That’s a nope for me, dawg.
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It’s Alex Honhold. He’s wired differently than most people. Definitely not tethered.
Wired very differently. Free-climbing El Capitan is certified bonkers.
It’s amazing to me that he’s still alive, and lives in Las Vegas with a wife and kids. Like somehow he has a “normal” life on top of his climbing insanity.
Seriously. Doing that shit when you have a kid is nuts to me.
Irresponsible with an inevitable conclusion.
I think there’s some credit where credit is due for all the effort he puts in to minimising risk. There’s plenty of people that do various hiking/climbing that is at least as dangerous as what he does.
When you consider the climbing level this guy is at, him soloing a 6a route is probably comparable to someone “ordinary” going for a 20 km hike in exposed terrain: It has risk (rockfall, possibility of slipping, etc.) that could kill you, but it’s not generally considered an excessively foolish thing to do.
If you wanna compare it to hiking, it’s like hiking a long distance in the wilderness alone without bringing any water or food or map or compass or a phone or anything besides some shorts and flip flops.
Even for people who are experienced in the wilderness, there’s a reason why you are supposed to take basic emergency supplies with you (and really the most important emergency supply being a buddy).
See: that guy who famously had to cut his own arm off. Also he’s “one of the lucky ones”. Experienced people die in the wilderness every year, just like experienced free climbers die.
Fun fact, Alex said in an interview that this is a picture of him having a panic attack. Just shaking and desperately trying to keep calm as adrenaline pours through his system.
Didn’t know that he was able to have panic attacks at all. Something to do with his amygdala or something. Good to know that he’s only human, I was deeply moved after watching him in Free Solo.
Is it this picture or this ledge? I believe his half dome assent was scary because he wasn’t fully prepared. However this specific picture was taken afterwards.
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Why? Why would you do this?
And to quote Gwen on Galaxy Quest:
Well fuck that!
I have a fear of heights, so this is terrifying to me. I also wonder why people do this.
I have a fear of heights.
I broke my ankle in a life altering way falling down two stairs unto a sidewalk. That, to me, justified my already reasonable fear of heights.
I don’t understand why this is the “Thank God” ledge rather than the “Oh My God!” or similar ledge.
My guess would be “Thank God I can take a little break here, my hands and arms had started shaking with exhaustion… I wonder if a helicopter could come close enough to drop a rope to me?”
Apparently it’s 1800 feet up and “only” another 200 feet to get to the top of that climb.
Or so I’m reading from safe in my bed!
That’s a fair interpretation, I suppose.
Still, I think the only thing I would be thinking there would be some variation of “why the hell did I come up here and how soon can I be safely back aground!”
I’m very far from doing something like this, but I do have quite a bit of experience hiking/climbing in exposed terrain, so I can do my best: People usually start off enjoying relatively light hikes in the mountains, because it feels good to be hiking in cool terrain with awesome views. As you get more experience, what seemed scary a couple years ago doesn’t look scary anymore. You like hiking, so you go for the hike, without thinking much about the fact that you thought it looked scary and dangerous a couple years ago.
Keep repeating this cycle, and you might suddenly find yourself tied into a rope, with crampons, an ice pick, and skis on your back, on the top of some frozen mountain that looked insurmountable some years ago. It doesn’t even feel scary, just really awesome.
Add some brain damage (slight joke, but Alex Honnold does have a smaller “fear center” than most people), and you end up in situations like the one in the photo.
My point is that it isn’t really about adrenaline seeing like a lot of people think. It’s about going for awesome hikes, and your limits for what you feel safe doing shifting over time as you gain experience.
“Well
fuckscrew that!”Is my memory failing me and she actually did say “fuck that” and they dubbed it over with “screw that”?
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Yup! Your memory is correct!
Never give up, never surrender!
What a nice place to relax and have a cool refreshing glass of NOPE.
Remember kids, it’s not the fall that kills you…it’s the sudden stop at the end.
Just completely miss the ground and you’ll be fine, duh
Today I fell off a ledge into orbit.
True, good luck breathing
That and all the bouncing off the rock face on the way down.
“Because it’s there” is not sufficiant reason for climbing a mountain.
Row, row, row your boat?
Imagine sneezing
“Thank God Ledge” is an iconic feature on the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. This narrow granite ledge, approximately 35 feet long, varies in width from about 5 to 12 inches and is situated roughly 1,800 feet above the valley floor.
Imagine standing there and then suddenly that slab under your feet shifts.
Just looking at this picture makes my hands sweaty
On a scale of “1 to NOPE” I rate this an “absolutely the fuck not, what is wrong with you?”
