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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?
  - DoubleCribble 9y ago
    I can't find the video I want right now, but this has some nice visuals. Check out this climber planking around 0:39. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igYhX5xyprw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igYhX5xyprw
    - jojoo 9y ago
      maybe it was a video from magnus mitboe? https://youtu.be/BEc5uVsM6bE?t=1m33s https://youtu.be/BEc5uVsM6bE?t=1m33s or the 80ies oldschool classic; wolfgang guellich in a german gameshow: https://youtu.be/rugoETlUAVI?t=22m47s https://youtu.be/rugoETlUAVI?t=22m47s
- kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
  I won't call him gangly. He isn't even skinny in the sense most people assume (no muscle, stick figure). He seems to have a lot of lean muscle (http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/06/05/ap_17155772401614_custom-af740fc64b5b1082e8ee60ca2b865fe655c3ee4f-s1500-c85.jpg http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/06/05/ap_17155772401614...)
  - DoubleCribble 9y ago
    No? He looks gangly to me. gangly, adj., \ˈgaŋ-glē\ : long and thin [1] [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gangly https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gangly
    - CamperBob2 9y ago
      Watch the '60 Minutes' interview with him that somebody else linked to in the thread. His fingers are the size of household water pipes. It would be rude to call him a mutant, but that's pretty much what he is, for better or worse.
salesguy222 9y ago
He is in fact extremely lean, and his fingers have massive growths of connective tissue from all the years of thrashing up rocks dangling by his fingertips ^.^
jojoo 9y ago
there are actually a lot of people who can climb harder (on a rope) than alex honnold; he has done one 8c+; atm 350 people have done 9a or harder and a lot of people have done multiple 8c+ routes: http://escalade9.wifeo.com/par-nationalite.php http://escalade9.wifeo.com/par-nationalite.php i think what's so special about him are his mental abilities, not his physical.
- Rapzid 9y ago
  In 2012 Alex solo'd Freerider, Watkins, and Half Dome in ~19 hours. He completed the Fitz Traverse with Tommy, who referred to him as the greatest climber of our generation(perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but still). He is the current speed record holder with Hans Florine for The Nose. Alex is the top ultramarathoner of rock climbing. Not only is his endurance of effort incredibly high, he is able to continually execute moves at an extremely high level with an almost non-existent error rate. He has admitted to feeling fear, and has mentioned that he free solo's stuff he feels very comfortable with. I'm positive his AMAZING physical abilities, particularly in the area of climbing endurance, are a contributing factor to his success in this area. It may be true that his grade is not as high as 350 other peoples, however I would say that dismissing his "physical abilities" as not so special is perhaps not so accurate.
  - breatheoften 9y ago
    I think it's also worth pointing out how far out on the bell curve those 350 people with comparable or greater athletic climbing skills are as well. The modern day top tier or two of climbers are athletes with Olympian levels of talent/training.
- Babooster 9y ago
  All those technically harder routes are like 50 metres high. Sure there are 350 people that could theoretically manage this climb technical skill-wise, but I'm also 100% certain none of those 350 would be able to accomplish this incredible feat endurance-wise or mentally for four hours and 1000+ meters and absolutely 0 mistakes, while I'm also certain that if Honnold puts his mind to it he will be able to climb those technically harder routes.

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?
- DoubleCribble 9y ago
  I can't find the video I want right now, but this has some nice visuals. Check out this climber planking around 0:39. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igYhX5xyprw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igYhX5xyprw
  - jojoo 9y ago
    maybe it was a video from magnus mitboe? https://youtu.be/BEc5uVsM6bE?t=1m33s https://youtu.be/BEc5uVsM6bE?t=1m33s or the 80ies oldschool classic; wolfgang guellich in a german gameshow: https://youtu.be/rugoETlUAVI?t=22m47s https://youtu.be/rugoETlUAVI?t=22m47s
kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
I won't call him gangly. He isn't even skinny in the sense most people assume (no muscle, stick figure). He seems to have a lot of lean muscle (http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/06/05/ap_17155772401614_custom-af740fc64b5b1082e8ee60ca2b865fe655c3ee4f-s1500-c85.jpg http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/06/05/ap_17155772401614...)
- DoubleCribble 9y ago
  No? He looks gangly to me. gangly, adj., \ˈgaŋ-glē\ : long and thin [1] [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gangly https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gangly
  - CamperBob2 9y ago
    Watch the '60 Minutes' interview with him that somebody else linked to in the thread. His fingers are the size of household water pipes. It would be rude to call him a mutant, but that's pretty much what he is, for better or worse.

salesguy222 9y ago

He is in fact extremely lean, and his fingers have massive growths of connective tissue from all the years of thrashing up rocks dangling by his fingertips ^.^

jojoo 9y ago

there are actually a lot of people who can climb harder (on a rope) than alex honnold; he has done one 8c+; atm 350 people have done 9a or harder and a lot of people have done multiple 8c+ routes: http://escalade9.wifeo.com/par-nationalite.php http://escalade9.wifeo.com/par-nationalite.php i think what's so special about him are his mental abilities, not his physical.

Rapzid 9y ago
In 2012 Alex solo'd Freerider, Watkins, and Half Dome in ~19 hours. He completed the Fitz Traverse with Tommy, who referred to him as the greatest climber of our generation(perhaps a bit of hyperbole, but still). He is the current speed record holder with Hans Florine for The Nose. Alex is the top ultramarathoner of rock climbing. Not only is his endurance of effort incredibly high, he is able to continually execute moves at an extremely high level with an almost non-existent error rate. He has admitted to feeling fear, and has mentioned that he free solo's stuff he feels very comfortable with. I'm positive his AMAZING physical abilities, particularly in the area of climbing endurance, are a contributing factor to his success in this area. It may be true that his grade is not as high as 350 other peoples, however I would say that dismissing his "physical abilities" as not so special is perhaps not so accurate.
- breatheoften 9y ago
  I think it's also worth pointing out how far out on the bell curve those 350 people with comparable or greater athletic climbing skills are as well. The modern day top tier or two of climbers are athletes with Olympian levels of talent/training.
Babooster 9y ago
All those technically harder routes are like 50 metres high. Sure there are 350 people that could theoretically manage this climb technical skill-wise, but I'm also 100% certain none of those 350 would be able to accomplish this incredible feat endurance-wise or mentally for four hours and 1000+ meters and absolutely 0 mistakes, while I'm also certain that if Honnold puts his mind to it he will be able to climb those technically harder routes.