Climbing
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I was looking for the climbing thread to post Alex Honnold's new TED talk in and was astonished to see (after repeated checking) that one didn't even exist yet! There's gotta be a few climbers around here, right?!
I was just gonna post the vid, but as this is the first post in the climbing thread, I suppose I should write a bit more.
I started climbing whilst at university in Bangor, Wales. Although it's such a great location for outdoor climbing, I ended up doing most of my climbing at the university's little bouldering wall. After leaving Wales, though, I barely climbed for about fifteen years.
Then, the winter before last, I decided to start bouldering indoors again. It transpires it's pretty humbling trying to get back into climbing after fifteen years and fifty pounds… but it's been totally worth it. Climbing (and especially for me, bouldering) is a sport like no other. When you find an excellent problem, it's such a fun puzzle trying to figure out the route. A puzzle where you don't need a ballpoint pen, but instead get to move and grip and scamper and potentially fall. Which is surely the best kind of puzzle.
But I digress.
Here's that video of Alex Honnold talking about his free solo of El Cap last year; definitely one of the most amazing feats in the history of any discipline of climbing.
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I've read the account, can't wait to watch this. Thanks…...
I climbed at school, usual stuff; Wye Valley, Derbyshire, Skye, Tryfan etc, but stopped when I realised that most of the time I was shitting myself with fear and that the only reason I could get up stuff was that my reach was longer than my mates.....I was technically incompetent...
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I've read the account, can't wait to watch this. Thanks…...
I climbed at school, usual stuff; Wye Valley, Derbyshire, Skye, Tryfan etc, but stopped when I realised that most of the time I was shitting myself with fear and that the only reason I could get up stuff was that my reach was longer than my mates.....I was technically incompetent...
Cool beans. Think I may have climbed some of Tryfan once, back in the day.
Bouldering is a lot more chilled-out in terms of elevation-induced incontinence. Plus you can easily go and do it on your tod, which is handy.
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My buddy is doing The North Face Speaker Series with Jimmy Chin debuting the film Free Solo (incredible documentary abut the same ascent and deserving of all the nominations), and I met Alex (very, very nice and thoughtful person) and some other TNF athletes (climbers and ultramarathoners) at another TNF speaker series. Big fan of what the Honnold Foundation is doing getting solar power to regions lacking power infrastructure.
That said, climbing beyond class 3 bouldering is something I stay very far away from. Plenty of my friends are aggressive rock, ice, and mixie climbers though.
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My buddy is doing The North Face Speaker Series with Jimmy Chin debuting the film Free Solo (incredible documentary abut the same ascent and deserving of all the nominations), and I met Alex (very, very nice and thoughtful person) and some other TNF athletes (climbers and ultramarathoners) at another TNF speaker series. Big fan of what the Honnold Foundation is doing getting solar power to regions lacking power infrastructure.
That said, climbing beyond class 3 bouldering is something I stay very far away from. Plenty of my friends are aggressive rock, ice, and mixie climbers though.
That's great! Back when I used social media, Jimmy Chin's posts used to give me some wicked wanderlust. The little bouldering wall that got me back into climbing a coupla years ago (in the basement of Midwest Mountaineering) is actually where Jimmy apparently worked on his moves waaaaay back in the day before he left Minnesota. I look forward to seeing Free Solo sometime; I'm sure it's incredible!
Speaking of Jimmy, have you seen this video of him telling the story of a time he got caught up in an avalanche? It's one of the most compelling monologues I think I've ever seen.
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Started climbing many years ago but lost track at some point. I am trying to get back in shape (not that i ever was) which proofs to be a difficult undertaking being in my final year before becoming a teacher and having a daughter. However this is me climbing in the Frankenjura/Germany in spring this year. Trying to haul my weak ass over that pebble
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. . . . . . Free Solo (incredible documentary abut Alex Honnolds free solo ascent of El Capitan and deserving of all the nominations) . . . . . . .
So so so looking forward to watching this documentary. Alex Honnold is a legend
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After years of climbing in The Alps, family situation forced me to calm down!
Missing it, but not regretting!
Puez-Geissler-Group Dolomites are beautiful for climbing! -
My buddy is doing The North Face Speaker Series with Jimmy Chin debuting the film Free Solo (incredible documentary abut the same ascent and deserving of all the nominations), and I met Alex (very, very nice and thoughtful person) and some other TNF athletes (climbers and ultramarathoners) at another TNF speaker series. Big fan of what the Honnold Foundation is doing getting solar power to regions lacking power infrastructure.
That said, climbing beyond class 3 bouldering is something I stay very far away from. Plenty of my friends are aggressive rock, ice, and mixie climbers though.
That's great! Back when I used social media, Jimmy Chin's posts used to give me some wicked wanderlust. The little bouldering wall that got me back into climbing a coupla years ago (in the basement of Midwest Mountaineering) is actually where Jimmy apparently worked on his moves waaaaay back in the day before he left Minnesota. I look forward to seeing Free Solo sometime; I'm sure it's incredible!
Speaking of Jimmy, have you seen this video of him telling the story of a time he got caught up in an avalanche? It's one of the most compelling monologues I think I've ever seen.
Nice, watching now, thanks for sharing. MW Mountaineering is awesome, I miss that place. Didn't know Chin was from MN. Man he rips at climbing, photog, and skiing. They don't get much more legendary than JC. It was cool to shake his hand and congratulate him for Free Solo. I met Hannold last year, so I congratulated his ascent and his charitable efforts, but not yet the movie.
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Here's that video of Alex Honnold talking about his free solo of El Cap last year; definitely one of the most amazing feats in the history of any discipline of climbing.
And to add to that, he has a fascinating brain, neurologically speaking.
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Great article. Somewhere I heard about this, maybe from Alex's lecture last year, though I suspect his modesty wouldn't have let him talk about it. Isn't it interesting to see how low boredom registers for him relative to other thrill-seekers? I would expect him to be restless and bored unless hanging from a cliff.
One thing is for certain, folks are certainly wired differently than I am to even entertain the notion of climbing anything dangerous. I used to climb buildings and towers and rappel down them in my youth, but I can't imagine doing stuff like that, much less technical climbing, these days. I have gotten stuck in scenarios where I've been single and even double exposed in recent years quite by accident and I didn't enjoy it at all. What others must find exhilarating fills me with dread–the same goes for gambling.
Another great climbing film, probably really old news to anyone reading this thread, is Meru. And of course there's the classic Touching the Void. What a nightmarish scenario that one details.
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If anyone here hasn't checked out the "Free Solo" documentary about climbing then you really should. Follows Alex Honnold on a wild adventure up El Capitan.
Watched it last weekend, it is seriously good!
