Alex Honnold Defies the Rules of Climbing || Climbing Gold Podcast w/Alex Honnold 

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” .- Pablo Picasso

Everyone here missing the point, can be summed up with use your head don’t blindly apply principles…

I'm not sure, but I think what they're talking about is that they try to stick to the ideal safest way to climb/belay with consideration of saving time and necessities of each route. Sometimes you need to hurry up because weather is getting bad or dark, and some routes don't allow for ideal belaying. I don't think they are wilfully negligent and put themselves into more risk without getting some important as tradeoff.

When I think about safety in mountain climbing, I always have to think of the Everest "tourists" vs. the Everest "pros". The tourists endanger the lifes of dozens of Sherpas, are way too long in dangerous territory, but try to shield themselves as much as possible with expensive gear. The "pros" have trained hard to be quick and efficient on the mountain if needed, and to rely less on the help of others. So they pass dangerous sections quickly, are not as long in the death zone above 8000m, carry much less gear that holds them back, do not block the route as much for others, are physiologically more resilient, etc. etc. Most of all, pros know their boundaries much better than those who try to pay themselves up the mountain. Being humble, realistic, but not scared is probably a good way to not get in trouble everywhere in life. I think we have learned way to much to rely on gear and equipment to be safe in our lives, instead of trying to become more of an expert on judging the situation, being physically fit, dealing with stressful situations, etc.

I didn't know there were video clips of this podcast too! So cool

So, one time a person was betrayed by their helmet so no one should wear a helmet? I heard that parachutes sometimes fail....that seatbelts occasionally trap someone in a burning car .... etc

There are some hairy videos from the UK about trad routes where they say that there's an unprotected section from which they cannot fall. While I understand the call of the route, I'm not there yet and probably never will be, where I consciously climb a route where I know an error of mine or just circumstances result in losing my life. Like going to a crag and leaving a goodbye letter behind, just in case.

There's nothing "safe". There is risk and the spectrum of it. Accidents/incidents are chain events. Break a link in the chain and the accident/incident doesn't happen. This is the very dangerous part of it. You could do something and think it is "safe", however, change something else and all the links in the chain are there and there is a accident.

8:23 "doodoo" . Great video and pod tho haha

Everyone seems to know a story where safety measures lead to fatal consequences and use that as an excuse to abandon them alltogether. But I bet any amount, ill equipped, unexperienced and ignoring safety are responsible for the huge majority of accidents. You might be fine breaking rules, but you‘re world class climbers with tons of experience, so please don’t make it seem a good idea to do so. Because that’s what comes accross

Was really interested to hear the guys' negative view of ATCs for sport climbing there days. Where I climb (London and SE England), if say seeing a grigri is the exception and ATCs are the norm. Maybe it's a hangover from our sketchy trad ways or maybe Brits are just cheap, but I've heard the argument made (I think compellingly) that an ATC forces you to pay more attention compared to a grigri, making accidents less likely.

Doing the right thing creates favorable results much more frequently than not.

In 1968 I saw a climber stuck by a Helmet in a narrow chimney; it took hours to rescue him.

If you understand, you understand.

"Do do", LoLzzzzz

YB

This dude is on a collision course...with the ground.