Free Solo

Elite climber Alex Honnold free climbs Yosemite National Parks El Capitan (3,600'), National Geographic aired the epic climb on 3/3/19. Any climbers out there free climb? Or have an opinion of this most dangerous sport?

 

Gravity is a bitch.

 

I literally just wat he’d this. Amazing and nauseating. I have climbed Pinnacles and Strawberry and this sick. Very cool

 

I’m not in to trying to prove Sir Isaac Newton right with me as the apple. But that was an amazing documentary.

 

I’m not a climber but watched this not to long ago. Great documentary, gonna watch it again.

 

Insane movie - was sweatin' by the end of it. I've had friends that climbed, but nothing too crazy. Would be fun to get into bouldering or something as we're usually in decent areas for it.

 

Free climbing is different than free soloing. Free climbing still uses a rope for safety but nothing is used to assist the climber (just your own hands and feet). This differs from aid climbing which involves special equipment to help ascend the rock. Free soloing (as you've seen) is climbing without any safety backups.

 

Saw the movie and loved it. My friends son climbs in Yosemite and knows Alex. He told me that a couple of weeks after they filmed the documentary, Alex without telling anyone beforehand went back and repeated the climb.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

His girl

 

I think the documentary was excellent and will point out something that may be missed by non-climbers. He doesn't on-sight free solo and I hope his level of planning comes across. He studies the climbs, practices on rope. By the time he free solos a route he has the moves choreographed and is almost executing a script. What you can't practice is weather, wildlife and changes to the route, which is of course the really dangerous part. But climbers die even on fully protected climbs so it's not without risk just because you're roped, so understanding his motivation may not make sense to us (even climbers).

Of course he's assuming a ton of risk but in his way (or maybe just in his mind) he's not being cavalier or reckless at it. Climbing without a rope may seem stupid but why should it be seen as cheating gravity anymore than sealing yourself in an aluminum tube at 33,000', climbing a 8,000 meter peak, trusting a sheet of nylon when you walk out of a plane or anything else? You trust something (aircraft, ropes, compressed oxygen or a parachute) or someone (pilot, belay partner or yourself) to not plummet to your death back to terra firma.

I think what I got out of the movie was how much he's like a perfectionist, a top concert pianist perhaps, who strives to get his craft exactly right. People like this have a focus (whether that's due to their highly unique abilities maybe?) they're born with that I don't think most of us have figured out.

Whether the risk he takes are worth it, yeah, it personally gives me the willies and I'm even sort of a climber. But I think I have a better understanding of why they do it.

 

Just watched it for maybe the tenth time and of all the climbs he dose, the climb of "Freestone" adjacent to Yosemite Falls (@ 5:30) is simply incredible. The sheer beauty is only matched by what would be sheer terror for most people.

 

Now I want to watch this. Where can I find the documentary?

 

Pretty sure it was on netflix or hulu. Probably other places too.

 

You can watch clips from it for free on youtube, or pay to see the whole thing. Just search Alex Honnold Free Solo. My nuts crawl up in my belly every time I watch him climb; I can't imagine why he'd want to free solo El Cap a second time; what's there to prove?

 

Alex Honnold is a mutant. Humans should not be able to climb the way he does.

 

Spent many years climbing. I quit when my kids were young and I couldn't rationalize it anymore. Definitely one of the highest of high stakes games. What Alex achieved is historic. My partner and I were climbing once with a new guy. We were part way up a route when he asked if there was a way down. We told him "there's always a way down".

 

What did you need to rationalize?

 

Risk, time away from home and family. That kind of stuff. I got what I wanted from climbing, it was time to move on.

 

Take my boy to an indoor climbing gym in the city and he loves it. I’m really trying to stoke the fire in him to continue as a way to keep my hand in. But yeah, no more 1-2 month trips away from home anymore as I’d rather spend more time being a father to him.