I think you are right wrote:
Honnold's climbing is incredible. I think you may be right about calling his climb the greatest athletic performance ever. He has no margin for error and nerves of unimaginable steel.
Not being a climber and looking at the pics - that was a focused effort and damn scary. I can’t even imagine that adrenaline high.
Also, it must be said, two people just climbed El Cap buck naked a bit ago, so I don’t know how I should feel.
This article is a really cool look at how Alex Honnold's brain functions.
http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-strange-brain-of-the-worlds-greatest-solo-climber
give me a break wrote:
Hey creepy wrote:I'm not sure what your point is, but yes, 5.14d is much, much harder than 5.13a. But Ondra was freeclimbing (using a rope for protection, but no artificial aid, using only hands and feet to climb, while Alex was free-soloing, also only hands and feet, but no rope for protection. Alex will freely tell you that Ondra - and many others - are stronger climbers.
I'll admit here I'm not really familiar with the sport, but if many others are stronger climbers, as you assert, then why haven't any of them done the climb without ropes?
Really just curious - people are making it sound like it's not that big of a deal, yet no one else has ever done it. This seems like it is the best known rock face in the entire world for climbing. I would think all those other great climbers would want the bragging right of being the first.
That break, is a matter of badassedness.
Bright Bart wrote:
give me a break wrote:I'll admit here I'm not really familiar with the sport, but if many others are stronger climbers, as you assert, then why haven't any of them done the climb without ropes?
Really just curious - people are making it sound like it's not that big of a deal, yet no one else has ever done it. This seems like it is the best known rock face in the entire world for climbing. I would think all those other great climbers would want the bragging right of being the first.
That break, is a matter of badassedness.
There is a pretty good reason to use ropes.
rmess wrote:
Rudisha's 800m WR, for one, is more impressive. How many examples do you want?
GTFOH schmuck...
Rudisha on a LOT more dope for two laps than Honnold for FOUR hours.
Not a Coach wrote:
la dura dura wrote:No one is suggesting it's an unimpressive feat, but hard to call it "the greatest of all time" when he's climbing so far below his ability. It's like telling Kipchoge to go out and run a 2:20 marathon, the consequence of failure being death. Sure it adds pressure, but on any given day he could run that time without undo effort. Honnold is on record as having said he thought he could do it again...immediately after finishing. That implies that he wasn't exactly pushing himself. Good for him for bringing climbing to the forefront, but the hyperbole is a bit much.
People like you suck. You're just lame. No one likes you. Go away
Good to know you're able to produce a rational and cogent argument for your position. Calling this the greatest athletic achievement of all time ignores the fact that free soloing is a niche, mostly of his own invention. Plenty of guys are better climbers than Honnold. He would even admit that. 5.12d/5.13a is not even considered an elite climbing grade. Free soloing it is justifiably a great achievement but how is it better than anything Ondra, Sharma, or others have climbed except for the fact that it involves a great deal of unnecessary risk? If I ran a 10.5 100 meters to escape an angry pack of wolves intent on eating me, it wouldn't make me a better sprinter than Usain Bolt.