Alex Honnold free climbing tower in Tapei

[lljkk]

Admirable Skilled Guy or Lunatic encouraging others to do stupid stuff?

I'm normally quite Libertarian about risk-taking but this stunt is bothering me. Just imagine he had fallen to his death microseconds after the crowds were cheering him on. Sudden gruesome public death is going to happen to him or some other brave person doing such stunts, eventually. Is that ok?

In the documentary Free Solo he said of his mother and girlfriend “I don’t owe anyone a long life”. He saw so many friends and fellow climbers die along the way, he was totally aware of the risks and yet he is so compelled to keep pushing himself that he absolutely gets that death is the price he pays for the thrill of the climb. After he scaled El Cap his GF said “now he’s done it, he can stop” and I figured he would never stop. I was amazed when he seemed to have wound down the risky stunts and thought his wife and child must have finally made him see what he has to lose. She must be beside herself, I know she knew what he did when they met, but she must have thought she could love that destructive streak out of him!

I watched it last night I felt physically sick even though I knew he survived. I don’t know why anyone would risk their life like that. I fully believe he takes precautions like only doing it if the weather is right but all it would take is one slip or a bird and he would slip to his death . When he stood on the top taking selfies I thought what an idiot anything in the sky could have disrupted his balance .

No, if you read interviews, she’s almost as unusual a person as him, in terms of living with risk. I certainly don’t think she ever thought she was going to change him. She’s some kind of fear coach.

I think he seems happy to risk his young child growing up without a father, and his wife being left alone to raise them. That's his choice, I find it very selfish.

That’s both parents’ choices, surely. AH didn’t morph from a desk job type into free soloing after they got together, or after they had children. His wife has talked in interviews about friends of theirs dying on climbs and making her own accommodation with it. You may not agree with bringing children into that kind of situation, but it won’t have been AH’s sole responsibility.

Climbing with ropes would have made the whole thing pointless as that could then have been done by any competent climber.
The whole point was the mental mastery of the situation.

Yes maybe now. But at the time they met she was inexperienced and definitely not ok with him doing El Cap, and he was having wobbles about her being around and whether it had caused him to slip a couple of times, so it wasn’t like they were a joined up team on this. At the end of the film she was clearly hoping he’d conquered the one big thing he wanted to do and was going to settle down with her.

After he scaled El Cap his GF said “now he’s done it, he can stop” and I figured he would never stop.

It's an addiction as Andy Kirkpatrick says. This type of man rarely stops until they die. There will always be some new exciting challenge and some incentive to do it - be it money, glory or competitive pride.

The GFs always fall into the same trap of thinking they are enough to make up for that adrenaline rush or they that can change him.

You read stories about adventures that have gone wrong and it's amazing just how many of the women left behind say "He said this was the last one".

It's always the last one. Until the next time. Or until it really is the last one.

So whilst the women 'know what they are getting into', they almost always are firmly gaslight with promises too.

It's a pattern and a script much like the man who cheats. They are in love with the thrill and don't give it up.

And honestly, even the women that accept this still struggle with the reality of their partner going off for long periods of time to train or on an exhibition leaving them home alone with the responsibility of the kids. There's examples of climbing couples where the woman really does understand the risks but inevitably ends up giving it up because she isn't as selfish (and can't make as much money through sponsorship for expeditions / training once she's married and had kids because it's all about the insta sexy shots for women).

It's a massive fucking cliché in a sport that still has an underlying toxic masculinity to it.

I think that's an incredibly reductive account of her, as some little homebody hoping he'll turn into someone entirely different, who will 'settle down' tinkering with cars and coaching kids' baseball, because of her.

Humanity needs risk takers, yes, but it also needs risk averse people, and they're not celebrated in the same way, even though they probably contribute far more to our lives.

He's free to take this risk, but it's not one that useful to anyone else, so it's all by him for him.

I haven't seen this guy but I want to watch now (I wouldn't have watched the live streaming!)

I watched Skywalkers: A Love Story where a Russian couple illegally climbed the Merdeka 118 tower in Malaysia. It was really interesting but they also knew a lot of people that had died. I find watching the heights on tv terrifying enough and can't climb a step ladder right to the top so it's fascinating to watch people who just don't have that fear.

My DDs are heavily involved in the climbing community and this 'stunt' is very badly thought of in that community because he did it for the publicity and not the sport itself.

What about servicemen and women who knowingly risk life and limb whenever they go into battle? They too have husbands / wives and children.

What benefit was obtained by this man doing the climb and who benefited?

DH climbs and he certainly isn't of this opinion.

I think his decisions re risk are his business, or his and his family. If he had a notion to climb a tall building, he might as well make some money and have Netflix sort of the logistics.

If his brain isn't capable of feeling threat /fear, then could argue that he doesn't have the faculties to assess risk so should be prevented from doing these things?

It's very difficult when you consider personal freedom- should he be protected from making high risk behaviors because he can't "feel" the risk? Or is it up to him?

This is it. Once you're a parent, it's not just about you anymore. He's effectively looking into his child's eyes and saying "Yes, sweetheart, Daddy does love you... but he loves doing dangerous things that could very likely leave you growing up without a Daddy far more than he loves you."

His choice to risk his life; but his child has no choice in the matter.

Your DH isn't reflective of what I'm hearing from professionals in climbing.

I remember what happened to Jonathan Goodwin, although I guess he was 'lucky' in that he 'only' ended up paralysed and permanently using a wheelchair rather than dead. A man privileged enough to enjoy largely good health actively chose to throw it away.

They've all always done it without a problem for ages and they know exactly what they're doing, so they're perfectly safe........ until that one time when they aren't.

Did I imagine this or did he not get mid six figures for the climb. Sure that was mentioned.

I don’t think this is true. The Freerider route up El Cap is a tough climb and probably only accessible to expert climbers, but hundreds of people have done it with ropes. People only paid attention because he free solo’d the route. Likewise the skyscraper isn’t a massively technical climb - it was the lack of ropes that made it noteworthy

I love this film. It struck me that Alex Honnold, for all the risks he is taking, at least practices and prepares meticulously. The impression in the film of LeClerc is he just rocks up, takes a Quick Look at some maps and cracks on with it! Clearly a precocious climber with a pure love of the sport and no interest in making money from it. I thought he was wonderful.

I think he is monumentally selfish and a shit parent. Those poor kids could lose their dad because he's a twat who won't use safety equipment. He is thinking only of his own self and ego.

There was the young man who was the first to snowboard down Mt Everest.

Succeeded at the age of 22.

Was not enough.

He returned the following year to repeat the stunt down a more dangerous face.

They never found his body.

Marco Saffredi.

It's never enough. They are addicted to adrenaline and truly believe that they are fucking immortal.

Climbers aren't all going to have the same opinion any more than any other group, his climb has triggered debate not consensus agreement.

Some people are different, extreme or exceptional. I'd rather they did their thing in a world than can be at best boring.

Possibly it would have been best if he hadn't had children, granted, given what his chosen career is. But he's also imo meticulous and no adrenaline junkie, if anyone free soloist can get away with the sport not killing them, it will be him.