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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad surfing the galactic plane
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coz- sounds like your a little messed up...
Ha, ha!!
No shit!! We're all messed up to some degree or another.
So WTF??
Has Mr. Honnold become such a god that we are not allowed to offer an opinion?
Maybe in some minds, but...
If someone becomes such in his personal opinion of himself, then that's another matter. I sincerely doubt that's the case. But Alex has put himself in the public arena by writing about his personal accomplishments and endeavors. So, we should be free to respond, to give our personal opinions. Especially those that have been there. We can "Rah, Rah Rah, can't wait to here about when you solo the Nose." Or we can say whatever. Coz has his own personal approach/opinion...so WTF??
Who's to say what should be considered or censored?
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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coz, dont bite the troll bait.
what you say is sincere and warranted.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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If everyone who should STFU did so, there wouldn't even be a forum.
Let everyone be the freak they are
even Alex
Has anyone died yet doing one of their hard solos or has it always been some route that should have been sort casual for them?
Peace
Karl
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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I just wonder where the impression comes from that the older generation of soloists..Croft, Bachar, etc, were completely under the radar with their exploits. Bachar obviously wasn't, he was on network TV and commercials soloing for pete's sake.
But let's just stick to Croft...If the above poster's impression were so, how the hell would any of us have ever heard of those feats? How would we even know his name or have ever seen pictures in the dominant media of the day of him soloing Tips, Red Zinger, etc in a day when Epperson would have had to do quite a bit of work to get in position for those shots in the first place. This "silent warrior" representation is some romanticized version of history that doesn't really hold up to scrutiny, IMO.
Today with the rise of the internet and a digi camera that shoots video in every pocket, it's a natural progression that AH writes a bit about his adventures for his sponsors. It's not like he cooks up these schemes in public beforehand, then feels forced to go through with it, he does what he'd be doing anyway. And if you're a mid 5.14 climber, soloing a couple NUMBER grades below your abilities, how is that some insane death wish? Probably most of us who solo at all have soloed to a level that far below our max.
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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I think it's important to take message board posts with a bit more grain of salt. It's a good practice to allow yourself not to be offended by name-calling, or hurt ego, or what it may be. I get caught up too, its like everyone is just waiting to be offended so they can be justified in getting upset. Life is tough, maybe work is stressful or relationships are rocky but its important to contain those those and be objective about your motivations. A man I trust as a great judge of character said that Scott is a great guy and I hear the same about mimi... None of this sh#t is really a big deal. Honnold won't read this, and even if he does I'm sure he doesn't get faded by what anyone has to say. Keep the positive energy going and look for redeeming qualiities in people. How privileged are we, we get to spend our time in the most gorgeous places doing amazing things. I like to think that Alex spent more time in his own head than I have crawled in there so I give him the benefit of the doubt, but he gave my mom and I a ride from manure pile last fall after a four hour ascent of the nose. Say what you want but Kobe isn't picking granny up after a playoff game.
I'm grabbing some coffee in camp before heading out to do some bouldering in curry, if you got time to post and are in the area feel free to join, the weather is great and I got a pad for us.
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pc
climber
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I love the Taco.
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Tim Camuti
Trad climber
CA
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I love the Taco
Seconded.
Alex took a tremendous joy out of climbing with his Dad when he was still with us; thanks to all of you climbers for thinking of that same role and relationship- mentors are a powerful presence in our lives.
I, too, worry about anyone who chooses to free solo and hope that Alex is able to find another pursuit to feed his passion for the vertical lifestyle beyond free soloing. I also hope that we all start paying attention to his corded ascents and achievements, too. While the soloing he does is for himself, the media is a part of the problem and I like to do my part by focusing on people's roped climbing achievements.
This thread has made me laugh at least once per page. Again, I love the Taco.
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chill
climber
between the flat part and the blue wobbly thing
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Mimi,
What resume do u have to have a voice in this discussion?
Coz - no one needs a resume to have voice, here or anywhere else.
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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You, sir, must not have climbed in Yosemite.
I keed, I keed :]
Also, Athletes Die Young shut me down HAAARD. Hehe.
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Mimi
climber
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Scott, shirley you jest! You really are slow to pose such a query.
Stand down? The last time you uttered those words was for the WOS comedy and we saw how that ended. Liars be damned and those who supported them.
As slander is a mostly legal term, please describe what you mean here. Prove you're smart by proving you're smart smarty pants. M'kay?
Go on, go on, I triple dare ya!!!!!1111
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Synchronicity
Trad climber
British Columbia, Canada
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I can understand that it's not normal practice for cutting edge soloists to spray about their exploits but I think there is a side to Alex that realizes he needs to market himself to be free to live the life he wants. Sometimes that means interviews or specials on 60 minutes or citibank commercials. Whatever it is I fail to see that being a main motivator for Alex. From what I gather he still does a ton of solos he rarely if ever talks about unless asked.
There's another aspect to him though that I see every time I see his face. It just lights up with those big googly eyes whenever he is talking about climbing. It would seem to me that hes just so excited to be able to do these things he dreams about, maybe he just wants to share a little bit of that with everyone. He overflows with childish enthusiasm, the same kind that seems to have carried Croft through his experiences.
It also seems possible that for someone so constantly followed by public eye maybe he prefers to tell the story the same way he climbs, on his OWN terms. He says/ does/types what he wants and it's us who sit around and contemplate. I'm imagine Alex is over it and thinking about the next one.
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Mimi
climber
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Alex's writings are a treat. He says as much about his adventures as you point out Synchro.
Unless people write about their experiences climbing, then they are lost and aren't shared. Not that everything has to be documented, but sharing your experience is a gift, no different than poetry. We celebrate this all the time on climbing threads. Who doesn't appreciate a good climbing story that makes our palms sweat? Even if we know we will never climb at that level. Jello solos a route on Pumori, how do we know? He told us about it. Thank you, Jello. How was it. Just the way he described it. In our dreams!
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S.Leeper
Social climber
somewhere that doesnt have anything over 90'
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I want to hear more!
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GDavis
Social climber
SOL CAL
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Really? Well it's a pretty big move and I'm 5'8" with a -2 ape. Maybe my beta was bad.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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What ElCap Sez is True
The media and format have changed somewhat
and in fact, back in the day, the sense of competition and Oneupmanship was probably even greater, it just happened around the fire and camp due to lack of media
Peace
karl
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slayton
Trad climber
Here and There
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None of this really matters. The only question that matters is why Alex climbs these hard solos and then why he promotes them. I have no issue with the climbing but in its promotion. I don't know if Bachar or Croft show boated their solos. I just know that right now Alex is displaying his solo climbing for all that cares to read about it.
I don't think that there is necessarily wrong with that but I do think that chasing that specter could lead to grim deeds.
Again, my best wishes to Alex on his current path and that which he chooses to follow.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Maybe he's played out - could be time to take up big wave surfing.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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None of this really matters. The only question that matters is why Alex climbs these hard solos and then why he promotes them. I have no issue with the climbing but in its promotion. I don't know if Bachar or Croft show boated their solos. I just know that right now Alex is displaying his solo climbing for all that cares to read about it.
You don't know if Bachar show boated? Well he soloed 5.12 on national tv, so yeah, I'd call that show boating.
All of them are on a level well beyond what I'm willing to do, so I'm no judge. Just glad I made it to 50 and I get to share a lot of things with my wonderful kids.
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MisterE
Social climber
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It does seem kind of weird to share personal free soloing adventures so openly and to such a wide audience right after the ascent. But these days people share everything, so maybe Honnold's 'trip reports' are best understood in that context rather than trying to psychoanalyze how much of his soloing drive is good or bad, or whatever. I'm certainly not going to tell someone who climbs as well as Honnold that he's not capable, or that he will die. Honnold is the only one who can say if his soloing is negligent or if he's soloing for the wrong reason.
With that said, coz and WBraun can give some valuable insight into their own experiences.
However, I'm not sure if telling a driven and talented soloist that he is going to die, or that he shouldn't solo is a good tactic. Soloing is a black art, and soloists think for themselves. It's best not to challenge them so openly, IMHO, if you are trying to get them to notch it down a bit.
Well put.
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jstan
climber
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Suppose individual X starts dating Attila the Hun's daughter. That is a life and death decision. Would there be a thread like this were that to happen? No.
Suppose individual Y starts bolting sidewalks. We have threads on that. Do they accomplish anything? No.
Suppose we weigh in on individual Z's soloing and for some unknown reason Z is distracted and bad things happen. Might some of us regret having said anything? Possibly.
This thread is a lose lose from everyone's perspective, as best I can see.
Is there a reason we do this?
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