for programmers, but like
you said, nobody talks or knows much about it!

Some guy at work kept asking me to go, he had a free guest pass. One day I
said why not, and went. I didn't know that there were _routes_ on the wall,
and game-like rules.

When you see pictures of rock walls, you assume the climbers are just grabbing
onto any hold and going up the wall -- which is really not that interesting.
What people don't know is you only have certain holds you are allowed to grab,
and have to figure out how to get to the top with strategy and skill.

I hate biking, running. Pilates/yoga is okay. Bodybuilding was okay. But
climbing, is awesome. You are basically playing a game, getting stronger,
getting in shape, and getting more skilled at something. I almost don't want
to tell people about it though, because I want to keep the gym membership
somewhat small ;)

~~~
snowwrestler
Well, on real rock often climbers do just grab or stand on whatever they can
to advance. But it's still interesting because there is usually not much
available. The complex route tagging in gyms is so they can simulate the
relative lack of "holds" on real rock, while packing a lot of routes into a
small space.

Keep with it but be careful--climbing is addictive. You might find yourself
quitting your job and living out of a van in Colorado to climb every day...

~~~
simplemath
>be careful... you might find yourself quitting your job and living out of a
van in Colorado to climb every day...

That sounds terrible, why would anyone do such a thing?

Brb, quitting job, buying van.

------
bgroins
I'd recommend watching "Alone on the Wall" posted here if you want some sweaty
palms: [https://youtu.be/YjMVlGx7g84](https://youtu.be/YjMVlGx7g84)

Alex's skill seems beyond human. I hope he's with us for a long, long time.

~~~
tomsthumb
His video on risk is quite good as well:
[https://vimeo.com/84716329](https://vimeo.com/84716329)

I really like his differentiation of risk and consequence.

------
cjcole
"Honnold does this without apparent fear, as if falling were not possible."

I've seen a few interviews with and about him. That seems to be a universal
sentiment.

I'm curious about his amygdalae.

It's clear that he does feel fear, but he has an extraordinary amount of
control over its expression.

"Sometimes, I have brief moments of anxiety" he says about being on a sheer
cliff face hundreds of feet up with no more than finger tips anchoring him.

~~~
moron4hire
The samurai Miyamoto Musashi was quoted as saying, "the way of the samurai is
resolute acceptance of death." When it comes to dangerous activities, you have
to accept that failure is a possibility, and you have to get into a headspace
of being at terms with that. No, you don't _want_ to die, but you also can't
let the issue enter your mind and distract you from the task at hand.

Almost all the times I've failed something, it's been because I was terrified
of failure and it ruined my ability to perform.

------
cromwellian
This whole thread is full of false equivalences. There's a difference between
playing Russian Roulette with a 6 chambered gun, and one with 20,000 chambers.

Yes, you can die falling out of bed. You can drown in a bucket. A meteor can
hit your house. You can get into a car accident. None of these are comparable
in risk to free soloing.

Skydiving as a sport has 3 million jumps per year and ~21 deaths. It's
extremely safe in comparison. (only about 1/5 of mountaineering injuries end
in death)

There are many ways to get extreme thrills in life or achieve a zen state and
not all of them have comparable risks of dying. And many of them have a non-
zero probability of injury instead of death due to safety factors from
equipment.

And then there are risks that bring societal benefit, for example, those who
serve in dangerous places around the world bringing humanitarian assistance,
or documenting human rights abuses. These are measured risks, and they are not
solely selfish. Astronauts and explorers take risks on their missions, but
they do so with the best equipment and preparation they can, and often for
reasons that go beyond sport.

Deliberating putting yourself into a situation by forging the usual safety
equipment is being reckless.

Often, the usual response to this kind of reasoning is that you could die at
anytime so why not "live life to its fullest" but that's kind of a hedonistic
copout. Subjectively you could define this to mean anything, like overdosing
on heroin and dying in bliss. I think if you're going to be reasonable and
empathic to your loved ones, your family, your community, you should have more
concerns than just getting off on your own extreme hobbies while raising the
cortisol levels of everyone who loves you. Taking the best available safety
precautions is the responsible thing to do.

~~~
wldlyinaccurate
I don't really understand what you're trying to convey. You cite many
scenarios where you could die going about your everyday life, but then
criticize free soloing as being significantly more risky and "reckless".

The major difference between getting into a car accident and taking a fall
while free soloing is that while free soloing, you are in control of nearly
all of the risk factors. Free soloing routes that are beyond your
capabilities, or climbing in bad weather -- that is reckless. Free soloing
routes which you have practiced many times with protection -- to me, that's
less reckless than cycling to work during rush hour.

~~~
codeshaman
The only problem is that soloing inspires others to do the same thing and not
all of them are going to be as good and some might die as a result.

True soloing should be done without filming it, I guess.

~~~
CPLX
That makes no sense.

I'm pretty sure that I would die during the first play from scrimmage if I
suited up and tried to stand in for a middle linebacker in the NFL. The burden
in this example, as in yours, is on the idiot who is so inspired, not the one
with exceptional athletic skills.

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kzrdude
Fantastic presentation, this is a good conversion of magazine-style articles
to the web.

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bmj
If this sort of thing interests you, I suggest you watch the following films
(assuming you can find them):

    
    
      * Hard Grit (http://www.slackjaw.co.uk/climbingfilms/hardgrit.html)
      * Committed, Volume II (http://www.hotaches.com/climbing-films/committed-vol-2/)
    

Committed is especially interesting, as it follows the Whittaker siblings as
teenagers, doing cutting edge, dangerous grit climbs in the Peak with the
parents holding the ropes. Good stuff.

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amagumori
i think people have a lot to learn from alex and shouldn't just dismiss him as
"inhuman". i think it's important as a human to commune with death. i grew up
with someone like alex. we hung out every day, and following him forced me to
constantly push my limits of fear. i grew immensely as a person thanks to him.

the most profound experiences of my life have been in moments where i could've
easily died. i wouldn't want to live if i couldn't do things that could kill
me.

------
WhitneyLand
Alex does not feel fear like most of us do. I suspect he's biologically
different and able to use his mental energy perfecting the technical aspect of
climbing.

This woman would have a great time with him:

[http://washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2015/0...](http://washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-
science/wp/2015/01/20/meet-the-woman-who-cant-feel-fear/)

~~~
legohead
The video mentions he spent years mastering his fear. It doesn't sound like he
has that biological defect.

~~~
WhitneyLand
I don't think it's the same either, just pointing out the biology can play a
role.

I simply don't believe that everyone could do what he does, even if they
applied the exact same time, technique and fortitude.

------
sunilkumarc
This is totally insane. I agree that we have to push our limits of fear. It is
very brave of him to do such things and all. But even if there is a slightest
mistake, it is guaranteed that he is going to die. I mean, why take such risks
? What do you want to achieve dying. At least, do these things with safety is
what my opinion is. Life is much more than showing people you can take such
risks!

~~~
brazzy
> But even if there is a slightest mistake, it is guaranteed that he is going
> to die. I mean, why take such risks ?

Interestingly, free soloing actually _eliminates_ quite a lot of potentially
deadly mistakes. Protected climbers die usually when they make stupid mistakes
in their protection routine, or when their protection fails in unlucky ways.
That can't happen to a free solo climber, since he has no protection to rely
on in the first place.

A (sane) free solo climber will only try to free solo a route which he has
finished multiple times protected and is absolutely certain his stamina and
skills are sufficient to complete, and which has no holds of dubious quality.

If you don't misjudge this, the deadly risks that remain are things you cannot
really prepare for, like rockfall, cramps, or holds that come loose due to
some invisible crack.

~~~
zentiggr
I think this is the part of the experience that I never really realized...

There's no such thing as just going out and soloing a brand new spot, is
there? THAT's the kind of risk I have always pictured when hearing about free
climbing... and that just doesn't happen?

Total perspective change. Thanks!

~~~
brazzy
I overstated a bit. Onsight (climbing term for doing a route the first time
and without getting information from others) free solo does happen (and
Honnold does it occasionally), but is a rare exception and done on routes that
are yet again more grades below the climber's skill level than for "normal"
free solo, and sometimes people take along protection to use in an emergency.

The essential principles remain the same: never do a move you're not
absolutely certain you can finish, and never climb to a point where your
stamina is insufficient to either finish or climb back to a safe resting
place. For an onsight route, the two combined mean that you must always be
able to climb back because you might encounter a situation where you have no
certain moves forward.

------
startupfounder
There is ACTUAL risk and then there is the PERCEIVED risk:

Perceived (P) ≠ Actual (A)

Both rock climbing and startups (like everything) have different P and A risk
factors and there will always be a gap between P and A.

I try to live a life where not only is P > A but P is as high as possible and
I work every day to make A as low as possible. I guess you can call this Risk
Arbitrage.

------
amaks
Interesting, the article seems to have inaccuracy: Alex has actually free-
soloed University Wall: [http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web14x/newswire-alex-
honnold-uni...](http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web14x/newswire-alex-honnold-
university-wall-squamish)

------
saiya-jin
"Caldwell, who is probably the world’s greatest free-climber"

2 names: Adam Ondra, Chris Sharma

1 level: 9b+ (or 5.15c for US)

~~~
brainflake
I think they probably mean trad climber. I guess sport climbing is technically
free climbing, but a lot of people mentally equate free with trad.

------
adam12
Joe Rogan interviewed Alex a couple years ago:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08)

------
aet
Dan Osman:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0yXMa708Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0yXMa708Y)

------
andyl
One of my favorite quotes - thank you Alex:

"There is no adrenaline rush. If I get a rush, it means that something has
gone horribly wrong. Because the whole thing should be pretty slow and
controlled. I mean, it’s mellow."

~~~
jeswin
Alex Honnold has been a big influence in how I'm building my business. He
discusses risk many times because he gets asked that question too many times.
The answers are relevant outside contexts in which life is hanging is a
balance.

\- Take a measured approach to risk. Building a startup is not a blind leap,
more about sound analysis and knowing the limits of what you can do.

\- Do what you love doing. Continuously train, excel.

\- A very rational approach to life. Many people who attempt such adventure
have somewhat irrational beliefs, believe in some force, spirituality etc. He
doesn't need them. Explanations are simpler in terms of what we know, and what
we don't know yet.

\- While this may not appeal to everyone, his living out of a van thing is as
inspiring as anything else he does. I guess one would see success and failure
differently if they experience life in that format.

~~~
joosters
Also:

\- One day, fall a huge distance and die.

~~~
picks_at_nits
I have no plans to follow him in that regard. My plan is:

\- One day, die.

------
thret
A modern romance story: “She was my first fan,” Honnold told me. “She’d seen
the film, and she posted, like, one line on my Facebook, and I was like, Oh,
my God! There’s a cute chick talking to me! I posted back a smiley face, and
then she did a winky face, and it was game on.”

So he's definitely human.

