“Free Solo” Movie - Climbing El Kapitan with no Rope

So I saw an ad that Free Solo was playing in a few theatres near me so I dragged my kid with me to go see it. Recap (spoiler alert), Alex Honnold climbs a 3200’ granite wall with no rope. Insane, amazing, and almost unbelievable.

A lot of the movie was about the Why and how Alex is wired a bit different than other humans. They even did an MRI on the dude and saw that it took way more to activate his rear response than most people. I’m curious if that is through training or just how he is wired and was raised (which they touch on)

Best analogy in the movie was that Free Soloing El Kap was the equivalent athletic achievement of an Olympian training for a sport, starting the competition, and then either getting the Gold medal or dying. Imagine entering a race where you reach perfection and win or are guaranteed to die. Crazy.

In some ways though it touched on themes about motorcycle racing for me. Like why people take a risk, even if it’s a low probability of dying, versus not taking it, and sitting at home on the nice safe couch.

Here’s the info with the trailer...

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...src=google::cmp=freesolo::add=free_solo_movie

I would recommend it.

 

That dude.

 

Sounds like winning motoGP with no helmet, don't see the point.

 

No. not even sorta.

really enjoyed the film. quite a step forward in "climbing documentaries" from Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi.
one of the most extraordinary athletic achievements of the last several years. not to mention he and Caldwell pulling off a sub 2 hr roped ascent of the nose this year.

and it's El Capitan, Komrade

 

I thought every title had to have an obscure reference to the thread itself or a critical misspelling.... since I went with a fact based title something had to give...

 

I meant to say fear response, but I think rear response plays too!

 

he's the fmx tripple backflip equivalent of climbing... (good luck matching that 1)

 

I honestly don’t know if there is an equivalent in sport. Closest thing would be something like the TT in my opinion but even that’s not as gnarly as what he did.

Hats off to that guy

 

i have no evidence, but i suspect this is a place where there's a racing parallel. they make the wrong comparison testing him versus "normal" people responses. of course he appears inactive in comparison. same deal with racers. have to compare reactivity and control of fear response and all that with a more appropriate "highly trained" group.

 

one of the things Alex articulates nicely that people in "extreme" sports inherently understand is that there's a difference between "danger" and the separate concepts of risk and consequence. in the case of free solo climbing, consequence is absolute. so, unless you want to die, the only way to mitigate risk to an acceptable level is MASTERY. true mastery. actual perfection for whatever period the effort requires. now, if the climbing is easy, that's a whole lot simpler to achieve. in this case, the climbing difficulty is also at an extremely high level. over a long distance/time.

 

There's no way I could watch the climbing clips, I would like to see the why/how portion.

 

Me neither . I'd have nightmares . And vertigo just watching.

 

Wow this movie looks insane. Is there anyway to buy it to watch it at home or do you have to go to the theater?

 

I saw you will be able to buy it on iTunes so I’m sure it will be available in other forms, but I wanted to see it on the big screen. IMAX would have been cooler for those vertigo inducing shots.

 

Uh, no.

 

Everyone focuses on the risk, but that overshadows the bigger point. This was hands down the most impressive athletic achievement of our time. Alex executed a very difficult technical climb in FOUR HOURS that takes a high level climber three days. It’s incomprehensible.

Add to that his ability to pack fear away and execute in that head space? He’s an alien. Can’t wait to see the film.

 

Yep just saw its playing near me on Nov 9th. Will for sure go see it.

 

Would it not have been nearly as impressive using ropes as back ups?

 

Pfft. I climbed steel for a decade without a rope. Where's my trophy?

I ain't climbing a rock though. Eff that.

 

he already did that in prep for soloing.