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Honnold solos Freerider (Read 26308 times)

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#25 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 05, 2017, 07:22:28 pm
Incredible. Hope he retires now!

Retires from cutting-edge solos, I assume you mean? If so: agreed. Hopefully he will resist the temptation to up the ante by linking a Freerider solo with Half Dome in a day, or whatever the next progression may seem to him. Perhaps it is a good omen that he has been hanging out with Peter Croft, one of the very few soloist superstars who didn't push it too far.

Which solo superstars are documented in fatal accidents pushing things too far on rock solos?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_solo_climbing  The list here and the accident analysis in Yosemite and the sad death of too many well known soloists indicate it's bad luck or when focus drops (on difficulties well below limits) that climbers need to be more careful. Honnold to me seems to deal with risk and focus as carefully as any leading edge adventure climber I know of. So why does he get so much attention on this from climbers compared to those climbers dealing with higher (usually uncontrollable objective) risks in the greater ranges.

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#26 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 06, 2017, 01:52:51 am
A bit more insight from someone who knows what they are talking about: https://www.outsideonline.com/2190306/why-alex-honnolds-free-solo-scared-me

So why does he get so much attention on this from climbers compared to those climbers dealing with higher (usually uncontrollable objective) risks in the greater ranges.

Quantifying risk isn't an easy thing to do particularly for a casual observer with no metric. Hard to say truly objectively whether a bird flying out of a crack at the wrong time  is more likely than an avalanche. More people die mountaineering, but maybe more people mountaineer than this relative level of soloing whatever that is?

 I guess that also you are defining risk purely in the terms of Honnold on this route. I would suppose that your average punter having a crack on Everest or whatever would have a higher survival chance than your average punter having a crack at soloing Freerider.

 Perhaps it gets so much more attention because most of us are rock climbers? I'll never be a mountaineer and an ascent of Everest doesn't interest me as much as this. I can relate to just how mind blowing far above my mental/physical level this is much more easily.

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#27 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 06, 2017, 09:07:26 am
A bit more insight from someone who knows what they are talking about: https://www.outsideonline.com/2190306/why-alex-honnolds-free-solo-scared-me

lightly OT, but has anyone read the Tommy Calbwell Book "The Push" linked at the bottom of the article? Any good?

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#28 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 06, 2017, 09:59:37 am

Quantifying risk isn't an easy thing to do particularly for a casual observer with no metric. Hard to say truly objectively whether a bird flying out of a crack at the wrong time  is more likely than an avalanche. More people die mountaineering, but maybe more people mountaineer than this relative level of soloing whatever that is?

 I guess that also you are defining risk purely in the terms of Honnold on this route. I would suppose that your average punter having a crack on Everest or whatever would have a higher survival chance than your average punter having a crack at soloing Freerider.

 Perhaps it gets so much more attention because most of us are rock climbers? I'll never be a mountaineer and an ascent of Everest doesn't interest me as much as this. I can relate to just how mind blowing far above my mental/physical level this is much more easily.

It's not so hard to recognise the risks for skilled climbers in the greater ranges are much greater than a skilled soloist who is fully focussed. You only need to look down the list of casualties. As an example Ive linked climbing details for K2 below. This doesn't make what Alex does safe but as Tommy says he climbs to live not to cheat death. The leading edge of adveture climbing has always flirted with what some climbers regard as vastly unacceptable risks. Two thoughtful books on this subject are David Roberts' "On the Ridge Between Life and Death" and Maria Coffey's "Where the Mountain Casts its Shadow"

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/On-the-Ridge-Between-Life-and-Death/David-Roberts/9780743255196
https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/maria-coffey/1014562/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2  .... and the sad lists of deaths:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_on_eight-thousanders

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#29 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 06, 2017, 11:21:03 am
Sure I accept that, but I suppose I'm just thinking of reasons why it provokes the response. It's more unusual than mountaineering and the skill level required is greater. (Specifically talking about Alex).
« Last Edit: June 06, 2017, 11:31:17 am by monkoffunk »

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#30 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 06, 2017, 05:18:11 pm

Quantifying risk isn't an easy thing to do particularly for a casual observer with no metric. Hard to say truly objectively whether a bird flying out of a crack at the wrong time  is more likely than an avalanche. More people die mountaineering, but maybe more people mountaineer than this relative level of soloing whatever that is?

 I guess that also you are defining risk purely in the terms of Honnold on this route. I would suppose that your average punter having a crack on Everest or whatever would have a higher survival chance than your average punter having a crack at soloing Freerider.

 Perhaps it gets so much more attention because most of us are rock climbers? I'll never be a mountaineer and an ascent of Everest doesn't interest me as much as this. I can relate to just how mind blowing far above my mental/physical level this is much more easily.

It's not so hard to recognise the risks for skilled climbers in the greater ranges are much greater than a skilled soloist who is fully focussed. You only need to look down the list of casualties. As an example Ive linked climbing details for K2 below. This doesn't make what Alex does safe but as Tommy says he climbs to live not to cheat death. The leading edge of adveture climbing has always flirted with what some climbers regard as vastly unacceptable risks. Two thoughtful books on this subject are David Roberts' "On the Ridge Between Life and Death" and Maria Coffey's "Where the Mountain Casts its Shadow"

http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/On-the-Ridge-Between-Life-and-Death/David-Roberts/9780743255196
https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/maria-coffey/1014562/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2  .... and the sad lists of deaths:  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_on_eight-thousanders

It seems like a difficult risk comparison to make, I'm not certain but maybe a retrospective of Peak District mountain rescue reports would show climbing vs to be more 'risky' than head pointing E8? That aside I personally can't imagine anything much more intense than this ascent. It's beyond the scope of my mind just to imagine the mental control needed.

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#32 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 06, 2017, 08:58:02 pm
Nothing compared to this guy.

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#33 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 06, 2017, 09:56:02 pm
Nothing compared to this guy.


He's already beat that record has he not. Not in as much style granted.

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#34 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 07, 2017, 10:23:27 am
Boggling. This popped up on my FB - slightly geeky analysis of his brain response to normally emotive situations http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber

“Maybe his amygdala is not firing—he’s having no internal reactions to these stimuli,” [...]

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#35 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 07, 2017, 07:12:51 pm

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#37 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 08, 2017, 08:57:07 am
Yes. It is pretty good. For my tastes there is a little too much relationship stuff - chiefly about his high-maintenance ex, Beth Rodden - and too little detail on some of his climbing, like the still unrepeated Flex Luthor, the US's first 5.15, which is barely mentioned. The accounts of his Yosemite stuff are the highlight, obviously the Dawn Wall in particular.

Thanks will add it to backburner

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#39 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 10, 2017, 07:25:47 pm
Pitch by pitch from Tom Evans: http://elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-6317-special-edition-honnold-free-solo-elcap

Taken down at National Geographic's behest.

Still available here: https://m.imgur.com/r/climbing/ZSIAB

That seems a bit pissy TBH. Just some telephoto shots. They don't own the photons.

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#40 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 10, 2017, 08:54:54 pm
Taken down at National Geographic's behest.

Still available here: https://m.imgur.com/r/climbing/ZSIAB

That seems a bit pissy TBH. Just some telephoto shots. They don't own the photons.

Perhaps they bought the rights to Tom's pics? If not he should tell them to get lost.

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#41 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 11, 2017, 09:50:14 pm
Mr Ondra on the subject:
Quote from: Adam Ondra
“It was clear to me that “Freerider” was his main goal. I was asking him about it but he was mysterious about it as the dark side of the moon. “I have a kind of project,” he told me. In November, he bailed it – I think I saw him that day, he had some fixed ropes there. I’ve heard that on Saturday, he had no ropes there (in order to cross out the possibility to escape from the route) – the hardest pitch was filmed from fixed cameras with no cameramen who could influence him.

It’s definitely the biggest thing that ever happened in the world of free-solo climbing, it’s simply unbelievable. We can only discuss whether the free-solo climbing is good or not, whether we should write about it or not… Anyway, it takes tremendous amount of courage to free-solo “Freerider”. From my point of view, it is easier to solo 9a sport route than this one.

Offwidths are no problem for Alex – that’s like taking a stroll for him. But the 7a grade slabs down there are said to be really awkward, then the Enduro corner – I can imagine how awfully slippery it is. Moreover, free-soloing is way more difficult – you skip the belaying points and thus around Enduro corner you climb four pitches that have around 100 m altogether and the difficulty gets to 8a.

I thought that he will wait until autumn. I haven’t expected him to climb the route in June. But it kind of makes sense because he doesn’t like cold weather – he prefers warm temperatures. The individual moves in the route are not so difficult so you can stop from time to time and chalk up. But you really need dry conditions. When it’s too cold it tends to be slippery, and you really don’t want your feet to slip during free-soloing.”
Source

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#42 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 11:39:50 am
There you fucking go motherfuckers.
He didn't train his legs for kneebars, nor his calves or his acroyoga stances.
He fucking bore down on a Beastmaker motherfuckers.
http://eu.blackdiamondequipment.com/en_IT/experience-story?cid=alex-honnold-freerider-hangboard-workout

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#43 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 12:30:35 pm
the way I read it, his big solo was a warmup for his fingerboarding routine

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#44 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 01:01:56 pm
Freerider is "a big, slabby crack"... 

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#45 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 02:04:36 pm
Quote
I mean I want to eat some lunch, I want to get in the shade and then I’m probably going to hang board in a bit. I am perfectly warmed up, I just did four hours’ light exercise, you know?

 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

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#46 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 02:31:19 pm
Quite a bit of chat int pub at the weekend about the inevitable US hyperbole surrounding Honmeister's solo ("landing on the moon"?!) and how it compares to Hansjörg Auer's solo of the Fish on the Marmolada, back in 2007.  Similar length route, except The Fish is in an Alpine setting on Alpine limestone and Auer's ascent was after minimal practice (he'd done it once before, then abbed the route the day before his solo to work the bouldery sections).

I've not done the Fish but I kind of thought it was bog standard E6? Maybe not reading Alan Carne's write up (Alan lives in Verdon and is no stranger to different rock types, so I would go with his assessment). He reckons a pitch of 7b++ "slab moves" and what he calls 7b/7c. Not exactly solid jam terrain.  http://www.alanduverdon.com/news.php?page=13#.WT_nbJDytaQ

There's some cool footage of The Fish here:

And an interview with Grimer about his ascent here:

Anyway, not to take anything away from Honnold, just a big up to Hansjörg Auer for what in hindsight seems to me to be comparably necky (given the lack of pre-practice and the style of route).


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#47 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 03:26:16 pm
... the inevitable US hyperbole surrounding Honmeister's solo ("landing on the moon"?!) ...

Is Alex Honnold’s El Cap Free-Solo the Greatest Sports Achievement—Ever? Probably
 :shit:  :sick:

The hyperbole is the only stylistic device in the toolbox for climbing's worst writer.

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#48 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 05:09:40 pm
... the inevitable US hyperbole surrounding Honmeister's solo ("landing on the moon"?!) ...

Is Alex Honnold’s El Cap Free-Solo the Greatest Sports Achievement—Ever? Probably
 :shit:  :sick:

The hyperbole is the only stylistic device in the toolbox for climbing's worst writer.

Looks like hyperbole to me if you are saying that Bisharat is climbing's worst writer.

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#49 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 05:56:23 pm


Looks like hyperbole to me if you are saying that Bisharat is climbing's worst writer.

My attempts at self referential humor are apparently not always successful

 

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