10 ms·

The Heart-Stopping Climbs of Alex Honnold

123 points by samclemens 12y ago

bgroins 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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.
andyl 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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 12y ago
    Also: - One day, fall a huge distance and die.
    - picks_at_nits 12y ago
      I have no plans to follow him in that regard. My plan is: - One day, die.
- etrautmann 12y ago
  Couldn't agree more - the few times I've soloed and felt a rush it was definitely because I faced something unexpected and undesirable. That rush is a terrible one to feel.
amagumori 12y ago
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.
sunilkumarc 12y ago
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!
- sanke93 12y ago
  It's not about showing people that they can take risks, but doing what they love doing and always pushing their limits to achieve more.
  - sunilkumarc 12y ago
    Doing what you love is totally fine. But if you could die doing such things, then why do it at all ?
    - terryf 12y ago
      There's a quote from the film Heat where Al Pacino says"You can get killed walking your doggie!" Death is everywhere, it seems that he has fully accepted the fact that all people are mortal and like him, you will die too. Also, I'm pretty sure that for him it isn't about proving things for other people, it's about how climbing makes him feel about himself.
    - peterjancelis 12y ago
      Different people have different worldviews. Some people consider it not a life well lived (or lived at all) when not going all-in on what it is they do. There are a lot of passions that are very safe most of the time yet present life threatening risk in peak doses during small moments of time. E.g. crossing an ocean on a sailboat, backcountry skiing, etc
    - kpmah 12y ago
      You can die driving to work in the morning. One small mistake on a high speed road and that's it. Alex knows how to climb like you know how to drive.
thret 12y ago
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.
kzrdude 12y ago
Fantastic presentation, this is a good conversion of magazine-style articles to the web.
cromwellian 12y ago
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 12y ago
  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.
jasonkester 12y ago
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.
- PJDK 12y ago
  I used to think this, but I was amazed and impressed by the amount of attention the El Capitan Dawn Wall climb received in the media. That was very much about pushing the technical limits with only the normal climbing risks. I was particularly impressed because as far as your average non climber is concerned there are things you can walk up and things that are impossible. It's hard to grasp what "very difficult" means if you have no frame of reference. You can grasp what "very dangerous" means though.
- sulam 12y ago
  FWIW this is the wrong forum to talk about Americans not climbing. It feels like half the software engineers I work with are climbers, at least as far as gym climbing is considered climbing. This is in San Francisco, and I used to climb a lot but don't anymore, just so you're aware of my selection biases. :)
- thaumaturgy 12y ago
  The U.S. has a pretty big pile of rock gyms. Even a couple of small towns in the East Bay had them (although they've since closed). An increasing number of regular type gyms have a small bouldering wall. Yosemite sees a lot of climber traffic during most of the year, as does Joshua Tree and Mount Rainier and "the Gunks" and more. I'd be surprised if you could meet anyone in Colorado or Utah that didn't at least have a passing knowledge of climbing of some kind. It's a pretty mainstream sport now. But Honnold and others that push the boundaries of the sport are a special case that get a lot of attention even from other climbers. The NYTimes isn't that interested in plain ol' bouldering probably because anybody that's in reasonable physical condition who spends a few months training can pull a V3 somewhere. Hell, with modern equipment, 5.10a is approachable by novices in a lot of places.
bmj 12y ago
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.
cjcole 12y ago
"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.
- giarc 12y ago
  When I got to the part about his fall as a teenager, I started to wonder whether something was damaged in his brain that made him who he is (mentally). A brain MRI might tell us a lot more, but I imagine he wouldn't agree to that.
- etrautmann 12y ago
  I've climbed for about 12 years, and never could understand this perspective until recently. There are plenty of climbs that I now have 100% confidence that I will not fall on, in which case the feat of falling just doesn't exist in the way you might expect. The Sierras are a great place to develop this confidence on technically easy but unbelievably exposed terrain.
- moron4hire 12y ago
  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.
aet 12y ago
Dan Osman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0yXMa708Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0yXMa708Y
startupfounder 12y ago
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.
saiya-jin 12y ago
"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 12y ago
  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 12y ago
Joe Rogan interviewed Alex a couple years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08
WhitneyLand 12y ago
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/2015/01/20/meet-the-woman-who-cant-feel-fear/ http://washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/0...
- legohead 12y ago
  The video mentions he spent years mastering his fear. It doesn't sound like he has that biological defect.
  - WhitneyLand 12y ago
    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.
amaks 12y ago
Interesting, the article seems to have inaccuracy: Alex has actually free-soloed University Wall: http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web14x/newswire-alex-honnold-university-wall-squamish http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web14x/newswire-alex-honnold-uni...

123 points by samclemens 12y ago

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 12y ago
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.

andyl 12y ago

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 12y ago
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 12y ago
  Also: - One day, fall a huge distance and die.
  - picks_at_nits 12y ago
    I have no plans to follow him in that regard. My plan is: - One day, die.
etrautmann 12y ago
Couldn't agree more - the few times I've soloed and felt a rush it was definitely because I faced something unexpected and undesirable. That rush is a terrible one to feel.

amagumori 12y ago

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.

sunilkumarc 12y ago

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!

sanke93 12y ago
It's not about showing people that they can take risks, but doing what they love doing and always pushing their limits to achieve more.
- sunilkumarc 12y ago
  Doing what you love is totally fine. But if you could die doing such things, then why do it at all ?
  - terryf 12y ago
    There's a quote from the film Heat where Al Pacino says"You can get killed walking your doggie!" Death is everywhere, it seems that he has fully accepted the fact that all people are mortal and like him, you will die too. Also, I'm pretty sure that for him it isn't about proving things for other people, it's about how climbing makes him feel about himself.
  - peterjancelis 12y ago
    Different people have different worldviews. Some people consider it not a life well lived (or lived at all) when not going all-in on what it is they do. There are a lot of passions that are very safe most of the time yet present life threatening risk in peak doses during small moments of time. E.g. crossing an ocean on a sailboat, backcountry skiing, etc
  - kpmah 12y ago
    You can die driving to work in the morning. One small mistake on a high speed road and that's it. Alex knows how to climb like you know how to drive.

thret 12y ago

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.

kzrdude 12y ago

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

cromwellian 12y ago

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 12y ago
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.

jasonkester 12y ago

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.

PJDK 12y ago
I used to think this, but I was amazed and impressed by the amount of attention the El Capitan Dawn Wall climb received in the media. That was very much about pushing the technical limits with only the normal climbing risks. I was particularly impressed because as far as your average non climber is concerned there are things you can walk up and things that are impossible. It's hard to grasp what "very difficult" means if you have no frame of reference. You can grasp what "very dangerous" means though.
sulam 12y ago
FWIW this is the wrong forum to talk about Americans not climbing. It feels like half the software engineers I work with are climbers, at least as far as gym climbing is considered climbing. This is in San Francisco, and I used to climb a lot but don't anymore, just so you're aware of my selection biases. :)
thaumaturgy 12y ago
The U.S. has a pretty big pile of rock gyms. Even a couple of small towns in the East Bay had them (although they've since closed). An increasing number of regular type gyms have a small bouldering wall. Yosemite sees a lot of climber traffic during most of the year, as does Joshua Tree and Mount Rainier and "the Gunks" and more. I'd be surprised if you could meet anyone in Colorado or Utah that didn't at least have a passing knowledge of climbing of some kind. It's a pretty mainstream sport now. But Honnold and others that push the boundaries of the sport are a special case that get a lot of attention even from other climbers. The NYTimes isn't that interested in plain ol' bouldering probably because anybody that's in reasonable physical condition who spends a few months training can pull a V3 somewhere. Hell, with modern equipment, 5.10a is approachable by novices in a lot of places.

bmj 12y ago

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.

cjcole 12y ago

"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.

giarc 12y ago
When I got to the part about his fall as a teenager, I started to wonder whether something was damaged in his brain that made him who he is (mentally). A brain MRI might tell us a lot more, but I imagine he wouldn't agree to that.
etrautmann 12y ago
I've climbed for about 12 years, and never could understand this perspective until recently. There are plenty of climbs that I now have 100% confidence that I will not fall on, in which case the feat of falling just doesn't exist in the way you might expect. The Sierras are a great place to develop this confidence on technically easy but unbelievably exposed terrain.
moron4hire 12y ago
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.

aet 12y ago

Dan Osman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0yXMa708Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e0yXMa708Y

startupfounder 12y ago

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.

saiya-jin 12y ago

"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 12y ago
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 12y ago

Joe Rogan interviewed Alex a couple years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OusYaNWBy08

WhitneyLand 12y ago

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

legohead 12y ago
The video mentions he spent years mastering his fear. It doesn't sound like he has that biological defect.
- WhitneyLand 12y ago
  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.

amaks 12y ago

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