Free Solo

[wadesworld]

You aren't going to want to watch this then SERocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGF77fBAeM

Holy hell. I saw that video on my laptop at first so obviously didn’t move around at all. Had no idea what the appeal was. Just an odd camera angle that distorted the view. Just opened it on my phone here. That’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

[SERocks]

You aren't going to want to watch this then SERocks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGF77fBAeM

That was the first thing I had watched regarding this movie and I could not sit through it.  As noted somewhere in this thread, I did actually watch the second half of the movie....in a puddle of sweat.  Since then I have taped the whole movie, but have not watched the first hour yet.  My wife says she won't watch it with me, so I am on my own.  I am sure I will be a puddle of sweat again.  I could never climb just because my hands and feet would be too wet to grip anything. 

[jsglow]

I totally get Alex.

I have never been good at competitive team sports, typically in the bottom third of athletes that participate.  I got cut from teams more often than I successfully contributed.

I found a way to love sport by competing against myself, obviously at 1/1,000,000 the level Alex does.  I've caved where only a handful of folks had ever been before. I've expedition rafted in 34 degree glacier melt water.  I ski rather than golf because there's no score and it's only me and the mountain.  I solo backpack and hike rather than play basketball and look bad while I'm doing it, hurting my team in the process.  I make a darn good campfire knowing how to keep folks warm, dry and fed in the backcountry although chick is a much better camp cook.

I think it runs in the family.  My daughter conquered her first 14er last summer and is headed back for more.  She's solo camped/hiked, alone in the gathering winter at Bryce Canyon.

I totally get Alex.

[Jon]

Alex is one of the greatest athletes in the world.  It's not even close.  There have been other great climbers like John Bachar, Ron Kauk, Lynn Hill and Beth Rodden.  Alex moved the bar further than any athlete in any sport, perhaps ever.  A literal quantum leap forward.  Think Bob Beamon's 1968 record long jump plus two.

Before we crown this guy the greatest athlete ever I urge everyone to watch another film by Free Solo Director Jimmy Chin, Meru. Meru, along with Machhapuchare, had always been deemed unclimable.

The the alpinists in Meru are Conrad Anker, Renan Ozturk, and Jimmy Chin. Meru is wildly difficult because it is a series of textures - rock, ice, mixed, and Big Wall climbing. Throw in 7k M elevation and it makes clean climbing El Capitan seem like child's play.

Watch Meru then compare Conrad Anker to Honnold.

[wadesworld]

Before we crown this guy the greatest athlete ever I urge everyone to watch another film by Free Solo Director Jimmy Chin, Meru. Meru, along with Machhapuchare, had always been deemed unclimable.

The the alpinists in Meru are Conrad Anker, Renan Ozturk, and Jimmy Chin. Meru is wildly difficult because it is a series of textures - rock, ice, mixed, and Big Wall climbing. Throw in 7k M elevation and it makes clean climbing El Capitan seem like child's play.

Watch Meru then compare Conrad Anker to Honnold.

Chin himself says Hannold is performing at a different level than anybody else has.

[SERocks]

I totally get Alex.

So I read your post yesterday morning and was going to reply that we have seem to have a lot in common.  I did not do team sports.  After high school track I did triathlons and challenged only myself.  A couple years ago I attempted a thru hike of the AT.  I love camping and camp cooking. 

However....I totally do not get Alex.

Last night I watched the first hour of the Free Solo....yes, in a sweat.  He seems to me to be completely emotionally void.  He even used the word callous to describe what he said at one point, so from an intellectual level he gets it but I think that is probably as deep as it goes.  It was interesting that his fear center of his brain is different than normal.  If I recall correctly, in the second hour of the movie he told his girlfriend at one point, "well what did she expect," when discussing the death of another free soloist and the impact it had on his wife. 

Yeah, totally do not get Alex and how he only lives in his head.  It is bizarre.

And probably the only way these feats can be accomplished.

[jsglow]

I get it SERocks.  I wouldn't risk take like he does either.  I guess my 'understanding' is his love for being alone in the moment/activity.  If you see enough of him, it really seems like the only time he finds true peace is when he is on the rock face.  Unlike many others in the history of his sport, Honnold doesn't seem to be an adrenaline junkie whatsoever.

I'd recommend a film entitled Valley Uprising.  It chronicles the entire history of the Yosemite climbing community over 50 years.  It essentially ends with the introduction of Alex and later death of Dean Potter base jumping.

Oh, and congrats on tackling part of the AT.  I'm not so nearly as adventurous or accomplished.  Have you ever considered thru hiking the Ice Age?  I've done sections of it but never even really scratched the surface.   

[SERocks]

I'd recommend a film entitled Valley Uprising.

We'll see.  I swore I would never watch Free Solo, and yet I did. 

I'll have to think about the "being alone in the moment/activity"  and I would agree with you that he does not seem like an adrenaline junkie at all.  In fact he only seems a peace when doing free soloing.  Odd dude, but again that is probably the mindset it takes to do what he does.

Fairly certain we will hear of his passing at some point in the relatively near future.  Which will be sad, but not unexpected as he infers.

[jsglow]

True.  All the big free solo guys before him are already dead.

Btw, Valley Uprising is more a history film.  You won't get freaked out.

[jsglow]

I'll just give you an example SERocks.  I was solo hiking in Bryce Canyon about a month ago.  They had received a wonderful snowstorm about a week prior and I was out there on a beautiful bluebird day in the canyon with my pack and Yaktrax on.  Nothing crazy, a simple 5-6 mile dayhike.  Almost nobody there at all.  Only a handful of Asian tourists talking way too loud.  I was pleased when I got away from them and could enjoy the trails on my terms.  That's kinda what I'm talking about with respect to Alex.  There aren't any tourists on the face.

[SERocks]

That I get.  Had that experience several times along the AT.  Campsites were usually fairly packed, sometimes with obnoxious individuals.  Nice to get back on the trail and alone for a bit.  Peace, quiet and nature. 

I wondered who the dude was in the unicorn outfit that Alex ran into on the way up.  Here is an article about that exchange....

https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/the-climber-in-the-unicorn-suit

[Jon]

Chin himself says Hannold is performing at a different level than anybody else has.

I climb and alpine (but nothing like these guys I mentioned.) And from having done three 7K M peaks in Nepal and one in Peru I can say that climbing in the Danger Zone adds a degree of complexity that simply isn't a part of rock climbing in Moab.

Chin said Honnold is the best at what he does. But Chin is on record as saying the greatest guy to go vertical is Anker.

I am not taking anything away from Honnold. What he does is ridiculous. But I will be more impressed when he summits Gangkhar Puensum or Kailash.

I am a card carrying member of The Mountaineers which is based in Seattle. I know Reinhold Messner who was the first man to summit all Eight-Thousanders. He always takes good natured shots at rock climbers because he knows it is nothing compared with taking on a mountain.

An excellent movie on alpining is Herzog's Dark Glow of the Mountains which features Messner.

When I read about the feat of Honnold i am impressed. But when I read about the multiple feats of a Messner, an Alex Lowe, Mugs Stump, Ueli Steck, Simone Moro, or Oscar Anker I am in awe.

There is a profound difference between rock climbing and mountaineering.

[SERocks]

There is a profound difference between rock climbing and mountaineering.

Isn't that like saying there is a difference between racquetball and tennis?

This is hilarious....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=180&v=dT1PlPmjeo0

[jsglow]

Agreed. It's a different sport keefe. Heck, Bear Grills(sp) had made it to the top of Everest.

[jsglow]

Went to see it in the theater last night.  Chin did a good job of fleshing out exactly who Alex is as a person.  I had seen him extensively before in various YouTubes and such, but never discussing anything beyond the sport.  This more in depth look at Alex as a person strongly suggests to me that he's on the spectrum.  I guess that makes a great deal of sense when one thinks about it.

I haven't quite figured out the girlfriend.  I was not aware of her until seeing the film.  Not totally sure of what to make of that and the 'little house out in Summerlin'.  But I want to believe she has his interest genuinely at heart.

It'll be cool if I run into him on a trail out at Red Rock sometime.  But I kinda think not.  He takes different trails.  Maybe Albertson's instead.  That's usually where I run into famous people in Vegas.

[Babybluejeans]

Agreed. It's a different sport keefe. Heck, Bear Grills(sp) had made it to the top of Everest.

In fairness, Keefe didn’t bring up Everest. Nor would he: It’s a trekking mountain. Six months of gym work and $75k, and you too can summit Everest. If you’ve ever climbed in the Pakistani Karakoram, you’d scoff at those who brag of topping Everest as mountaineering’s great feat. HAVING SAID THAT (https://youtu.be/ENHVQ2gslp8), what Alex is doing is different in both degree and kind than mountaineering. It’s a combination of athleticism and risk that has little comparison.

[jsglow]

In fact even in rock climbing there are different passions.  Last night chick and I watched  Netflix's 'The Dawn Wall' which is a documentary about Tommy Caldwell's successful free climb of that supposedly impossible wall.  In that 19 day ascent following literally years of study about a possible route, Pitch 15 proved almost insurmountable but was ultimately accomplished by both Caldwell and Jorgenson.  However, does it 'count' when you try the pitch a dozen times 'falling' literally every time until you finally get it and then immediately 'move on' once accomplished?  I say yes because no matter how you break it up, two folks have now successfully free climbed a route deemed impossible.  Which of course is not to say that it could ever be done without numerous 'falls' and many days on the face. 

So the same but totally different from what Honnold does.  Of course this is even more completely different than what guys do on K2.  Of course I can't do any of it so I got that going for me, which is nice.

[MU82]

Mrs. 82 and I just saw Free Solo tonight.

Gripping. Inspiring. Intense. Enjoyable.

Alex is definitely a weird guy, but "geniuses" (which he is in his own right) often are.

I also was amazed by the guys who made the film. Courageous, determined. I got a kick out of the one guy on the ground who couldn't get himself to watch.

[wadesworld]

Bump. On right now on the National Geographic Channel and on again starting at 10:00 PM Central tonight. If you haven’t seen it definitely give it a shot. I have negative interest in rock climbing and it’s still one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.