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I can respect Honnold and Leclerc. While their pursuits are dangerous, they took great care in their craft and respected the mountains and the art. This guy jus

I can respect Honnold and Leclerc. While their pursuits are dangerous, they took great care in their craft and respected the mountains and the art. This guy just seems like a reckless fool, pursuing likes on Instagram out of some stubborn unwilligness to deal with his depression head on. Btw I have had a TBI, thankfully I made a full recovery, but I am not at all sympathetic to the TBI-justifies-deathwish this article hints at. The fact that the author writes these biographies, and seeks to add in his own lived experience, but has basically no bio of his own on his website is also a bit off-putting.

BaseballPhysics 3y ago
> While their pursuits are dangerous, they took great care in their craft and respected the mountains and the art. This guy just seems like a reckless fool, pursuing likes on Instagram out of some stubborn unwilligness to deal with his depression head on Bluntly, if you are willing to justify Honnold's behaviour but not Howell's, I think you're just rationalizing. At least Howell didn't have a kid.
- saiya-jin 3y ago
  Honnold has kid now, in the height of his fame curve when he did most dangerous stuff he had barely a girlfriend (with typical fanatic attitude of 'me any my passions first', and if there is sometimes anything left then others). He is still doing some soloing, and may very well die from some stupid accident outside of his control like random loose rock just falling on his head, but chances compared to before are much smaller.
  - burkaman 3y ago
    I'm not really sure the chances are any smaller. Here's one example, he onsight soloed a 13 pitch 5.11a last year a few months after his kid was born: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfSIT0QuzXq/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CfSIT0QuzXq/ He does this kind of thing all the time (and usually doesn't post about it), and it's arguably more dangerous than what he's most famous for, which is soloing really big routes only after he's climbed them on a rope hundreds of times. It's like a retired Olympic marathon runner going for an easy jog every few days, but if they ever trip they'll die.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - wcarron 3y ago
      I mean, 5.11a is really not that hard. Of course, there are levels to the game. 13 pitches changes the calculus a bit, but he regularly does 50+ pitch linkups. So, that's basically just a warmup for him (and others). Not without risk, but then again, neither is driving to the crag.
fn-mote 3y ago
To me the article pretty clearly indicates that mental illness, and multiple traumatic injuries, play major role in Austin's addiction to free climbing. In the middle of the article is a point where his father tells him he's going to die if he keeps this up and he says he's "willing to take the consequences of his actions." He might be reckless but I don't think he can be called a fool. (Also: The author's credentials are in the article - depressed, took SSRIs, started getting high from free climbing. That's enough of a relation to the subject of the story for me. You're obviously closer to it.)
krisoft 3y ago
> I have had a TBI, thankfully I made a full recovery, but I am not at all sympathetic to the TBI-justifies-deathwish this article hints at. I have two problems with this sentence. You had TBI, that doesn’t mean you know everything about it though. Brains are complicated, and they can get injured in many different ways. I’m glad that you have recovered fully, maybe he was not so lucky? The other is that the article doesn’t say that his TBI “justifies” a deathwish. Rather than it explains his behaviour. It also clearly puts into context that this is disputed by the subject himself, but the explanation is supported by the mother. > This guy just seems like a reckless fool That is I think a valid observation. But one can always look one layer deeper. What made him a reckless fool? This is what I believe the article is about. > pursuing likes on Instagram out of some stubborn unwilligness to deal with his depression head on. What does “dealing with depression head on” mean to you? As far as I know there is no one-size-fit-all solution for depression. There are many who gets better following standard care, but also many who do not. It sounds he tried therapy and possibly many other things. Maybe free soloing was his way of dealing with his depression head on? Would you rather like him to be miserable but alive than feeling better but dead sooner than you think he should have died?

BaseballPhysics 3y ago

> While their pursuits are dangerous, they took great care in their craft and respected the mountains and the art. This guy just seems like a reckless fool, pursuing likes on Instagram out of some stubborn unwilligness to deal with his depression head on Bluntly, if you are willing to justify Honnold's behaviour but not Howell's, I think you're just rationalizing. At least Howell didn't have a kid.

saiya-jin 3y ago
Honnold has kid now, in the height of his fame curve when he did most dangerous stuff he had barely a girlfriend (with typical fanatic attitude of 'me any my passions first', and if there is sometimes anything left then others). He is still doing some soloing, and may very well die from some stupid accident outside of his control like random loose rock just falling on his head, but chances compared to before are much smaller.
- burkaman 3y ago
  I'm not really sure the chances are any smaller. Here's one example, he onsight soloed a 13 pitch 5.11a last year a few months after his kid was born: https://www.instagram.com/p/CfSIT0QuzXq/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CfSIT0QuzXq/ He does this kind of thing all the time (and usually doesn't post about it), and it's arguably more dangerous than what he's most famous for, which is soloing really big routes only after he's climbed them on a rope hundreds of times. It's like a retired Olympic marathon runner going for an easy jog every few days, but if they ever trip they'll die.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - wcarron 3y ago
    I mean, 5.11a is really not that hard. Of course, there are levels to the game. 13 pitches changes the calculus a bit, but he regularly does 50+ pitch linkups. So, that's basically just a warmup for him (and others). Not without risk, but then again, neither is driving to the crag.

fn-mote 3y ago

To me the article pretty clearly indicates that mental illness, and multiple traumatic injuries, play major role in Austin's addiction to free climbing. In the middle of the article is a point where his father tells him he's going to die if he keeps this up and he says he's "willing to take the consequences of his actions." He might be reckless but I don't think he can be called a fool. (Also: The author's credentials are in the article - depressed, took SSRIs, started getting high from free climbing. That's enough of a relation to the subject of the story for me. You're obviously closer to it.)

krisoft 3y ago

> I have had a TBI, thankfully I made a full recovery, but I am not at all sympathetic to the TBI-justifies-deathwish this article hints at. I have two problems with this sentence. You had TBI, that doesn’t mean you know everything about it though. Brains are complicated, and they can get injured in many different ways. I’m glad that you have recovered fully, maybe he was not so lucky? The other is that the article doesn’t say that his TBI “justifies” a deathwish. Rather than it explains his behaviour. It also clearly puts into context that this is disputed by the subject himself, but the explanation is supported by the mother. > This guy just seems like a reckless fool That is I think a valid observation. But one can always look one layer deeper. What made him a reckless fool? This is what I believe the article is about. > pursuing likes on Instagram out of some stubborn unwilligness to deal with his depression head on. What does “dealing with depression head on” mean to you? As far as I know there is no one-size-fit-all solution for depression. There are many who gets better following standard care, but also many who do not. It sounds he tried therapy and possibly many other things. Maybe free soloing was his way of dealing with his depression head on? Would you rather like him to be miserable but alive than feeling better but dead sooner than you think he should have died?