Watching it as a group of climbers was fun because we could shit talk the entire time.
My favorite was when he said the quiet part out loud. “V2 in my gym.”
The media was trying to make it sound death defying and extreme the entire time, but any time they’d ask a climber about it, “oh he’s chilling.”
Regular and reliable holds like this are fairly easy for someone like Honnold. Each individual move is basically trivial so the challenge is maintaining focus over a long period of time, which he is accustomed to as well.
Yeah the hardest move on the entire thing was the first overhang with the security camera, and that was V3\5.10. The entire event was well below any kind of test for a pro climber. The solo part attracts a lot of attention.
I am genuinely curious how many people in this thread have ever been in a harness somewhere that equipment failure means death. I’m getting a strong Couch Climber vibe in here.
Alex: stands there
Crowd: goes wild
What an idiot. Glad I don’t have Netflix.
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From the article:
Taiwan’s Vice-President Hsiao Bi-khim congratulated Honnold
I don’t think it was illegal.
I’m all for shitting on corpos, but I have a hard time believing they’re doing this without authorisation.
Sometimes I wish this chucklefuck would just fall to his fucking death so we can all stop glorifying free solo.
“I don’t like the thing that he does that doesn’t affect anyone else, so I think he should die.” What I ridiculous fucked up belief.
I dont wish anybody to die, but bullshit like this is just high production value tik tok trend.
Normalizing and idolising stunts like this encourages morons to try it them self and they end up with broken neck.
Just last autum three kids climbed in to radio mast, because they were doing some stupid challenge video. One of them ended up taking the express elevator to ground. Yay, sad parents without a kid and two traumatised friends, because of silly content.
I would love to just put it under natural selection, but its clear that they did what they did because of social media and because they had seen similiar content done by somebody else.
So yeah. I see stunts like this as harmfull.
just put it under natural selection
It literally is though. People have been doingstupid shit for recognition for ages and getting killed.
Call it what you will. Darwin award or whatever, but as long as people pay attention, they will find a way to do stupid risky shit for clout, regardless of how idiot-proof we attempt to make society.
Evel Kneivel was jumping canyons on a dirt bike long before social media. People doing death defying stunts is a tail as old as time. I’ve watched many videos of kids climbing towers and doing stupid shit like hanging of the edge well over a decade ago too. It’s not Honnold that pushed them there
The false equivalence comparing Evel and Honold is wild. One took way more money than the average dope has, was obviously promoted as reckless as fuck, and did nearly kill him a bunch of times.
Compare that to the cost of a chalk bag, shoes, and a park pass, and tons more morons will be able to emulate their equally moronic idol.
Also, who here knows anything about El Cap? It’s a fucking cake walk for the first 1000 feet, then it gets technical. So now some dipshit that watched free solo is a thousand feet of the valley floor and panicking, unable to climb farther up and absolutely incapable of downclimbing, which is much harder.
Money shouldn’t have any part in this debate. Risk is risk. I’d also argue most people that see free solo and get inspired to try climbing something like El cap wouldn’t physically be able to climb very high. People like Honnold make it look easier than it is where most people can’t do a pull up. The ones that can know the risks.
I am telling you that the early part of the climb is very easy. Large holds, big cracks, very obvious chalking and easy route finding.
And if you are comparing jumping a motorcycle across the snake river to free climbing, the cost of entry is absolutely a factor in how dangerous broadcasting the stunt is. Again, the former requires a jump, a pretty big fucking jump. That requires engineering, fabrication, materials. It required a permit, to build that infrastructure in that location at that time. It is not an equivalent comparison to purchasing shoes and going for a drive. Not to mention the people that already had gear but not enough experience to fully understand the danger
The building was probably pretty expensive to build.
I don’t believe what the other guy does, but it absolutely affects other people.
If he falls, someone has to clean it up……
If is doing some heavy lifting here. Granted, free climbers don’t tend to live to an old age, but at least with something like Taipei, it was approved and setup with people that know the risks.
I think it absolutely effects other people. It’s like making a show about how cool suicide is. I really don’t care that apparently 7 people disagree with that.
This is a you’re not wrong, just an asshole situation. There was actually a cluster of free solo deaths in 2024 in Colorado cause this shit was getting popular.
Free solo climbers used to be an incredibly small group with a death rate that rival people who use those gliding suits and thread the needle under bridges. It’s a community of people like cave divers, they understand death is a likely part, the people attracted to this (no matter what they personally say) are either ok with dying or have disassociated the risk so much that they don’t take it seriously enough.
Alex Honold will get more people killed by getting them interested in free soloing, traditional rock climbing by comparison is like tennis level safe.
Oh I’m ok with being an asshole about this, plenty of my friends think so. If you spend enough time in the climbing world you meet a lot of idiots like Alex, most of them die quietly and I think that’s for the best.
Some people need it, fuck.
You’re the one who wants him to die. He wants to live and show how cool free climbing is.
It’s not cool, just like jumping of a bridge isn’t cool. I really don’t care about anyone else’s opinion here, I’m very set in mine. Friends of mine know Alex, I know lots of people that solo. Bragging about it makes you dangerous.
7 people on a niche platform that saw your post. Millions saw free solo and millions more watched him climb Taipei yesterday. If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. It’s that simple. Wishing death on him and then saying it’s somehow promoting suicide is some dumbass shit. It’s an extreme sport, clearly not your thing.
I mean it’s clearly a mental illness. He could be using safety gear. He’s climbing like this for a rush.
Participating in extreme sports is a mental illness? Pushing ones limits is not a mental illness. He knows the risks and enjoys it. This is what he’s trained for his entire life. It’s no different than a Travis Rice being heli dropped off on top of a mountain in Alaska and snowboarding down. Or a Redbull athlete jumping between planes in a wing suit. Different strokes for different folks. Not a mental illness.
I don’t watch it, it’s stupid. I hate that he is in Valley Uprising. I skip his segment when I watch. People have died because of his grand exposure.
People are stupid and if they’re dumb enough to do something they aren’t equipped to do is natural selection. I don’t want people dying, but that’s the risk and they know it.
“I don’t like the thing that he does
If you climb reckless, you’ll only have one wreck.
that doesn’t affect anyone else
False. Idiotic stunting is still idiotic and stunting.
If he did fall some 18 year old EMT will have to try to scrape him off the dirt. So while I don’t entirely believe free solo is horrible, it does affect others. Sometimes profoundly.
