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Alex Honnold just became the first to free-solo El Capitan in Yosemite. Crazy. (1 Viewer)

pantherclub said:
I own a mountain cottage in Weaverville NC.  I love the mountains.  I grew up in the mountains.  I camp and hike there all the time.  I have the upmost respect for the outdoors.  That said I think free climbing is the most narcissistic behavior one can do in the outdoors.  Its dangerous and psychopathic 
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It’s definitely selfish and dangerous, but neither narcissistic nor psychopathic. Those guys aren’t seeking adulation, manipulating people or lacking empathy. They’re just single-minded and engrossed in the mastery of their craft. 

 
The alpinist guy is on some other level.  Every one of these solo guys is on some part of the autism spectrum right? Or have something just fundamentally wrong?

 
culdeus said:
The alpinist guy is on some other level.  Every one of these solo guys is on some part of the autism spectrum right? Or have something just fundamentally wrong?
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While Honnold and Leclerc are both a little odd, neither seems autistic. And other free soloists seem quite different - eg. Dan Osman and Dean Potter

 
Terminalxylem said:
While Honnold and Leclerc are both a little odd, neither seems autistic. And other free soloists seem quite different - eg. Dan Osman and Dean Potter
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I thought alex said he's more or less diagnosed, no?   The alpinist guy seems to have that same sort of addition+skill. 

 
culdeus said:
I thought alex said he's more or less diagnosed, no?   The alpinist guy seems to have that same sort of addition+skill. 
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I think autistic spectrum disorder has become slang for anyone who is a little unemotional and socially awkward, sometimes with immense talent in a specific discipline (“autistic savants”), but there’s a lot more to it. Those guys certainly aren’t “normal”, but I doubt either meets criteria for ASD.

 
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culdeus said:
The alpinist guy is on some other level. Every one of these solo guys is on some part of the autism spectrum right? Or have something just fundamentally wrong?
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In the Free Solo doc they did a scan of Honnold's brain and his fear center is abnormal. These guys' brains are just built different.
 
PIK95 said:
Terminalxylem said:
PIK95 said:
Not impressed. I really hate this death wish thrill seeking crap.
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Not sure what you‘re referring to, but Honnold doesn’t seem to have a death wish, or be much of a thrill-seeker, for that matter.
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I didn't realize he wore safety equipment when climbing. My bad.
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Still don’t know exactly what you mean. My assertion is the thread‘s subject, Alex Honnold, doesn’t have a death wish.

While his exploits may seem reckless to the untrained eye, he prepares for climbs with extreme attention to detail, and the difficulty of his free solos is far beneath his limit. Sure, he’s putting his life on the line, but I’m pretty sure he (correctly) views the risk as minimal.

Note, his approach is far more methodical than many other free soloists, some of whom may legitimately wish to die.
 
Just finished watching a new challenge Alex recently did. I came across it by accident but it was pretty hard to watch at times, I don’t know how anyone can do what these guys do. I caught myself closing my eyes so many times. He uses ropes and other safety gear for this.

It’s on Disney Plus, I’m not sure if it’s available on other streams or not.

Artic Ascent
 
Kevrunner said:
Just finished watching a new challenge Alex recently did. I came across it by accident but it was pretty hard to watch at times, I don’t know how anyone can do what these guys do. I caught myself closing my eyes so many times. He uses ropes and other safety gear for this.

It’s on Disney Plus, I’m not sure if it’s available on other streams or not.

Artic Ascent
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Arctic not artic!!!
 
In Arctic Ascent, which was not surprisingly nuts but aside of the climbing stuff, it also addressed climate change and some other stuff. A couple of cool things I learned was that once Alex started making what he called "more money than he needed", he began donating 1/3 of it to addressing and installing solar in countries around the world. I assume they were less developed countries but it was a very brief tidbit. Whatever the case may be, solid dude, regardless of one's take on solar or whatever, imo.

His buddy, who said he had lost over 20 friends to climbing, bowed out when things got really sketchy. So did the others, all except for one. I forget her name but that is one courageous woman.

Also interesting was the discussion the group had about why they questioned Alex (with him there) and it showed some of his flaws and what have you, including an argument in the middle of the climb. He was very open to the discussion and each had interesting takes (all 3 sides). He easily could have dictated what could be shown or not so that also was cool of him.
 
Devil’s Thumb does a pretty good job delving into the relationship between Honnold and Caldwell.

As a mediocre climber with a fraction of their skill and risk tolerance, I can still relate to the deep friendships that develop on the rock. As corny as it sounds, you literally entrust your life to your partner. This degree of trust is seen in few other situations in life, like military service, and some high risk professions. But not everyone will experience that feeling/connection to another human being.

It was also interesting how different Caldwell and Honnold treated their families. While Tommy took multiple opportunities to contact wife and kids, I don’t think Alex was ever shown calling his.
 
Terminalxylem said:
It was also interesting how different Caldwell and Honnold treated their families. While Tommy took multiple opportunities to contact wife and kids, I don’t think Alex was ever shown calling his.
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They showed him in his tent on his phone going through pictures of his wife and child. I assumed they were texting but not sure. He admitted then that he does indeed see things differently now. No idea to what degree, however. Like other topics, they would touch on it enough to let the viewer decide I guess, instead of delving way into things.

One more thing, which surprised me quite a bit, was the scientist who was on the expedition gathering info throughout, ended her story on a surprisingly positive note. It was about that well-known, huge glacier they were on or near, which she had basically assumed (initially) was melting and was gathering data to see to what degree. But she ended up saying it actually wasn't, not yet anyway. Or the degree to which it was regressing (probably wrong word) yearly had not really changed much in the last like 30 years. Something like that.

However, she also said basically all others definitely are indeed melting and that it should be a major concern. But I was expecting total doom and gloom for sure there. That was forthcoming and not slanted, which was nice. Although make no mistake, she still thinks it's a huge problem, just that this "anomaly" was intriguing I guess you could say, and ended her story kind of saying that there's hope.

Like earlier, when they were driving the boat through all the floating glacier/ice blocks everywhere that had broken off and everyone of them was in awe of the beauty of it all. She saw no beauty in that, quite the opposite. Although again, they let the viewer know her thoughts after the fact. She said nothing to the others, or at least they didn't show it.

Anyway, pretty refreshing takes all around.
 
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