@@jakechamberlain2206 Idk I feel similar to the Navy SEAL guy here. I haven't wingsuited but I'm a skydiver and I'm getting into BASE jumping. Not sure if I'll get into wingsuiting considering how dangerous and tricky it is but if I had to choose between that and free soloing I would much rather choose wingsuiting. You still have margins for error there even if they're small, but in free solo you have literally no margins for error. One tiny mistake and you're dead. Much more scary. Also feels like a more terrifying way to die to fall off a cliff than to crash into it. If you die wingsuiting you won't have time to think, but I bet a lot goes through your mind falling from a cliff.
@@collapserelapse I think you missinterpretated my comment. Im in agrence with you lol. If Andy stumpf is saying something is dangerous youre damn right it is lol. Yeah I have never done any of these things but after watching free solo ive been wanting to try rockclimbing more and more. I feel like the gorilla grip you must get from it would be benefical for Jiujitsu and lifting
My father-in-law had pulse so low, his GP, who was also a GP trainer, played games with her trainees to check his pulse which they couldn't find or, if they found it, they couldn't believe they'd found it and thought he must be some sort of zombie!
I’m blessed to live 28 miles from Yosemite. I’ve probably looked up El Capitan 100s of times. It’s freaking impressive just watching him do it on video but if your lucky enough to see that mountain in person it just takes what he did to a different level. In my opinion that is the greatest physical achievement by any human in the world.
I too am fortunate have lived my entire life near Yosemite and just hiking to the base of El Cap is amazing. You are above the tree line of the valley floor and then to look up really humbles you what Honnald accomplished in hours climbing to the top.
Not even remotely close to the greatest physical achievement ever. Several thousands of people have climbed El Cap, but only 1 person was willing to take the risk of not using a rope. One of the greatest mental achievments in climbing? Sure, but by no means is it unique in physical challenge. Adam Ondra did way more insane climbs that make El Cap look like a jungle gym for kids.
@@JackAssSquirrel such a stupid, neckbeard comment. This is absolutely one of the greatest feats by a human ever. You’re not even smart enough to realize that you backhandedly reinforced why it’s one of the greatest physical accomplishments ever by saying only one person climbed it without gear.
It would be more like calling the sun lukewarm😂what Alex did is hands down the most impressive thing done by a human. The hardest thing done by a human. Just mind blowing
Alex Honnold's El Capitan climb is the most impressive athletic achievement in the history of humankind. That's arguable, but consider that no one has ever done it, and no one in our lifetimes will likely do it. Factor in the risk of imminent death at every moment and it supersedes a whole lot of other accomplishments. Skill, endurance, mental toughness. Staggering.
I wouldn't say it's the most impressive athletic achievement. There is a lot of guys who have skills to do that but they won't because it's not worth the risk. From athletic point of view, Adam Ondra is way better climber who climbed much more difficult routes which no one can climb. Don't get me wrong, it's fucking insane what he did but it's mostly about the mental toughness. I guess it comes to how you define "athletic achievement".
Easy to tell good stories if you have the life experience of a Navy SEAL. You´d have to have the personality of a crash dummy to be boring after all that shit ya been through.
"The Dawn Wall" and "Free Solo" are 2 of the greatest documentaries I've ever seen. So compelling and gripping, I was holding my breath the whole fucking time, absolutely astounding.
Yes!! They are great. I also recommend Meru and Valley Uprising. Jimmy Chin is a climber in Meru and Valley Uprising is about the history of climbing in Yosemite. The both fit pretty well with the other two. I love them all.
As a climber myself, what Honnold did was absolutely incredible and unimaginable to a normal climber like me. Alex Honnold truly accomplished one of the greatest physical feats humanity has ever seen
climbing is just life. either you quit and die when it gets hard or you continue. ...its easy if youre fit. and if youre fat you will die soon. ..... lets try this a different way for the pea brains. Climbing is *ANALOGOUS* to life's journey. Inevitably they will both become painful at which point you can give up and succumb. Both are significantly more manageable if you are fit and healthy.
@@friendly1870 That's the hard part when you're one of the guys like Alex. You don't know when to actually stop. He's 34 now so he's got a few more relatively good years left but eventually, no matter how good of shape you try to keep yourself in when you get older, your body just can't handle the stuff he does anymore. I vaguely remember his girlfriend in the "Free Solo" documentary mention something along those lines to him after he had a pretty bad injury. Once he recovered from it, even Alex himself acknowledged that he wasn't the same anymore. That's just the way the human body works and why lots of professional athletes have to hang up their jersey after a really bad injury. As much as I like the guy, he's going to end up killing himself if he keeps doing what he's doing. At some point, his body just won't be able to handle the stress anymore and he's going to attempt something he has done a hundred times before when he was a bit younger, and he won't quite make it and then that will be it. I just hope Alex can take a hint from some of the other world-class climbers he has met who are still alive in their older age, that there is nothing wrong with taking it easier on yourself once you have accomplished your goals. I hope he can find enjoyment in climbing with ropes and staying relatively safe. There will always be a younger guy willing to do what it takes to break whatever records you have set, and you just have to accept that and be happy for them. Otherwise you're going to be in your 40's trying to free climb the same wall you did 10-15 years prior and your body will just say "fuck you" when you're half way up.
His ability to block out irrational thinking is second to none. It's truly incredible. Someone with twice his climbing ability would not be able to hone that kind of mental fortitude. He knows he can climb it, and all the other variables that are realistically 0, remain zero in his head. It's really amazing.
@Lev Mikhov he did not say that he said his ability to block out irrational thinking while climbing is next to none which it is. Irrational thinking is created by fear or rush
I got emotional watching Alex top out on his el cap free solo. He’s such an anti bad ass, so unassuming, and he just went and did something that totally defys logic.
Bro.... I just watch Magnus climb next to Alex on an "easy" climb free solo. And holy shit, it puts everything into perspective. Magnus is a very athletic guy and he was shaken! Lol.
Yes he was! I watched that video the day after it was released and boy........I swear I was getting panic attack. Magnus is one of the world's best rock climber but Alex is not from this planet. I mean that fear is not in his system at all.
Fuck free climbing. I done an 85m cliff with no training, no gear. Was just a dare from my friends, when I was 17... I am thankful to be have made it, and still be alive. I'd NEVER do that again.
Funny that u say that because my hands are actually sweating listening to you talk about your hands sweating while listening to them talk about their hands sweating
Jimmy Chin is not only a great photographer but his climbing is insanely good to he is a legend that no one talks about because he is so humble and spends most of his time filming other climbers.
yeah he explains it well. something he doesn't quite get across is the balance between choosing the right gear, physical exhaustion, and fear of falling. Longer figure out the gear, the more exhausted you become, which makes you more afraid, which makes you over-grip the rock, which makes you even more tired.
The free solo climb Alex did with Magnus Midtbø was nuts. Alex was filming and cracking jokes at the same time while Magnus was freaking the fuck out, it was like a wreck.
I used to mow Jimmy Chin's lawn out in the Bighole Mountains outside of Driggs, ID. The dude has a massive boulder wall instead of a normal living room inside his house.
I studied Photojournalism in college and he quickly became my favorite photographer. I was applying for internships everywhere and sent him a request 'thinking why not'. He took the time to at least reply to me and told me to keep shooting and learning. All his interviews and pieces he's done, he comes across as one of the most genuinely nice people. His passion for photography and story-telling is just unmatched.
I'm a professional climber and had the privilege of briefly climbing with Alex in Cali. I know he completed the climb but was still sweating while watching him. It took me a couple years to watch the doc because although he did it, It's still hard to watch. In the climbing community, we understand this. I'm still speechless.
@@daveduncan9034 I think it’s a legitimate reason to have doubts. Not saying it’s impossible that he’s telling the truth, but it’s a bit suspect. He might be saying “Professional climber” in lieu of a more specific title that I would actually understand.
@@shrill_2165 There is no way he is a professional climber, very few climbers make a living from climbing and the social media part is essential in order to do it. He is probably lieing also about climbing with Alex, maybe he encountered him casually in a crag and saw him climbing. I'm from the same town where stefano ghisolfi was born, I saw him climbing many times but that doesn't mean I ever climbed WITH him.
I just joined a bouldering gym a couple weeks ago and my hands were ripped up after 4 hours. I fell from 5m and it concerned me, I can't imagine being as insane as Alex.
Alex Honnold is a monster at climbing. I watched "Free Solo" with Alex Honnold and I must have lost 5 lbs of sweat just watching that movie. Best real climbing movie.
It is cool to see a guy that you know is a badass because he is a SEAL be humble enough to admit he is scared shitless in a situation and someone like Alex Hunnold, and his photographers all have his deep respect. Props to you.
@@blue-pi2kt 2 hour marathon is bonkers, no doubt. The mental toughness to push yourself at that pace for that long and not give up can't be understated. The mental toughness to free solo El Cap is totally different, though, because you're holding composure in the face of imminent death at every single moment. Gathering the composure to even embark on that is monumental in itself. If you can't complete the two hour marathon, well, you can always try again. You don't complete your climb, every move totally perfect, you're dead. That's what puts it on another level for me.
@@blue-pi2kt nah, you can just quit running at any time and not die. Not so with free soloing. He's committed to it. He either does it all the way correctly or he dies.
Don't get me wrong, because this is an insane achievement, but not really the best in the athletic world itself, maybe in the field of mental toughness (if you can say that). There's one dude who has completed 50 ironmans in 50 days, so I think athletically that's the most impressive shit I've ever heard about, also in terms of mental toughness
Alex completed arguably the greatest athletic feat in human history and is a once in a century talent with the dedication to back it up, you cannot compare yourself to that as a mere mortal.
Watch 5.15s , honnolds free solos are not athletically impressive. People have been free soloing since the 80s you just don't hear about them because they're all dead.
athletically it still is super impressive but no where near the greatest feat in human history it’s more of a mental thing then a physical thing free rider is no where near the hardest route in the world
He's an incredible human being, but if you watch and listen to him carefully, including in the Free Solo documentary, he has had plenty of mere mortal moments and gave up plenty of times and broken many of the promises he made to himself about accomplishing it year after year just like "mere mortals." This guy was simply super dedicated to his craft. Anyone, including you and me, could accomplish incredible things if we were just as dedicated to them as he was to free soloing enormous rock walls.
Clickumentary He is amazing. But he's actually physiologically missing the same fear responses as normal people. That's how he didn't freak out like a normal person would.
I just watched the "making off" yesterday and am completely obsessed with him too. I'm just about to watch Free Solo and I'm worried that I'll become a genuine stalker afterwards!
@@michaelrch I mean there is a part of that that can be developed through training, continuous exposure to a threat reduces response, but I think that some people are born more "adrenaline tolerant" than others. People like Formula 1 drivers....and Alex.
Every time I watch Alex climbing, I have trouble breathing. I just tell myself, "He lived through this, he's alive," as I'm watching. I'm going to be so sad the day Alex is no longer with us. He's such a cool human.
“If one pops and then another one pops (…)” exactly what happened to a climbing mate of mine. He fell down to the ground from a good 10 meter (~33 feet) straight on his back. He broke his back and passed out as his mate was phoning the emergency number. They were fairly remote so it even took a while to get him out of there. This is exactly why I don’t feel comfortable trad climbing anymore, although I totally understand the beauty of it.
Just human beings. Very tough individuals who are tougher than most, but still just people. I have several friends who served in the SF Green Berets. Awesome guys! But at the end of the day, they have the same problems and concerns as anyone else.
When you are a young person you have a different mindset and can accomplish things that you will not be able to later in life. I built skyscrapers for 20 years walking open iron all day as a younger man and now I’m scared shitless to even climb a ladder.Its not a physical thing,it’s definitely a mental thing that even I cannot figure out to this day.Physically it broke me but mentally it destroyed me. That’s why so many vets have PTSD also.I had so many accidents in 20 years I wake up sweating and hyperventilating often thinking I am still 800 ft off the ground.
I just watched Alex’s free solo EL Captain. This man needs the recognition he deserves, he is clearly an “Athlete Of The Year” a true 🐐 ladies and gents.
Huge sports fan my whole life. Same as the SEAL I was sweating, white knuckling and had massive increase in heart rate. Conclusion is Jim Brown has the record for most yards per carry ever, Babe Ruth was out homering entire teams when he played etc etc. If Alex Honnald ever blew a coverage, struck out or missed an assignment, he is DEAD! Greatest athlete ever!
Same. Alex wrecked all other sports for me. Lebron James, Tom Brady, etc... Whoever. After watching Free Solo and The Alpinist, nobody measures up. These guys are the baddest of the badasses. I can't relate to what they do but I'm a new fan
As a kid/teen I used to solo climb trees as far as I could, and indeed I remember getting into a focus zone committed to climb safely to the top and back. Very special feel. Somewhat when competing in a race.
Fan-Fng-tastic documentary. If he has Chin on I hope he watches the vod of Chin surviving a MONSTER avalanche - it's unreal. Guy is a world class climber, skier, and photographer.
I actually just watched that special and am in such awe of his accomplishments... insane how much this kid has done. I’ve done some free climbing as well as rope climbing... I’m in no way comfortable thinking I could do what he does. God bless him 🤙🏾
I heard Alex Honnold was in a project of making one (don't know which one) of his free solo climbs into a Virtual Reality thing....so....you can put on the VR headgear and look around, thinking you yourself was hanging 1000 ft up a cliff face.... Can't wait....🤯
Another awesome climber John Bachar checked out doing what he loved later in his life at around 52 years old. This resonates with the comments made here.
Can vouch for how good pro climbers are. I was on a rock climbing course with the military, shitting myself about 100 feet up above the sea. I'm so scared because I'm literally standing on 2 toes and slipping. The instructor of the course who happened to be a professional climber was 5 feet to my right, no ropes, wearing Wellington boots, eating a protien bar.
Andy: "I couldn't imagine filming somebody climb, and watching them peel off" Joe: "yeah could you imagine filming somebody climb and watching them fall" .......lol great thought Joe
Good interview. Tell you something else: every interview I've seen of Navy Seals portrays these guys as wildly competent, intelligent, and thoughtful. Formidable to consider within the context of how Seals are so mission-driven.
This is why I appreciate Andy Stumpf. Navy SEAL DEVGRU (aka SEAL team 6) guy who casually references “when I was on the East Coast team” with “the latest gear…taking off the wrappers” on a rock climb - where in The Teams he was a lead climber, yet has the humility to appreciate the otherworldly talents of Honnold, and yes, the Marlboro guy doing next-level free solo stuff. And at the end, you get an appreciation of the different perspectives/talents/risks of these endeavors. General paraphrase - “I would never climb 1000 feet without a rope, but would have no problem jumping off the top with a wing suit.” Different strokes. And much respect.
but he must have high level caution, the desire to not fall is what saves him from making mistakes and securing his hands to the wall... I know with mtbing, if you are fearless - you lose caution, make mistakes and fall hard.
Fun fact. Jimmy chin, the filmmaker of freesolo is an elite mountaineer who made first ascents in the Karakoram (insane mountains range territory in Pakistan) and in the Himalaya (like Everest) that guy is a total badass.
You should check out the RU-vidrs Movement For Climbers, Hard is Easy and EpicTV Climbing Daily. You can learn about anything, gear, technique, and all 3 are very informative and really enjoyable to watch.
In regards to the climber smoking a cigarette on the cliff face in tennis shoes, it's the same thing in skateboarding. You'll find guys skating on the street that are insanely top level but you'll never hear about them because they don't spend time competing in the spotlight, etc. There are lots of incredible people out there, and you'll just never know.
Alex will never fall. If he is not 110% certain that he can complete a climb, he will not attempt it. The fact the he free solo’d El Cap means he was 110% sure he could do it. That is where his ability is at compared to everyone else. It is truly mind blowing.
Would have to disagree 100%. I’m a mechanic and have done some jobs , no lie, 200+ times and still run into problems I’ve only faced one time in 15 years. Just because you’re 110% certain and confident you can do something, doesn’t mean something unsuspected doesn’t happen.
@@BigBudduh exactly! I have this very close friend that died in a motorcycle accident many years ago. We both do drag race and some illegal stuff back in the day, he really is an amazing driver, I mean there is one time we are on a run being chased by the police and I'm riding the back of the motorcycle going very fast- he said hold on don't move then proceeds to stand to change his shirt to a different color to confuse the pursuers. Even tho a bit crazy he is very confident and will not do things that he knows will fail but the paranoid that I am, I always warned him. What if the circumstance/problems happened within the surroundings, like the machine/vehicle part failed or some other people driving made the mistake etc. He died trying to avoid a random passerby that appeared out of nowhere. No matter how good a person in doing something is, as long as it has something to do with everything around us, the risk and possibilities will never be gone
Well Alex retired this year officially so no more Free Solos. Everyone breath. Go watch The Alpineist. LeClerc was brilliant too. Unfortunately it was an avalanche that got him. Alex said LeClerc blew his mind with stuff he was doing. There are a few of these guys I'm sure have Aspergers. They are very similar
That climb was about the most awesome thing I've ever seen in my life nobody has spoken about what he did after the climb when he got on the ground his friend asked him what do you want to do and I forget exactly what he called it but Alex went over to his van open the sliding door turn around sit down and started doing sitting pull-ups on the lip at the top of the door of the van unbelievable man.
Jimmy Chin really is an unsung hero and one of the coolest dudes...its so cool to read and watch about these guys and their bond and their camaraderie....its a true brotherhood
They monitored Alex’s amygdala, your emotional center. Most have something going on all the time. His is virtually flat lined. He’s such a bad ass, his amygdala has callouses.
