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Honnold solos Freerider (Read 26280 times)

Danny

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#50 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 07:29:19 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.

Did this get taken down? Link not working.

Danny

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#51 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 07:43:42 pm
Got it.

Wood FT

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#52 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
June 13, 2017, 11:23:38 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).

What a guy, I really liked how he came across in that uk trad film that came out a few years back, brimmin' with psyche

duncan

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#53 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
July 26, 2017, 02:26:28 pm
Long and detailed interview with Chris Kalous: http://enormocast.com/episode-133-alex-honnold-kind-of-a-big-deal/

He sounds suitably chuffed. Quite interesting on the issues connected with filming, though still plenty that went unasked and unsaid. Honnold from ~8 minutes.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2017, 02:32:46 pm by duncan »

Ged

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#54 Re: Honnold solos Freerider
August 17, 2017, 04:58:40 pm
I like your "honnold from 8 minutes" warning. God that interviewer does my head in.  At least honnold seems self assured enough to not let him interrupt and talk about himself for ages.

Good interview. Particularly enlightening that "backing off" still involves pushing on with the desperate slabs, but just standing on the bolts. I'd imagine that would still be fairly alarming.

 

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