Free Solo?
Hans Solo has been imprisoned?
Oh no! Han, use the Force!
Free Han!
Luke, you must save - oh, never mind ... The Syth Dark Lords of Disney destroyed Skywalker, and Star Wars with him.
All is lost.
The first time I became aware of Alex Honnold was at the Banff World Tour when they showed the movie “Sufferfest”. It’s hard to find online now - here’a a link that appears to be working (17 min):
https://www.climbing.com/videos/the-sufferfest-with-alex-honnold-and-cedar-wright-full-movie/
Alex & friend Cedar Wright are pretty hilarious together - Cedar is the more outgoing of the two.
Here is another movie - a subsequent, similar trip the two made together - starts out with them talking to an audience, but then they show the film - it’s got some great moments:
Sufferfest: 700 Miles of Pain and Glory | Nat Geo Live (21 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri4CbP_E7oo
It is an documentary. My hands were sweating watching the climb, I was so tense. I cannot fathom how he is wired to want to do such things, but it’s amazing to watch. Leave it to a damn lib to ruin the purity of the subject matter by finding a way to hurl a TDS loogie into his own article. They just cannot stop themselves, even for a moment.
I thought it was a pretty good movie, once they got to the climbing. The man himself seemed like an incredibly selfish child. He’s obviously on the spectrum and has a lot of personal issues, and it’s certainly an amazing achievement, but I feel sorry for his girlfriend (if she’s still with him).
I’ve been following Alex Honnold from a distance for some time now and I am a great admirer and when I heard he was going to free solo El Cap, it never occurred to me he would fail. I just wanted to be sure I saw the film.
I loved the film and it gave me more insight into this amazing young man. (Nobody ever talks about his hands which are massively large and I think one key to his climbing success.)
But what this NYT writer doesn’t seem to grasp, or at least address, is that Alex’s perspective is a perspective of living a performance-based life, which can be a very exhausting and, really,an unrewarding, life. It often can be, as it may be in Alex’s life, a result of rejection (ex. Alex’s mother) and, thus, “proving” oneself. This is true with many, though not all, high achievers.
Better, IMO, to live a life of acceptance and let doing what you want spring from that fountain of acceptance. A happier life IMO.
I’ve followed him since he was still a teen
He’s done enough.
He’s got a lovely young lady who adores him
He should rest on his free solo laurels
You climb that style long enough you will die
No doubt
I get sweaty palms and scared just watching him
On that journey up El Cap
Two Pitches on that climb scared me ....the karate kick move to the left on I think pitch 5 or so
And the swing out near the top.....
It’s amazing
Athlete of the year
I’m sure the usual scolds here will be offering their nasty pearls from the comfort of the lazy boy
Hope I’m wrong
I really want to see this flick—I looks amazing.
He is incredible, by far the best in the world at what he does. Ever.
Btw
I’m please to find Freepers appreciation of Alex
He’s the Aryton Senna cum Tom Brady cum Joe DiMaggio cum Michael Jordan of wall climbing