Alex Honnold Free Solos Yosemite's El Capitan.......... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 02:33:49 am
content: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/features/athletes/alex-honnold/most-dangerous-free-solo-climb-yosemite-national-park-el-capitan/The summary for all the full time lab dwellers: in just under 4 hours he rock climbed over 3000 vertical feet of Yosemite granite, still considered very hard even by modern standards, with no ropes or protection at all.Sorry to go a bit off topic but this is one of the most incredible things a person has ever done in any field. The physical and mental skill here is so amazing that there isn't another person that has even come close to what Honnold is doing. If you ever wanted to know what the absolute best in the world looked like, uncontested, 100% agreement, this is it. And that was before he soloed El Cap today. This is frosting on the frosting!If you absolutely have to bring it back to electronics, some scientists did an MRI on his brain last year to try to figure out how he suppresses his fear so well, and we all know there is lots of electronics in MRI machines...http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber::Edit:: Killer Photos... Beware of sweaty hands...http://elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-6317-special-edition-honnold-free-solo-elcap

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 07:51:32 am
content: It would be nice if the moderators could leave this thread in place, just saying.I worked in elevator shafts and (sometimes) on rooftops for a significant number of years and in all that time I never (and I mean NEVER) went to work without two sets of safety harness. Whilst I admire the physical fitness of the guy there's no way I would consider doing what he does because safety first is now a way of life.Why did I retire? I had a fall that resulted in nerve damage and although I'm still not scared of heights my climbing days are long gone.

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 08:23:41 am
content: Thanks for posting this. This is truly an amazing feat.I spent several years of weekends and vacation time in my late 20s and 30s climbing in Yosemite Valley. Med school and then family has relegated climbing to rare activity now.Climbing is an amazing thing - much more than a sport or hobby. IME there are a disproprtionate number of engineer climbers. Traditional climbing outdoors involves a lot of problem solving - it is much more than physical skill. The mental challenges can be tremendous. (I've stood on the same "Thank God Ledge" mentioned in the MRI article but I was roped, hugging the wall, and still scared shitless!).I've met and in a few cases, gotten to know some climbing legends, but Honnold is another thing altogether and this achievement is just staggering.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 07:42:11 pm
content: I've run into Alex in Yosemite a couple times. He's the nicest most approachable guy. Top athletes seem to always be dicks, but Alex is just stoked about climbing and living the life. He always seems to be happy to talk with anyone.I thought about a way to relate the risk involved in free soloing to the risk in electronics....Some of us deal with high(ish) voltage stuff. Line voltage (or worse) can kill you real quick if you don't know what you are doing, and if you don't know what you are doing you SHOULD have a healthy fear of it. Just getting close to some bare wires makes you instinctively pause and step back... But on the other hand, once you get some training and some experience the fear starts to subside and gets replaced with respect for the consequences any mistakes and respect for your knowledge of how to keep yourself safe. So you follow your training and don't make mistakes. You recognize the danger and give an appropriate amount of attention to it, but it's not debilitating fear anymore. One slip could still kill you at any time, and quickly, so you try to minimize the chances of that happening by consciously staying in control.Replace all references of electronics with climbing and you get a similar picture of playing on the rock walls.Mtdoc, I was trying to get enough stoke to get on RNWF of half dome a few years ago and then a huge section fell off....http://www.climbingyosemite.com/portfolio/half-dome-rockfall-2/

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 08:18:39 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on June 04, 2017, 07:42:11 pmThat's good to hear. Peter Croft is the same. Bachar could be a bit of a dick in his early years (or so I heard) but I ran into him once in his later years on Royal Arches and he was super nice. RIP.QuoteI agree somewhat. But of course there are real differences. With HV electronics you can, at any time, step away from it. But with climbing, depending on the route, once you commit you either control your fear or risk a big fall and potential injury. There is no stepping away from the risk. With free soloing the risk is usually death. When young and foolish I did some "easy" free soloing up to 5.7 or so (and only routes I new very well) but at that level it's entirely different. Big solid holds, lots of rest spots and down climbing always an option. There is no way anyone can downclimb the crux moves that Honnold was doing over and over on El Cap. It makes my palms sweaty just thinking about it and the more I think about it the more amazed I am that any human can do such a thing.QuoteI heard about that rockfall but am not familiar with the route changes - I've been away from that level of climbing for years now. I climbed it circa 1992. At that time most of the original bolts where still in use. Often rusted, without hangers and often some missing with tattered slings bridging the gaps. Those were the scariest pitches!Speaking of run out pitches, old bolts, and rockfall. It was a sad day when the 1996 Happy Isles rockfall took out some of my favorite run out friction climbs on Glacier Point Apron. I suppose there's probably tons of well bolted new routes there now.

author: chris_leyson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 08:33:06 pm
content: Thanks for the post Smokey, I would have missed that bit of news otherwise. Wow that is truly amazing and in under four hours. I used to do a bit of rock climbing back in the day, nothing extreme but I loved it none the less, getting to the end of the last pitch with an adrenaline buzz, absolutely loved it.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: June 04, 2017, 11:16:14 pm
content: Everyone who likes this will LOVE Valley Uprising:It's on NetflixThe trailer doesn't do it justice IMO. Even Mrs EEVblog loved it.Alex is in it and it covers when he first started out.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 12:57:19 am
content: Quote from: mtdoc on June 04, 2017, 08:18:39 pmI've had some power stuff go sideways where things needed to be shut down quickly which required some directed action on my part. Stepping away at that moment would have been bad, and your brain certainly tries to make you turn around and run when the sparks start flying.The analogy isn't 100%, and certainly doesn't explain on-sight solos where you go ropeless way close to your limit without ever having done the climb before which throws in a solid mix of confidence and recklessness. I'm not telling you anything new (longer climbing resume than me), but for everyone else while you are right about the fully committing nature of Alex's El Cap solo, he's been rehearsing the moves on rope for quite a while now. He claims he had the whole route wired at this point. He did a similar rope rehearsal thing when he soloed Sendero Luminoso in Mexico (which is still pretty damn mind blowing, and another palm sweating video):http://www.rockandice.com/video-gallery/the-un-cut-video-of-alex-honnold-free-soloing-el-sendero-luminoso-5-12c-dKeeping your head straight on run out friction routes is one of those things that's hard to even explain to someone... That's it's own game... I took a guy that had been climbing hard in the gym on a 5.6 slab at Tahquitz and he nearly cried following it..1996 Happy Isles rock fall:https://usatunofficial.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/happy_isles_rockfall2_lowres.jpgIf there are new routes over there, no one talks about them. Anything much left of the Grack is considered by some to be in the potential rock fall bowling alley after 1996. You hear lots of general warnings about GP rockfall, but I haven't seen any personally all the times I've been over there.

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 01:51:56 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on June 05, 2017, 12:57:19 amYeah, a familiar story. Gym climbing is fun and a great way to get and stay strong but it's primarily a physical exercise not a mental one. I've seen 5.12 gym climber back off on 5.7 well protected trad routes.QuoteAh memories. The Grack was my first valley climb - with my girlfriend at the time. The Grack Marginal was one of my favorite run out friction climbs... I wonder what's left of it.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 02:59:23 am
content: All the Grack routes still get climbed a ton and if there was any damage there, it got fixed quick. Grack Center always has a line now.If you haven't see it before, here is some Marginal history for ya from the FA party (about 15 posts in).http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/860797/The-Grack-Marginal-part-2-of-2-YV-TR

author: mtdoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 05, 2017, 04:04:33 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on June 05, 2017, 02:59:23 amThanks for the link. I think I looked at that years ago. I know a few of those posters - they're friends of a former climbing partner (including the OP of that thread). Supertopo is a great forum. The EEVblog of the climbing world. Internet web forums did not become a thing until I was no longer a super active climber. Back in the day of usenet groups, I was active on rec.climbing.It's good to know that climb is still there and being climbed. I had mistakenly thought it might have been taken out by the rock fall.