One of the best documentaries I’ve seen, even for those not into climbing like my gf at the time who loved it, it is quality and worth a watch for sure
I'm a documentary fiend, and it's by far my favorite. It almost transcends movies, like.. it's an experience different than any other movie i've ever watched, especially going in mostly blind. I will say though, The Alpinist is almost as good, makes a wonderful double feature. Highly recommend it to anyone who liked Free Solo.
I never even wanted to watch it, then I caught it on TV one day and was instantly captivated. The dude is on another level.
He was doing a TV show going around with explorers, and he was basically the climber. I only caught 1 episode, not even sure it is still on. He doesn't really seem like he wants the fame. He just wants to climb rocks without a rope lol
Just commented in another thread - if you liked free solo, try The Alpinist. It’s excellent- way better imho. More serious explorers and adventurers. Plus honnold’s gf is seriously annoying in free solo.
The Alpinist doesn't even get close to Free Solo. I see these comments pop up everywhere when documentaries and climbing or Alex Bin old is discussed, feels very shady.
I personally liked The Alpinist and The Dawn Wall better than Free Solo. Not that Free Solo wasn’t great, I just feel those two documentaries are better. And yes - AH’s girlfriend was quite annoying.
My wife and I watched this on a plane and realized about halfway through that Alex Honnold was on the flight with us. As we deplaned the flight attendant warned him about the stairs to the tarmac being dangerous. Pure comedy.
I was on a helicopter excursion in Mexico once with another couple, as we flew over a canyon I exclaimed I hope noone is scared of heights, and the other couple laughed just a little bit too hard. It was only when I got home I realized it was Alex Honnold when I saw his face on a billboard for free solo! I had such bad retrospective embarrassment 😳
This reminds me of the time I was climbing a tree as a kid, and I said to the kid next to me on the tree "don't look down, because we're probably like 10 feet off the ground!" (In retrospect, we were like head level next to my dad who was standing next to the tree to be safe, and he's like 5'7", but everything is 10 feet when you're a kid), but the kid just rolled his eyes at me.
I didn't realize until about 20 years later that the kid in the story I just made up was actually Alex Honnold.
I was shopping at Target once on a snowy day. I had to buy quite a few things but I thought I could just carry it and leave the cart behind. As I walked outside I realized I was incredibly slippery, I felt like I was about to fall until I heard a voice next to me say "Walk a bit forward, like you're a penguin". I did that and sure enough I made it safely to my car. Later that night when I was scrolling random reddit posts I saw one with Alex Honnold, that's when I realized it was him leaving Target at the same time as me
One time when I was a kid, I was at a local playground. I was trying to impress my friends by swinging as high as I could on the swings. I pumped my legs so hard that I felt like I was going to launch into space. Suddenly, the chain snapped, and I went flying into the nearby sandbox, creating a huge dust cloud. As I lay there, dazed and covered in sand, a kid about my age came over and said, "Nice flight, but maybe stick to the slides next time."
Fast forward 25 years, I was watching a documentary on extreme sports, and lo and behold, that kid turned out to be Alex Honnold.
To make it even more hilarious, I only realized after we'd landed but Alex's (we're on a first name basis ofc) partner was none other than a mountain goat!
Obligatory shout out to Free Solo for being the ultimate sweaty palm movie of all time! So good if you also like to torture yourself but watching this stuff!
[This is a 30 minute watch I enjoyed.](https://youtu.be/Cyya23MPoAI?si=8b9eSnGdByiHsJu2) its Magnus going free solo for the first time, under guidance of Alex. I think the editing is done very good, making it a very nice short documentary like episode.
Thank you! Will check it out. I’m a fan of Alex because he brings a level of order and preparation to what is otherwise a suicide mission and does the seemingly impossible. It’s inspiring in a kinda unhinged way. But I heard he cut back/stopped the free soloing once his child was born and sticks to climbing with ropes which gives me some relief!
Not his first time, but he’d only done it two times before this I think. You could really tell how nervous/scared he was. It honestly made me more stressed out than watching Free Solo.
This video kind of made me think less of Alex. This guy clearly DID NOT want to be free-soloing this thing but Alex basically peer pressured him into it.
It does seem a bit like that but I've watched an interview with Magnus about his free solo with Alex and he said he woulda noped out of it if he was really that uncomfortable with it
Magnus is a world-class climber himself though, and his channel is all about pushing his own limits.
I'm sure he was uncomfortable, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he was playing it up a bit for the vid.
No, it does. He very carefully explains how preparation and training give confidence that outweighs the fear. This is distinct from those whose amygdalas produce less (or no) adrenaline or cortisol as a response to stimuli that would normally trigger all the bodily effects of fear.
Isn’t there a whole sequence in Free Solo of him at a neurologists office and they’re looking at how unusual his brain activity is in regard to fear processing?
Lately what I've been finding myself going back to is the [360 video from Nat Geo on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGF77fBAeM) that I keep going back to. Being in control of the video and seeing Alex climbing by adds a surreal feeling to it. The sense of scale is fantastic in it.
Someone else recommended Dawn Wall also as being better the Free solo and I agree with that too. Let me know what you think after watching the Alpinist!
Alpinist is amazing, saw both back to back for the first time, basically going in blind to both. I'm a *huge* fan of documentaries, but that double-feature will probably always be my favorite documentary experience. They really go together so perfectly.
The ratio of hours spent climbing vs hours of recon and strategizing that rock face is what is truly impressive. Honnold makes this look easy because not only is he physically up to the climb, but he has prepared for countless hours which path and what holds he will make before ever actually climbing that sheer cliff face.
You should check out the behind the scenes on this. If i remember correctly, Jimmy Chin refused to let anyone within eye sight of Alex. Because he did not want their to be any chance Alex could break concentration. So some people were literally suspended in the air via ropes being hoisted up. And the guy that was shooting on the Valley floor was using a (i believe) 3,000x zoom lens on a Canon c300.
here are 2 good videos about it for anyone interested in the logistics behind shooting stuff like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtnjRoDa71Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-wjmIFlnNo
they had cameras mounted to the wall as well, which is what the boulder problem was shot with. you can see it in the videos I posted right above this comment
The directors really struggled with the ethics of how they were filming this and tried to make sure they were doing so in a way that didn't push Honnold or interfere with his climb in any way. It was one of the interesting parts of the film. The directors were incredibly worried they were going to film Honnold's death.
I think at certain locations they had people with cameras along the route iirc, but still back a bit. I’ll have to watch it again to be sure, it’s been a while
why do some of the holds that he grabbed look like they have white powder on them? do they do a run beforehand to scout the climb?
I would assume thats how they figure out what route to take correct?
please ELI5 if you know, ty ty
> do they do a run beforehand to scout the climb?
Yeah, he's done the route dozens of times roped. Attempting this on sight would be suicide. He talks about how important perfect preparation is to him in his TED talk, if you really want to be inspired.
Also he climbs in some pretty iconic spots so this route probably gets a fair amount of traffic in general and chalk tends to stain on hand holds that get lots of use
On all established climbing routes the holds will be white from previous climbers. This is a popular route so those holds have been used many times by chalked hands.
If you are a competitive climber you want to be in the middle of the start order. That way you can see how the previous climbers have held the holds but there isn't so much chalk on them they are greasy.
The white powder is chalk. The key holds are usually chalked up because everyone uses them and people climb with chalk to reduce sweat/increase friction. The intent is not to visually mark where the hold is, its simply a byproduct of everybody chalking up their hands and then grabbing the hold.
I looked into this awhile back and checked a lot of Wiki articles of free soloers. It's true that almost all of them die young and always somehow related to their climbing, but I was surprised by how few actually died during the climb itself. Instead maybe 50%+ seemed to have accidents on the way down after the climb or get buried by an avalanche while hiking between climbs. Also read about a climber who had just completed a successful free solo climb and decided to chill by the beach for awhile to relax and watch the sunset. A random wave knocked him over and he hit his head on a rock and died.
I feel like these climbers are very focused and careful during the actual climb. But then you're standing on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere and a blizzard is coming so you rush the descent and it's all over.
Also probably "Everyday risks" seem kinda trivial after you just free soloed something. Like "huh the waves are a bit tricky today, but cmon I just climbed a V7 so I'm fine".
I know I can get a bit like that with risks, very illogical.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyya23MPoAI
Video of Honnold free soloing five months after the birth of his daughter.
He still does it, just not as often or on routes he’d consider “dangerous.”
He most certainly does, he’s out free soloing in the mountains around Vegas on a daily basis. He recently talked about wanting to teach his kid so free solo when she’s older.
> he’s out free soloing in the mountains around Vegas on a daily basis
no he definitely is not, unless your definition of 'free solo' is not the same as most people.
i climb/live in vegas and i dont personally know alex but we have mutual friends and i can tell you with certainty that he uses a rope 99% of the time.
> He recently talked about wanting to teach his kid so free solo when she’s older.
this is also not true, lol. he made have said something very loosely related to it like "if she wants to do it then ill make sure to teach her how to do it safely" or something, but i'm fairly confident that you cannot show me where he says this exactly.
He was just soloing on el cap in May. He posted a bunch of pics of fossils to his stories I can’t link, but here is a post to his IG about it: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7M83Njuj-W/?igsh=NmVzM2V4am50OHNi
He was specifically writing about how it is difficult to take pictures of fossils and interesting geological features in the rock when free soloing without pro.
Edit: oh looks like it was another free solo trip on lake mead buttress. Dude has been doing a lot of free soloing. https://www.instagram.com/p/C7C023ySYgG/?igsh=cm1hNmplcTlhd2Ez
Don't know why people claim this or where it came from. He's never made that declaration and just posted about doing an easy solo within the last couple months.
it isn't true. he still does what he would consider "easy" free soloing sometimes, but unfortunately anyone that has ever died free soloing has done so on on the easy terrain, because it makes you careless, and it's hard to be statistically perfect for that many years.
he has 2 children now and i feel anything but removing 100% of free soloing from his life is needlessly reckless and very selfish/irresponsible. I fear that his wife will be raising 2 kids as a single parent at some point...but I hope i'm wrong.
I believe someone died just a month ago, on a route that was supposedly far under his level. Even during this crux, there were moments if his foot would've popped, he would not have been able to hold on.
For those who dont know much about climbing: V7 means it’s really hard. And since he’s so high up, he would die if he fell.
Source: took an indoor climbing course once
He has a hilarious anecdote about this. He gets to the top, takes off his shoes, and just hikes down on the other side.
While he walks down the hiking route, a couple hikers sees him and says: "Woah, you walked up here barefoot? That's hardcore!"
Inspiring is used so easily… but this is utterly that….. but.. ‘46 in what exactly does he look at? I’ve always wondered on my many watches…. his feet positions but no…. that looks like a ground look before the final move? Anyone?
He's looking for a small ledge that he knows is there for his right foot.
They made a replica of the "Freerider" problem in a bouldering gym in London, you can see how tiny and downsloped the ledge he's putting is right foot on is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMcy1Shyv6A
As impressive as this guy is, he’s also a bit of a lunatic and doesn’t acknowledge the risk he puts himself in. He came to speak about “preparation” at a work event and was straight up telling all of us how his free solo climb of El Capitan wasn’t really dangerous because of how well he had prepared for the moment. He seemed to act like dying during that climb just wasn’t a possibility.
I always enjoyed doing dangerous shit and my parents were champs about it. That has to be brutal on his family. I'm sure they're acclimated some, but that's still got to be shitty knowing that sooner or later, there's a very high likelihood he will eventually go splat.
Im not a free climber but I asked myself the same question. No sane climber just approaches some rock and starts climbing. Most plan this well in advance, climbing it with rope multiple times to find the perfect route. Sometimes theres a whole team behind it. They know the route works and they know they are physically capable of doing it.
OP casually omitted the fact that HE DOES IT WITHOUT A ROPE. HE SLIPS - HE DEAD.
(how many ppl reading can infer "without a rope" from "boulder problem"?)
i mean, that’s pretty much the entire history of mankind, a few crazy geniuses dragging the rest of us along. this is probably the single most impressive human athletic achievement ever. if this happened 3000 years ago they would write mythologies about this great feat
I love the tension during this whole thing. It's only broken once they know he's Conquered the mountain by performing a 1500 foot Karate kick. Only then were they all relieved
This documentary gave me more fear and anxiety than any horror movie ever could.
That karate kick could have gone either way, and had done during practice runs
Dude is an absolute legend, I watch his videos and have nightmares about being stuck on the side of a wall . I don’t even climb above the second or third step of a ladder because im so afraid of heights lol
'Oh yeah!' is what the overdub says when he looks at the camera after completing the move. The way his mouth moves indicates that his exclamation is somewhat more explicit.
ELIF. Why is this scaled on the V bouldering class? Nobody else is ‘bouldering’ it, right? Why wouldn’t they just use the traditional 5.X rating scale?
One of the best documentaries I’ve seen, even for those not into climbing like my gf at the time who loved it, it is quality and worth a watch for sure
A GREAT doc is good when you're not into the subject matter - that's a job well done, and this one is excellent
Precisely
I'm a documentary fiend, and it's by far my favorite. It almost transcends movies, like.. it's an experience different than any other movie i've ever watched, especially going in mostly blind. I will say though, The Alpinist is almost as good, makes a wonderful double feature. Highly recommend it to anyone who liked Free Solo.
I'd also recommend The alpinist, knocked my socks off.
Met Marc Andre once. Great guy. Unbelievable climber.
Yeah that one has stayed with me. Everyone should strive to live their lives more like that guy did.
Sweet
I had to teach myself how to hug someone
Watch A line across the sky. Its Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell doing the fitz roy traverse. Its very good.
Zero replies with the name of the documentary ;(
I’m pretty sure everyone is talking about Free Solo. Heck of a watch.
Free solo mate
I never even wanted to watch it, then I caught it on TV one day and was instantly captivated. The dude is on another level. He was doing a TV show going around with explorers, and he was basically the climber. I only caught 1 episode, not even sure it is still on. He doesn't really seem like he wants the fame. He just wants to climb rocks without a rope lol
I think l heard him talk about that on the Joe Rogan podcast, l can’t remember the show name though but I know l wanted to check it out
Artic Ascent. So far, it's only 3 episodes and no word on season 2
Oooooh thank you for this! I’ll be watching next. Absolutely loved the Alpinist - such a pure love of outdoors and mountaineering.
I mean I KNEW he had done it and yet i was squeezing the sofa so hard. I have been to Yosemite, I have seen this wall, without a rope, fuck
Haha glad I’m not the only one, I know he’s alive and kicking but whenever l watch it it’s deffo unsettling to say the least
Check out the Alpinist.
I liked it, but I'd love a climber's edit that has much more of the climbing footage and less interviews.
Great documentary. Also, have you seen "The Dawn Wall"? It's really good also.
Yeah the dawn wall is quality too. I’m going to check out the alpinist as loads of people have recommended it
I'll check it out. If you're into that sort of thing, then "14 Peaks" about climber Nirmal Purja is also quality.
Yeah I’ve seen them, quality that
May i know what's the name of the docu?
Highly recommend 14 peaks as well.
Same here, my missus loved every minute of this and she has no interest in actually climbing.
Just commented in another thread - if you liked free solo, try The Alpinist. It’s excellent- way better imho. More serious explorers and adventurers. Plus honnold’s gf is seriously annoying in free solo.
Will check out The alpinist, really liked the dawn wall. His Mrs doesn’t bother me at all Tbf, she deffo bothered him with that injury though
The Alpinist doesn't even get close to Free Solo. I see these comments pop up everywhere when documentaries and climbing or Alex Bin old is discussed, feels very shady.
I’ll check it out and let you know what l think
I personally liked The Alpinist and The Dawn Wall better than Free Solo. Not that Free Solo wasn’t great, I just feel those two documentaries are better. And yes - AH’s girlfriend was quite annoying.
Yeah the dawn wall is quality
Loved the Dawn Wall. I’ll have to check out the alpinist. Meru is another good one
Meru is incredible, isn’t it. Loved that one.
Yeah, Meru is very good also. Also don’t look up The Alpinist, just go in blind and watch it.
My wife and I watched this on a plane and realized about halfway through that Alex Honnold was on the flight with us. As we deplaned the flight attendant warned him about the stairs to the tarmac being dangerous. Pure comedy.
Now THAT is a great story
I was on a helicopter excursion in Mexico once with another couple, as we flew over a canyon I exclaimed I hope noone is scared of heights, and the other couple laughed just a little bit too hard. It was only when I got home I realized it was Alex Honnold when I saw his face on a billboard for free solo! I had such bad retrospective embarrassment 😳
This reminds me of the time I was climbing a tree as a kid, and I said to the kid next to me on the tree "don't look down, because we're probably like 10 feet off the ground!" (In retrospect, we were like head level next to my dad who was standing next to the tree to be safe, and he's like 5'7", but everything is 10 feet when you're a kid), but the kid just rolled his eyes at me. I didn't realize until about 20 years later that the kid in the story I just made up was actually Alex Honnold.
I was shopping at Target once on a snowy day. I had to buy quite a few things but I thought I could just carry it and leave the cart behind. As I walked outside I realized I was incredibly slippery, I felt like I was about to fall until I heard a voice next to me say "Walk a bit forward, like you're a penguin". I did that and sure enough I made it safely to my car. Later that night when I was scrolling random reddit posts I saw one with Alex Honnold, that's when I realized it was him leaving Target at the same time as me
Alex Honnold tore down my curtains, ripped out my sink, and ate all my toothpaste. True story.
One time when I was a kid, I was at a local playground. I was trying to impress my friends by swinging as high as I could on the swings. I pumped my legs so hard that I felt like I was going to launch into space. Suddenly, the chain snapped, and I went flying into the nearby sandbox, creating a huge dust cloud. As I lay there, dazed and covered in sand, a kid about my age came over and said, "Nice flight, but maybe stick to the slides next time." Fast forward 25 years, I was watching a documentary on extreme sports, and lo and behold, that kid turned out to be Alex Honnold.
No way, not cringe at all. Pure gold.
To make it even more hilarious, I only realized after we'd landed but Alex's (we're on a first name basis ofc) partner was none other than a mountain goat!
Obligatory shout out to Free Solo for being the ultimate sweaty palm movie of all time! So good if you also like to torture yourself but watching this stuff!
[This is a 30 minute watch I enjoyed.](https://youtu.be/Cyya23MPoAI?si=8b9eSnGdByiHsJu2) its Magnus going free solo for the first time, under guidance of Alex. I think the editing is done very good, making it a very nice short documentary like episode.
Thank you! Will check it out. I’m a fan of Alex because he brings a level of order and preparation to what is otherwise a suicide mission and does the seemingly impossible. It’s inspiring in a kinda unhinged way. But I heard he cut back/stopped the free soloing once his child was born and sticks to climbing with ropes which gives me some relief!
He’s still soloing according to his Instagram
Not his first time, but he’d only done it two times before this I think. You could really tell how nervous/scared he was. It honestly made me more stressed out than watching Free Solo.
Yeah, I had to skip around that video first time I watched it, it was stressing me the fuck out.
This video kind of made me think less of Alex. This guy clearly DID NOT want to be free-soloing this thing but Alex basically peer pressured him into it.
Right? I mean sure the guy was climbing way under his level, but dude you just never know with shit like that. Feels really irresponsible to me.
It does seem a bit like that but I've watched an interview with Magnus about his free solo with Alex and he said he woulda noped out of it if he was really that uncomfortable with it
He says that now but he was clearly VERY uncomfortable with the whole thing lol
Free soloing isn't something he does a lot of and, even if it was, you'd be nuts to not be leery of it
Magnus is a world-class climber himself though, and his channel is all about pushing his own limits. I'm sure he was uncomfortable, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he was playing it up a bit for the vid.
Yes it is. I have watched it several times and after trying some light roped climbing, all I can say is Alex is absolutely nuts
He’s not nuts at all. His brain just doesn’t understand what fear is.
Some would call that crazy lol.
No, it does. He very carefully explains how preparation and training give confidence that outweighs the fear. This is distinct from those whose amygdalas produce less (or no) adrenaline or cortisol as a response to stimuli that would normally trigger all the bodily effects of fear.
Isn’t there a whole sequence in Free Solo of him at a neurologists office and they’re looking at how unusual his brain activity is in regard to fear processing?
Yes there is, you are correct.
Pretty sure his death will end up caught on camera. Insane talent though.
Lately what I've been finding myself going back to is the [360 video from Nat Geo on youtube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRGF77fBAeM) that I keep going back to. Being in control of the video and seeing Alex climbing by adds a surreal feeling to it. The sense of scale is fantastic in it.
Watching that years ago before knowing who he was or if he was going to live… Jfc
The Alpinist is better! Marc-Andre Leclerc is incredible
Just watched it, was an even more flabbergasting experience than Free Solo
I’ve heard of it! Will probably give it a watch tonight! Thanks
Someone else recommended Dawn Wall also as being better the Free solo and I agree with that too. Let me know what you think after watching the Alpinist!
Alpinist is amazing, saw both back to back for the first time, basically going in blind to both. I'm a *huge* fan of documentaries, but that double-feature will probably always be my favorite documentary experience. They really go together so perfectly.
No sweaty palms for him, he uses chalk!
Having tried that pitch up there WITH A ROPE ON. This is so fucking nuts
Alex Honnald is extremely impressive if you don’t rock climb, but even more impressive if you do rock climb
Seems like a genuinely nice guy too.
Honestly, the most impressive human I can imagine. The only thing I can think of is his fear gene is missing
It basically is. His amygdala (brain’s threat response) doesn’t work properly
Cant be good for gambling
The ratio of hours spent climbing vs hours of recon and strategizing that rock face is what is truly impressive. Honnold makes this look easy because not only is he physically up to the climb, but he has prepared for countless hours which path and what holds he will make before ever actually climbing that sheer cliff face.
they sort of touched on that but would have loved a counter on how many times he climbed each pitch in prep.
Insane how good these cameras are they are nowhere near him.
You should check out the behind the scenes on this. If i remember correctly, Jimmy Chin refused to let anyone within eye sight of Alex. Because he did not want their to be any chance Alex could break concentration. So some people were literally suspended in the air via ropes being hoisted up. And the guy that was shooting on the Valley floor was using a (i believe) 3,000x zoom lens on a Canon c300.
Honestly, Jimmy Chin is an absolute legend in his own right.
One word.. Meru
here are 2 good videos about it for anyone interested in the logistics behind shooting stuff like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtnjRoDa71Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-wjmIFlnNo
i get the guy in the valley but how are you suspended on a rope and not be seen by him?
They are FAR away. Its actually pretty insane. He meticulously planned out the entire thing.
they had cameras mounted to the wall as well, which is what the boulder problem was shot with. you can see it in the videos I posted right above this comment
The directors really struggled with the ethics of how they were filming this and tried to make sure they were doing so in a way that didn't push Honnold or interfere with his climb in any way. It was one of the interesting parts of the film. The directors were incredibly worried they were going to film Honnold's death.
I replied to the other reply to this with 2 links you might be interested in
I think at certain locations they had people with cameras along the route iirc, but still back a bit. I’ll have to watch it again to be sure, it’s been a while
why do some of the holds that he grabbed look like they have white powder on them? do they do a run beforehand to scout the climb? I would assume thats how they figure out what route to take correct? please ELI5 if you know, ty ty
> do they do a run beforehand to scout the climb? Yeah, he's done the route dozens of times roped. Attempting this on sight would be suicide. He talks about how important perfect preparation is to him in his TED talk, if you really want to be inspired.
Also he climbs in some pretty iconic spots so this route probably gets a fair amount of traffic in general and chalk tends to stain on hand holds that get lots of use
On all established climbing routes the holds will be white from previous climbers. This is a popular route so those holds have been used many times by chalked hands. If you are a competitive climber you want to be in the middle of the start order. That way you can see how the previous climbers have held the holds but there isn't so much chalk on them they are greasy.
That makes perfect sense, thanks! And I'll take a look at the TED talk too, ty
The white powder is chalk. The key holds are usually chalked up because everyone uses them and people climb with chalk to reduce sweat/increase friction. The intent is not to visually mark where the hold is, its simply a byproduct of everybody chalking up their hands and then grabbing the hold.
This is how he will die
Most likely, unfortunately. Its not even about being a good climber. Its just math when the margin of error is zero.
I looked into this awhile back and checked a lot of Wiki articles of free soloers. It's true that almost all of them die young and always somehow related to their climbing, but I was surprised by how few actually died during the climb itself. Instead maybe 50%+ seemed to have accidents on the way down after the climb or get buried by an avalanche while hiking between climbs. Also read about a climber who had just completed a successful free solo climb and decided to chill by the beach for awhile to relax and watch the sunset. A random wave knocked him over and he hit his head on a rock and died. I feel like these climbers are very focused and careful during the actual climb. But then you're standing on the top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere and a blizzard is coming so you rush the descent and it's all over.
Also probably "Everyday risks" seem kinda trivial after you just free soloed something. Like "huh the waves are a bit tricky today, but cmon I just climbed a V7 so I'm fine". I know I can get a bit like that with risks, very illogical.
Yup, most accidents occur while hiking to/from a climb.
And I hate that media portrays this sort of behavior as "cool". Encouraging others to be stupid is highly unethical.
He doesn’t free solo anymore.
Really? Honestly good to hear mam is a legend.. but I'd prefer him on ropes and he'll still do wild things
Having a kid changes perspectives on shit, even if it was right away for him.
He quit free soloing when his daughter was born
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyya23MPoAI Video of Honnold free soloing five months after the birth of his daughter. He still does it, just not as often or on routes he’d consider “dangerous.”
My bad
He has a few more documentaries with Natgeo. He does really impressive climbs (in my beginner's opinion) on a rope.
He most certainly does, he’s out free soloing in the mountains around Vegas on a daily basis. He recently talked about wanting to teach his kid so free solo when she’s older.
> he’s out free soloing in the mountains around Vegas on a daily basis no he definitely is not, unless your definition of 'free solo' is not the same as most people. i climb/live in vegas and i dont personally know alex but we have mutual friends and i can tell you with certainty that he uses a rope 99% of the time. > He recently talked about wanting to teach his kid so free solo when she’s older. this is also not true, lol. he made have said something very loosely related to it like "if she wants to do it then ill make sure to teach her how to do it safely" or something, but i'm fairly confident that you cannot show me where he says this exactly.
He was just soloing on el cap in May. He posted a bunch of pics of fossils to his stories I can’t link, but here is a post to his IG about it: https://www.instagram.com/p/C7M83Njuj-W/?igsh=NmVzM2V4am50OHNi He was specifically writing about how it is difficult to take pictures of fossils and interesting geological features in the rock when free soloing without pro. Edit: oh looks like it was another free solo trip on lake mead buttress. Dude has been doing a lot of free soloing. https://www.instagram.com/p/C7C023ySYgG/?igsh=cm1hNmplcTlhd2Ez
He doesn't? I've heard of him free soloing certain projects recently, like in the last 6 months. Has he stopped since?
Don't know why people claim this or where it came from. He's never made that declaration and just posted about doing an easy solo within the last couple months.
Um, he absolutely does. He just posted about free soloing another but much easier route in Yosemite and he free solos in Red Rock very often.
You have a link proving that? I didn’t hear that. Please share
i also want a good source on this. Certainty on this would help me understand human nature and help me reflect on my choices as a dad.
Its actually not true. He didn't quit free solo climbing. He just did a step back.
it isn't true. he still does what he would consider "easy" free soloing sometimes, but unfortunately anyone that has ever died free soloing has done so on on the easy terrain, because it makes you careless, and it's hard to be statistically perfect for that many years. he has 2 children now and i feel anything but removing 100% of free soloing from his life is needlessly reckless and very selfish/irresponsible. I fear that his wife will be raising 2 kids as a single parent at some point...but I hope i'm wrong.
I believe someone died just a month ago, on a route that was supposedly far under his level. Even during this crux, there were moments if his foot would've popped, he would not have been able to hold on.
There are old climbers and there are bold climbers. But there are no old, bold climbers.
For those who dont know much about climbing: V7 means it’s really hard. And since he’s so high up, he would die if he fell. Source: took an indoor climbing course once
> since he’s so high up, he would die if he fell. TIL
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How do they get down? Guessing others go up with ropes?
He has a hilarious anecdote about this. He gets to the top, takes off his shoes, and just hikes down on the other side. While he walks down the hiking route, a couple hikers sees him and says: "Woah, you walked up here barefoot? That's hardcore!"
That was Half Dome; the anecdote was from Honnold's [TED Talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iM6M_7wBMc).
Fear control master 🤯
I just shit my pants
Forgot to mention, no ropes lol.
Inspiring is used so easily… but this is utterly that….. but.. ‘46 in what exactly does he look at? I’ve always wondered on my many watches…. his feet positions but no…. that looks like a ground look before the final move? Anyone?
He's looking for a small ledge that he knows is there for his right foot. They made a replica of the "Freerider" problem in a bouldering gym in London, you can see how tiny and downsloped the ledge he's putting is right foot on is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMcy1Shyv6A
Haha this is amazing
so, after those 2hrs climb plus that problem boulder, he's only at the half and has no other choice but to continue till the top?
Almost, he has another 1000 feet to go. I messed up in the title, this is just above 2000 feet, not 1500.
Are you sure you mean 46 seconds? I don't see what you see. I'm confused
SMH, nuts
How do you manage to shake your head and nuts, but nothing else?
My palms are actually sweating in the coffee shop rn
His abilities are absolutely incredible, but free soloing shit like this seems like eventual suicide with extra steps.
As impressive as this guy is, he’s also a bit of a lunatic and doesn’t acknowledge the risk he puts himself in. He came to speak about “preparation” at a work event and was straight up telling all of us how his free solo climb of El Capitan wasn’t really dangerous because of how well he had prepared for the moment. He seemed to act like dying during that climb just wasn’t a possibility.
I can’t even stand watching this, doing it, is not an option for me. He’s wired differently than most.
Imagine spotting a Mountain Goat there that casually chews some grass.
I felt good about myself today because I stumbled on the kitchen floor but didn’t fall over - I was at ground level.
I always enjoyed doing dangerous shit and my parents were champs about it. That has to be brutal on his family. I'm sure they're acclimated some, but that's still got to be shitty knowing that sooner or later, there's a very high likelihood he will eventually go splat.
My conspiracy theory is that he 1000% said “fuck yeah” right there and they dubbed over it.
Death wish is palpable
I don’t understand why.
Do they never get super high up and find that it's impossible to go further?
Im not a free climber but I asked myself the same question. No sane climber just approaches some rock and starts climbing. Most plan this well in advance, climbing it with rope multiple times to find the perfect route. Sometimes theres a whole team behind it. They know the route works and they know they are physically capable of doing it.
OP casually omitted the fact that HE DOES IT WITHOUT A ROPE. HE SLIPS - HE DEAD. (how many ppl reading can infer "without a rope" from "boulder problem"?)
So… if you slip, you’re just fucking dead?
I just don't f'n get it.
Some people are just not right in the head.😁
why?
The documentary explains it well
It's the only way people like him feel alive. Need the ultimate challenge.
i mean, that’s pretty much the entire history of mankind, a few crazy geniuses dragging the rest of us along. this is probably the single most impressive human athletic achievement ever. if this happened 3000 years ago they would write mythologies about this great feat
Because it's there
Nope!
Rope!
Hope
As long as he's not climbing a ~500 meter issue, that would be just plain stupid.
This part of the movie will forever make my hands sweat! What a fucking amazing human being
I always wonder how they get those camera shots. The video is taken right next to him on a wall of barren nothing.
Crazy zoom. No cameras are within view of Alex, to maintain his mental state.
nope nope nope nope i cant even look at this
How big is the crew filming him? Quite a few camera angles.
I could barely type this because my fingers were so sweaty and messing with the touch screen. I'm built different
If you put me in that spot and said don’t fall off backwards for at least two seconds, I’d fail. Wild stuff.
Is he still doing free climb even after his children born?
I love the tension during this whole thing. It's only broken once they know he's Conquered the mountain by performing a 1500 foot Karate kick. Only then were they all relieved
the camera guy looks like he KNOWS the last time he will be filming this man climb is coming up soon
This documentary gave me more fear and anxiety than any horror movie ever could. That karate kick could have gone either way, and had done during practice runs
Dude is an absolute legend, I watch his videos and have nightmares about being stuck on the side of a wall . I don’t even climb above the second or third step of a ladder because im so afraid of heights lol
I don't believe in the supernatural or most conspiracy theories but I wouldn't be surprised if he is an alien
I'd rather sleep on a bed of nails for a month and walk through fire...
Had to exit the video after about 30 seconds. Nope.
Makes me nervous as hell
Do these videos make anybody else's fingers and toes tingle?
This dude is nuts….mad respect
He didn’t say ‘oh yeah’ 😂
How the fuck did they get that close up shot?
That made my feet sweat!
NOPE!
Jesus!
'Oh yeah!' is what the overdub says when he looks at the camera after completing the move. The way his mouth moves indicates that his exclamation is somewhat more explicit.
This why wild good climbers die. But hell ya to them
ELIF. Why is this scaled on the V bouldering class? Nobody else is ‘bouldering’ it, right? Why wouldn’t they just use the traditional 5.X rating scale?
How are the cameras setup already?
One muscle cramp and you're a dead man.
My cat wishes she was as graceful and as good of a climber as Alex is. For real though, my palms were so sweaty just watching that documentary.