Man climbs 3,000 ft El Capitan without ropes

Sweet merciful crap, that photo makes me queasy. I fear it's not gonna end well for this guy. I mean, do types like this quietly retire? More likely he goes out like Ueli Steck -- doing what he loves.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/30/world/asia/ueli-steck-mountain-climber-dead-everest.html?_r=0

 

That's a slight exaggeration, although it doesn't make it any less impressive. He had a support team and the NatGeo photographers who were there to document the climb. There were friendly, knowledgeable eyes on him during the entire ascent, and there were several ledges where he could have stopped and tapped out.

It's still an amazing feat that may never be replicated. The risk wasn't that he couldn't stop once he got going, but that if he messed up any of hundreds of movements, he was a goner.

 

With no ropes. Just fingertips.

His capacity to control his emotions and suppress fear is otherworldly. I get nauseous just watching footage of the things he does.

 

If anyone has eleven minutes to burn, this 60 Minutes segment on Honnold is a worthy watch:

 

This guy is going to end up dead, just like the guy who spent the summers living with grizzlies in Alaska. Eventually, grizzly went grizzly.

 

If you read the Times story, he practises these ascents with safety gear, memorizes the route and the techniques required of them, and only then does it without ropes. He's not some yahoo. He's a genius at this particular thing, and he's exercising his genius to its logical limits.

 

Yeah, a lot of them do retire.

Yvon Chouinard was a top climber for many years before becoming famous for founding and owning Patagonia. He spends more time tenkara fishing than anything else these days. Royal Robbins lived to be 82. Conrad Anker, 54, is slowing down these days and taking fewer risks. But then Fred Beckey, the original dirtbag climber, is still cimbing at 94.

 

Throw into the hopper that he made a climb in four hours that mere mortals using gear take a day or two to make.

Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, And The Climbing World Reels

The NPR on air interview:

 

Can I ask a stupid question? How does one get *down* El Capitan (intentionally). And I'm not talking about the "Spock and Kirk in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" method.

 

There is a hiking path that you can walk down (or up) that I recall reading in one of the linked articles.

 

The more I've read about this over the last few days, I have to believe this is among the greatest sports achievements ever. 4-minute mile, Everest, Bolt's triple-double.

 

Yep, lots of folks picnic up there.