This Week in Climbing #64 (June 4, 2017)
This Week in Climbing is a weekly roundup of the best and most interesting rock climbing stuff that happened over the last week. But yesterday, Alex Honnold free soloed El Cap’s Freerider (5.13a). As far as I’m concerned, this is single most impressive feat in the history of rock climbing. While other newsworthy climbing-related stuff happened this week, Alex’s ascent is so mindblowing that really nothing else can compare. As such, this week’s news roundup is dedicated solely to Alex’s achievement.
- Exclusive: Climber Completes the Most Dangerous Rope-Free Ascent Ever at National Geographic – This is where the news broke, and the account provides the basic details of the ascent.
- First Interview With the Climber Who Scaled El Capitan Without a Rope at National Geographic – Mark Synnott interviews Alex. Alex “No Big Deal” Honnold certainly seems to live up to his nickname here…
There have been many more articles by other climbing news outlets that basically just regurgitate these NatGeo articles. Here are a few worth reading that stand out:
- Is Alex Honnold’s El Cap Free-Solo the Greatest Sports Achievement—Ever? at Evening Sends – An opinion piece that puts the ascent into perspective.
- Alex Honnold free solo climbs El Capitan, Yosemite at Planet Mountain – This one is worth reading because of the excerpts from Alexander Huber (who first freed Freerider with his brother Thomas in 1998) and Hansjörg Auer, who free soloed the Fish Rotue on Marmolada in the Dolomites.
- Alex Honnold free solos Freerider, El Capitan at UK Climbing – Read the forum discussion (links at the end of the article) to see what people are saying about the ascent.
- Honnold Free Solos El Cap ! at SuperTopo – More discussion of the ascent.
The solo and rope-free rock climbing of Honnold is just amazing! He indeed knows how to climb smarter and safer!
Hey, I like the brief updates about climbing news! I do agree with you about how free soloing el cap is the biggest thing in climbing ever. Can’t wait to see what Alex does next!
Alex is such a crazy guy. 🙂
Absolutely agree that this is the most impressive part of rock climbing history thus far!
The thing that struck me the most was the mindset he needed to get into. His TED talk about that filled me with awe – it’s not something a good climber just randomly does, the mental preparation is something that takes years.
I’ve got nothing but respect for Hannold, even though he may indeed be a little crazy (or as he calls it, he has a ‘particular mindset’ :p)
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