Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

14ers in California and Washington state or any other peak in the USA
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
ajkagy
Posts: 2294
Joined: 1/7/2007
Trip Reports (0)
 
Contact:

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by ajkagy »

Rollie Free wrote:Seems a controversial subject but I'll chime in with the dissenters a bit.

I see no reason he can't do it with spotting ropes.
That wouldn't be free soloing then, it'd just be free climbing. Big difference. If you don't climb or are unfamiliar with the climbing world I can see how people wouldn't understand. Alex has been free soloing for a long time and everything with free soloing is a calculated risk.
User avatar
oldschool
Posts: 854
Joined: 2/27/2007
14ers: 58  6 
13ers: 2
Trip Reports (23)
 

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by oldschool »

He's allowed to choose. He's allowed to live as he wishes. If those here think he's an idiot, so be it. Some that partake in high risk activities fear contentment, not pushing boundaries.

It's similar to Ueli Steck.....why oh why did he take such risks. Why oh why didn't he use protection or blah blah blah. Because he didn't want to. Alex and Ueli owed us nothing.

Some reading this may drive their car while not wearing a seat belt. Some may call you an idiot. While it is your choice, it's not super smart, against the law (like that matters) and driving is dangerous. But some do it. Why? Not going there......

Alex will die someday, like all of us. Will he die from a fall while free soloing? Might. Will he die from cancer? Might. Will he die from a car accident? Might? Will he live as he chooses? Yup.

Props and respect Mr Honnold.......
"There's a feeling I get when I look to the West and my spirit is crying for leaving" Led Zeppelin
User avatar
Jay521
Posts: 1161
Joined: 8/1/2007
14ers: 42  10 
13ers: 175 22
Trip Reports (56)
 

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by Jay521 »

+1 ^^ This
I take the mountain climber's approach to housekeeping - don't look down
User avatar
kushrocks
Posts: 856
Joined: 6/22/2010
14ers: 58  25 
13ers: 65 2
Trip Reports (5)
 
Contact:

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by kushrocks »

Perfectly said oldschool
“The best climber in the world is the one who is having all the fun.” – Alex Lowe
" Don’t be afraid to move out of your comfort zone. Some of your best life experiences and opportunities will transpire only after you dare to loose."
User avatar
AlexeyD
Posts: 1286
Joined: 10/28/2013
14ers: 44  4  2 
Trip Reports (3)
 

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by AlexeyD »

I think Caldwell says it well:

https://www.outsideonline.com/2190306/w ... -scared-me

It's possible to respect the unbelievable accomplishment, while at the same time being genuinely afraid for him.
User avatar
thurs
Posts: 233
Joined: 10/28/2013
14ers: 58  4  3 
13ers: 41 2 4
Trip Reports (4)
 

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by thurs »

This is one of the greatest sporting accomplishments in the history of humanity and certainly in the sport of rock climbing.

Alex Honnold is absolutely legendary, and I am in pure awe and admiration of his effort here. Just, wow... Congrats Alex. You have legacy has been cemented in the halls of history -- although I know you were just doing it for your own enjoyment. Where do you even go from there?
User avatar
Rollie Free
Posts: 456
Joined: 6/8/2012
14ers: 45 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by Rollie Free »

ajkagy wrote:
Rollie Free wrote:Seems a controversial subject but I'll chime in with the dissenters a bit.

I see no reason he can't do it with spotting ropes.
That wouldn't be free soloing then, it'd just be free climbing. Big difference. If you don't climb or are unfamiliar with the climbing world I can see how people wouldn't understand. Alex has been free soloing for a long time and everything with free soloing is a calculated risk.
In understand the difference in terminology I just don't get the point. You can still display wild skills and not put your life on that thin line. Why? To prove to who, what? He could make a 'little mistake' and learn from it and perfect it the next time. Yes, its unfathomable what he's doing and its jaw dropping. At the same time it escapes me.
"Quicker than I can tell it, my hands failed to hold, my feet slipped, and down I went with almost an arrow’s rapidity. An eternity of thought, of life, of death, wife, and home concentrated on my mind in those two seconds. Fortunately for me, I threw my right arm around a projecting boulder which stood above the icy plain some two or three feet." Rev. Elijah Lamb
dereferenced
Posts: 100
Joined: 10/19/2012
14ers: 25  1  15 
13ers: 19 1
Trip Reports (3)
 
Contact:

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by dereferenced »

Is it weird that he does this without tape, or is that normal for elite climbers? What about doing a big offwidth section in a short sleeved shirt? I feel like the skin loss alone would kill me, even if I could do the climbing.

Soloing 3300 feet of hard rock climbing up to 13a is amazing, but it's also kind of hard to understand. Soloing this, or moonlight buttress, or half dome, or any of his other climbs, all sound impossible. I know this one's harder, but it's mind-blowing to imagine someone doing any of them.

Like, I'm not sure if trying to free solo el cap would kill me or not, because I'm not sure if I could get high enough up the first pitch for the fall to be fatal, I might just make it 10 feet and get a sprained ankle.
User avatar
OldTrad
Posts: 275
Joined: 2/12/2017
14ers: 36 
13ers: 10
Trip Reports (4)
 

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by OldTrad »

This is completely mind blowing. I climbed the Salathe Wall in 1987 or 1988, but was standing in aiders most of the way and the entire effort took 4 days. Freerider is essentially "just" the Salathe except for maybe 10% of the climbing, where it deviates to avoid the headwall, etc... I was climbing lots in Yosemite back then, was pretty comfortable leading relatively hard free routes, but can't comprehend the skill, mind control, and whatever else was required for Alex to do this. I mean the face sections down low alone (described in his accounts as like "glass") are HARD, not to mention insecure... and those have to be trivial compared to many, many other areas he had to navigate. Then impossibly, above the Free Blast, Hollow Flake and El Cap Towers the route gets even steeper!

It's hard to get my head around this, though I'm very happy he succeeded. That's not to say I think free-soloing is a good idea, etc, though it is amazing he was able to approach such an incomprehensible undertaking, prepare, and execute this so flawlessly. Hopefully now like Jim Erickson or Peter Croft he'll stick w/ roped climbing and have many lower-risk years of outdoor life ahead.
User avatar
XterraRob
Posts: 1123
Joined: 7/20/2015
14ers: 42  7 
13ers: 14
Trip Reports (4)
 

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by XterraRob »

Rollie Free wrote:
In understand the difference in terminology I just don't get the point. You can still display wild skills and not put your life on that thin line. Why? To prove to who, what? He could make a 'little mistake' and learn from it and perfect it the next time. Yes, its unfathomable what he's doing and its jaw dropping. At the same time it escapes me.
"The Edge… There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others — the living — are those who pushed their luck as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later."

- Hunter S. Thompson
RIP - M56
Re-introduce Grizzly Bears into the Colorado Wilderness™
User avatar
rob runkle
Posts: 804
Joined: 6/12/2006
14ers: 58  2 
13ers: 41
Trip Reports (48)
 

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by rob runkle »

Let me explain to the detractors why "free soloing" this is such a unique thing, and more than just a "death wish."

It takes two things to climb a very hard route:
1) skill
2) strength
The more that you have of both of these, the harder the route you can climb.

Free soloing requires one additional key item, and not many people have that. Alex - and few others - have the ability to close out the fear, even in the most challenging situations. Scientists have studied Alex to try and figure out how he does this; it is so unusual. In the most stressful of situations, hanging from a wall, 1000s of feet up, the "fight or flight instinct" does not help, and could instead kill. Freaking out at a stressful moment serves no good purpose. It is a distraction, and it pulls the mind away from being able to think critically on the task at hand. Being able to shut this off, allows Alex to focus 100% on the climb.

So, Alex has all three of these, and the third one is so rare, and unusual, it would almost be a waste for him not to use that unique characteristic in pushing the limits of what man is capable.

For those that think it is still just crazy, that is because you don't have it. I don't! But, I have had glimpses - those times when I'm am totally in the zone, and thinking only about the climb, only about the next hold; when I make a clip almost from muscle memory, because I am so focused on the climb. But, for me, those moments are fleeting, lasting minutes, and in spurts. I certainly can not guarantee that a "freak out" would not come at the most inopportune moment; far from it. But, I can imagine what it might be like, being able to control that "switch." And, that is why I do not see this as crazy, but instead I see it is amazing.
User avatar
ajkagy
Posts: 2294
Joined: 1/7/2007
Trip Reports (0)
 
Contact:

Re: Alex Honnold free solos El Cap

Post by ajkagy »

Rollie Free wrote: In understand the difference in terminology I just don't get the point. You can still display wild skills and not put your life on that thin line. Why? To prove to who, what? He could make a 'little mistake' and learn from it and perfect it the next time. Yes, its unfathomable what he's doing and its jaw dropping. At the same time it escapes me.
He doesn't have to prove anything to anyone. Free soloing is one of the purist forms of climbing. A lot of people get enjoyment out of it since it's so simple, all you need is your chalk bag and some shoes. No encumbrance of any rope, harness, pro, ect...of course you also need the mindset as well.

Alex's feat has no words to describe how incredible it is, makes me wonder if Dean was still with us if he would have attempted a freebase climb of El Cap. He was one of the best in the sport.
Post Reply