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"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 sentime
by 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 agoWhen 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 agoI'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 agoThe 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.