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By far the best article I've seen to supplement this: https://www.outsideonline.com/2190306/why-alex-honnolds-free-solo-scared-me https://www.outsideonline.com/

By far the best article I've seen to supplement this: https://www.outsideonline.com/2190306/why-alex-honnolds-free-solo-scared-me https://www.outsideonline.com/2190306/why-alex-honnolds-free... As a climber, there are very few people that I trust to have a more useful opinion on all this than Tommy Caldwell, a close friend and long time climbing partner of Honnold. It's so out there for most people that most jump to conclusions without proper knowledge of the subject. Caldwell is in an interesting position of having to balance supporting his friend, and trying to get over the fact that he very well could die doing these attempts. His article does a great job expressing this.

jonah 9y ago
One of the most striking quotes for me was: "Alex once told me that he had never fallen completely unexpectedly—meaning without at least some prior inclination that it could happen. When I told him that I had unexpectedly fallen at least ten times, he looked confused, like somehow that didn’t compute." It really illustrates what a professional Alex is and how in-tune he is with his skills and his craft.
- psyc 9y ago
  I take the same thing from that quote. I have a good friend who has become one of the top competition paraglider pilots in the world. A lot of paragliders see him as doing terrifying, reckless things. He's told me that he considers himself a conservative pilot, and that he doesn't take risks. I agree with his self-assessment. I've known him a long time, and saw him ascend through a long, well-ordered series of incremental challenges.
  - jonah 9y ago
    Luck only lasts so long. You don't last long at sports like this if you aren't cautious and well-trained, that's for sure. I'll offer a counter anecdote to yours: I was talking to a guy this weekend who had been a serious hang-glider for over a decade when he was younger. Every time a friend would have a problem, he analyzed it and saw that because of the way he operated he wouldn't make the same mistake and could therefore rationalize his continued participation in the sport. Eventually though, he had a problem, he made a mistake, it scared him, but it took fully two years of continuing to fly before he finally worked through it and decided that he could never eliminate enough risk and quit flying. EDIT: I may have mischaracterized his response and removed "error-free" language and clarified with "eliminate enough risk".
    - justinator 9y ago
      Climbers do this type of analysis too. Accident are reported,filed, and are published in a yearly volume. You can also search online: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/ http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/ It's a great supplement to experience,
      - eeZi 9y ago
        German equivalent, must read if you're a climber and know the language: http://www.bergundsteigen.at/ http://www.bergundsteigen.at/ Austria, Switzerland and Germany have a very long rock climbing history (unsurprisingly), and their respective climbing associations are obsessed about safety.
    - psyc 9y ago
      So, both of the replies to my comment seem like they assume there's a need for a strong assurance that "it won't happen to me." I know hundreds of para/hang pilots, and I think the majority of them don't think about it that way. We already made a fundamental decision to risk life and limb to fly. We engage in that kind of analysis continually, and collectively. Our conversations are like 80% post-mortem, all the time. Somebody gets hurt, the whole community analyses it in minute detail, the pilot writes it up, we watch video of the incidents. We check in with ourselves about whether we would make the mistake, whether we have the knowledge/skill/pre-flight routine to avoid it. Contrary to the other commenter, constant self- and peer- assessment is extremely useful. It's just that the goal isn't to assure ourselves that we won't get hurt. The goal is simply to improve our odds. That's all. Most of us know multiple pilots who died unexpectedly, sometimes very good pilots in benign conditions. I'd guess every one of us knows someone who broke their back. We're very conscious of the risks, people who think their skill puts them above it are in the minority. We only talk about odds, and increasing our time between incidents. Those few of us who have been unscathed know that we're due. It's worth it. I've seen a paraplegic come back and fly again. EDIT: Yes, "eliminate enough risk" sounds much more like para-talk to me. My instructor always harped on about high-percentage vs low-percentage decisions. He was downright gleeful about responding to ubiquitous "Is flying safe?" questions by popping catastrophe reels into the DVD player.
  - viraptor 9y ago
    I've never heard anyone describe themselves as a reckless or unsafe driver. I'm sure majority of people before accidents say they're conservative drivers. Maybe he's right, but... self-assessments of skills are rarely useful. Survival bias and all that.
    - skookumchuck 9y ago
      A combat fighter pilot once told me that 90% of pilots were fearful they were not good enough, and covered it up with bravado and drinking. The other 10% knew they were good enough.
      - zackbloom 9y ago
        *weren't good enough
- zdean 9y ago
  Having never tried rock climbing, I'm curious what the potential causes of catastrophic events would be on this kind of a climb (that would necessitate safety gear for most climbers in the first place)...pieces of rock that give out under a hand/foot, appendage slipping out of place, etc.?
  - rrauenza 9y ago
    A month or so ago I watched this 60 minutes of his Half Dome climb ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ I seem to recall him saying in it one of the big risks is suddenly being overcome with fear or vertigo from the height.
    - macawfish 9y ago
      My hands are sweating non-stop just watching this.
  - cbtacy 9y ago
    If you're a skilled climber, the most common reasons for falling are likely: fatigue, improper execution of a move, improper foot or hand placement, improper sequence of moves, random shit.
  - et-al 9y ago
    Like you said, it's not uncommon for people's feet to slip out from under them. A big part of climbing is the friction your shoes have against the rock, but move around, reach for something, and angle of your foot against the rock changes, along with the friction, and zoosh: your foot slides off. The rock can break off ("chossy" climbs, Pinnacles is notorious for this), but that's a less common occurrence than Hollywood would lead one to believe.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 9y ago
      Depends on the rock. The sandstone along Sydney's eastern beaches can be fragile in places.
- jjeaff 9y ago
  Alex may be the standout that never makes a mistake. But a notable free soloist dies while climbing about once a year. And I'm sure they all claim to know their limits and understand their abilities as well.
- msnower 9y ago
  This quote is telling. After listening to a lecture given by someone who is a master of their craft (even if I watch online), I can feel a sense of clarity whenever I'm doing the task they talk about. A master of his/her craft knows the craft so deeply that it's as easy as breathing. This is how climbing must be for Alex... though, sometimes everyone skips a breath. I guess his atypical Amygdala helps him get over that.
Florin_Andrei 9y ago
I've read an article recently - someone actually scanned Honnold's brain and it turns out his amygdala does not respond in the usual way to inputs that in most people would elicit fear. In colloquial terms, he's "fearless". If true, that would explain a lot.
- zzalpha 9y ago
  Link for those curious: http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-wor...
- jonny_eh 9y ago
  Honnold needs the following to do what he did: Absolute fearlessness, talent (most couldn't ever do what he did even with years of practice), and discipline (to train like crazy). People like Honnold are pretty rare.
  - Florin_Andrei 9y ago
    I would also presume that from a physical perspective he must be above average in ways that matter for this sport.
    - DoubleCribble 9y ago
      Indeed. Tall, skinny, gangly, and very big hands & fingers with incredible power. Imagine doing 10 sets of reps of pulls-ups but hanging on with only one finger at a time to get an idea. As if one-arm pull-ups weren't hard enough, pinky pull-ups are on a whole different level.
      - mistermann 9y ago
        Ten pull ups with one finger on only one arm?
        9y ago
paddy_m 9y ago
I thought Tim Ferriss's interview of Honnold was quite an interesting exploration of his thought process. http://tim.blog/2016/05/17/alex-honnold/ http://tim.blog/2016/05/17/alex-honnold/
- ForHackernews 9y ago
  Did he ask him if he uses BrainQuicken (tm) to achieve his success?
  - idlewords 9y ago
    Honnold is clearly a Four-Hour Climber. Story checks out.
kbenson 9y ago
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 know one thing for certain: Alex climbs to live, not to cheat death. Can someone help me understand this? How is doing something without safety equipment that you can do with with safety equipment climbing to live, but not about cheating death? What is the point of foregoing safety if not to somehow eke something out of the increased danger, whether it be adrenaline, or a period of increased focus, or fame? If it's not about someone being addicted to adrenaline or looking for fame, then I just don't understand it. At all. As in it's so foreign to me that I can't even begin to understand it.
- hourislate 9y ago
  I would like Alex to get tested for toxoplasmosis. It would explain a lot.
  - eicossa 9y ago
    Is the link between risky behaviour and a toxoplasmosis infection that well established ?
    - hourislate 9y ago
      Apparently so. I watch Joe Rogans interview with Robert Sapolsky which I might add was fascinating and he spoke about this at length and how people with toxo are more likely to take risks and or live dangerously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obmt_PkIfBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obmt_PkIfBE
      - Radim 9y ago
        For what it's worth, Joe Rogan interviewed Alex Honnold himself, a few years back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08 In a typical Rogan style, it's a pretty relaxed and "real" chat, about girls, shitting your pants, purpose etc. Gives a little more insight into how top athletes like Alex think and approach their craft.
rconti 9y ago
Posted below, but needs to be higher up. Photos from the valley, and notes from the photographer. http://elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-6317-special-edition-honnold-free-solo-elcap http://elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-6317-special-edi...

jonah 9y ago

One of the most striking quotes for me was: "Alex once told me that he had never fallen completely unexpectedly—meaning without at least some prior inclination that it could happen. When I told him that I had unexpectedly fallen at least ten times, he looked confused, like somehow that didn’t compute." It really illustrates what a professional Alex is and how in-tune he is with his skills and his craft.

psyc 9y ago
I take the same thing from that quote. I have a good friend who has become one of the top competition paraglider pilots in the world. A lot of paragliders see him as doing terrifying, reckless things. He's told me that he considers himself a conservative pilot, and that he doesn't take risks. I agree with his self-assessment. I've known him a long time, and saw him ascend through a long, well-ordered series of incremental challenges.
- jonah 9y ago
  Luck only lasts so long. You don't last long at sports like this if you aren't cautious and well-trained, that's for sure. I'll offer a counter anecdote to yours: I was talking to a guy this weekend who had been a serious hang-glider for over a decade when he was younger. Every time a friend would have a problem, he analyzed it and saw that because of the way he operated he wouldn't make the same mistake and could therefore rationalize his continued participation in the sport. Eventually though, he had a problem, he made a mistake, it scared him, but it took fully two years of continuing to fly before he finally worked through it and decided that he could never eliminate enough risk and quit flying. EDIT: I may have mischaracterized his response and removed "error-free" language and clarified with "eliminate enough risk".
  - justinator 9y ago
    Climbers do this type of analysis too. Accident are reported,filed, and are published in a yearly volume. You can also search online: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/ http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/ It's a great supplement to experience,
    - eeZi 9y ago
      German equivalent, must read if you're a climber and know the language: http://www.bergundsteigen.at/ http://www.bergundsteigen.at/ Austria, Switzerland and Germany have a very long rock climbing history (unsurprisingly), and their respective climbing associations are obsessed about safety.
  - psyc 9y ago
    So, both of the replies to my comment seem like they assume there's a need for a strong assurance that "it won't happen to me." I know hundreds of para/hang pilots, and I think the majority of them don't think about it that way. We already made a fundamental decision to risk life and limb to fly. We engage in that kind of analysis continually, and collectively. Our conversations are like 80% post-mortem, all the time. Somebody gets hurt, the whole community analyses it in minute detail, the pilot writes it up, we watch video of the incidents. We check in with ourselves about whether we would make the mistake, whether we have the knowledge/skill/pre-flight routine to avoid it. Contrary to the other commenter, constant self- and peer- assessment is extremely useful. It's just that the goal isn't to assure ourselves that we won't get hurt. The goal is simply to improve our odds. That's all. Most of us know multiple pilots who died unexpectedly, sometimes very good pilots in benign conditions. I'd guess every one of us knows someone who broke their back. We're very conscious of the risks, people who think their skill puts them above it are in the minority. We only talk about odds, and increasing our time between incidents. Those few of us who have been unscathed know that we're due. It's worth it. I've seen a paraplegic come back and fly again. EDIT: Yes, "eliminate enough risk" sounds much more like para-talk to me. My instructor always harped on about high-percentage vs low-percentage decisions. He was downright gleeful about responding to ubiquitous "Is flying safe?" questions by popping catastrophe reels into the DVD player.
- viraptor 9y ago
  I've never heard anyone describe themselves as a reckless or unsafe driver. I'm sure majority of people before accidents say they're conservative drivers. Maybe he's right, but... self-assessments of skills are rarely useful. Survival bias and all that.
  - skookumchuck 9y ago
    A combat fighter pilot once told me that 90% of pilots were fearful they were not good enough, and covered it up with bravado and drinking. The other 10% knew they were good enough.
    - zackbloom 9y ago
      *weren't good enough
zdean 9y ago
Having never tried rock climbing, I'm curious what the potential causes of catastrophic events would be on this kind of a climb (that would necessitate safety gear for most climbers in the first place)...pieces of rock that give out under a hand/foot, appendage slipping out of place, etc.?
- rrauenza 9y ago
  A month or so ago I watched this 60 minutes of his Half Dome climb ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ I seem to recall him saying in it one of the big risks is suddenly being overcome with fear or vertigo from the height.
  - macawfish 9y ago
    My hands are sweating non-stop just watching this.
- cbtacy 9y ago
  If you're a skilled climber, the most common reasons for falling are likely: fatigue, improper execution of a move, improper foot or hand placement, improper sequence of moves, random shit.
- et-al 9y ago
  Like you said, it's not uncommon for people's feet to slip out from under them. A big part of climbing is the friction your shoes have against the rock, but move around, reach for something, and angle of your foot against the rock changes, along with the friction, and zoosh: your foot slides off. The rock can break off ("chossy" climbs, Pinnacles is notorious for this), but that's a less common occurrence than Hollywood would lead one to believe.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 9y ago
    Depends on the rock. The sandstone along Sydney's eastern beaches can be fragile in places.
jjeaff 9y ago
Alex may be the standout that never makes a mistake. But a notable free soloist dies while climbing about once a year. And I'm sure they all claim to know their limits and understand their abilities as well.
msnower 9y ago
This quote is telling. After listening to a lecture given by someone who is a master of their craft (even if I watch online), I can feel a sense of clarity whenever I'm doing the task they talk about. A master of his/her craft knows the craft so deeply that it's as easy as breathing. This is how climbing must be for Alex... though, sometimes everyone skips a breath. I guess his atypical Amygdala helps him get over that.

Florin_Andrei 9y ago

I've read an article recently - someone actually scanned Honnold's brain and it turns out his amygdala does not respond in the usual way to inputs that in most people would elicit fear. In colloquial terms, he's "fearless". If true, that would explain a lot.

zzalpha 9y ago
Link for those curious: http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-wor...
jonny_eh 9y ago
Honnold needs the following to do what he did: Absolute fearlessness, talent (most couldn't ever do what he did even with years of practice), and discipline (to train like crazy). People like Honnold are pretty rare.
- Florin_Andrei 9y ago
  I would also presume that from a physical perspective he must be above average in ways that matter for this sport.
  - DoubleCribble 9y ago
    Indeed. Tall, skinny, gangly, and very big hands & fingers with incredible power. Imagine doing 10 sets of reps of pulls-ups but hanging on with only one finger at a time to get an idea. As if one-arm pull-ups weren't hard enough, pinky pull-ups are on a whole different level.
    - mistermann 9y ago
      Ten pull ups with one finger on only one arm?
      - 9y ago

paddy_m 9y ago

I thought Tim Ferriss's interview of Honnold was quite an interesting exploration of his thought process. http://tim.blog/2016/05/17/alex-honnold/ http://tim.blog/2016/05/17/alex-honnold/

ForHackernews 9y ago
Did he ask him if he uses BrainQuicken (tm) to achieve his success?
- idlewords 9y ago
  Honnold is clearly a Four-Hour Climber. Story checks out.

kbenson 9y ago

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 know one thing for certain: Alex climbs to live, not to cheat death. Can someone help me understand this? How is doing something without safety equipment that you can do with with safety equipment climbing to live, but not about cheating death? What is the point of foregoing safety if not to somehow eke something out of the increased danger, whether it be adrenaline, or a period of increased focus, or fame? If it's not about someone being addicted to adrenaline or looking for fame, then I just don't understand it. At all. As in it's so foreign to me that I can't even begin to understand it.

hourislate 9y ago
I would like Alex to get tested for toxoplasmosis. It would explain a lot.
- eicossa 9y ago
  Is the link between risky behaviour and a toxoplasmosis infection that well established ?
  - hourislate 9y ago
    Apparently so. I watch Joe Rogans interview with Robert Sapolsky which I might add was fascinating and he spoke about this at length and how people with toxo are more likely to take risks and or live dangerously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obmt_PkIfBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obmt_PkIfBE
    - Radim 9y ago
      For what it's worth, Joe Rogan interviewed Alex Honnold himself, a few years back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08 In a typical Rogan style, it's a pretty relaxed and "real" chat, about girls, shitting your pants, purpose etc. Gives a little more insight into how top athletes like Alex think and approach their craft.

rconti 9y ago

Posted below, but needs to be higher up. Photos from the valley, and notes from the photographer. http://elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-6317-special-edition-honnold-free-solo-elcap http://elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-6317-special-edi...