Non-climber surprises me with her take on Honnold's soloing

Following her logic.  Astronauts should all die.  Race car drivers should die.  Humbly, I think her prejudice here is telling.  I believe she thinks the world is full of Lemmings, not thinking cognitive beings. 

Stich wrote:

You should have told her, "Well, look at you. You probably want to get married, buy a house, and have kids and die slowly from the inside. Kids will see your example and mimic it as well, leading to their own doom. So you should probably just go ahead and die already."

I've got a humble house 20 minutes from the Gunks, a two year old daughter that keeps me from climbing much, and a wife that I've adored for 16 years.  Where's the doom?  

DL 

jgfox wrote:

I don't care whether or not someone is "inspired" by seeing photos of someone free soloing and decided to go do it themselves.  The point I was making is in comparison to someone like Bachar, Honnold lives in an age where what ever he does will get posted online and get distributed by content aggregators regardless of whether or not he wanted to.  The impressionable can pick up on this more than they did when you would only find out about it was by buying a climbing magazine from the bookstore.  Maybe some bored kid at the climbing gym will think free soloing is for him as soon as he gets a drivers license, maybe not; just that it is easier to idolize people in this day and age.

Before the strawman comments rear their ugly head, no I don't think Honnold is responsible at all for someone wanting to free solo.

It would be silly to argue that information content doesn't get distributed faster and wider in the digital age, of course it is.

But that applies to ALL information, and not just Honnold's soloing. Consider how much bigger the presence of other dangerous sports is in those compilation videos, compared to climbing, and how many more non-sport-related dangerous activities are out there for the would-be copycats. To single out the Honnold's soloing and say that this is somehow worse in terms of impact on young impressionable minds than skateboarding stunt videos, or a choking game, or whatever, as this woman seemed to think, is ridiculous.

RER wrote:

Her logic is flawed. By her judgement any famous athlete in any "dangerous" sport should die to dissuade the young corruptible minds from attempting the dangerous activity.

I hope NFL players all die, then less kids will want to try football and end up with all of the brain injuries that the NFL has been hiding for years. 

So...she did not know a lot about climbing.  She thought only of the welfare of wanna-bes.  She stuck to her guns on what she did not clearly understand.  Sounds quite like many of the commits on many threads here.  I say, give her credit for not caving on her thoughts for wanting more kids to live long and successful lives.  That being said, IF free soloists kept their exploits UN-exploited with the "media", I would bet we climbers would know and respect, but those wanna-bes would live longer in bliss. I believe going through life and not, in any way, hurting others, while puffing up yourself is a "good thing".  This wild, wild west of everybody knows everything due to tech. has its downsides!

AndrewArroz wrote:

Thanks for that reminder. I'll be sure to let my daughter know it's been done already and she can pick a new goal

Catherine Destivelle another woman famous for her some of her free soloing among other accomplishments.

jgfox wrote:

She still has a chance at becoming the first woman US President...

She'll never be the greatest president. That spots been filled. 

jgfox wrote:

She still has a chance at becoming the first woman US President...

Being President would be stressful, since roughly 1/2 the US and much of the world population would hate you.  You can never satisfy everyone and their conflicting interests, no matter what.

chosspector wrote:

your post is retarded. some things should be kept to yourself

I definitely agree with retarded comments being kept to oneself.  The irony is palpable...

jgfox wrote:

You're on to something but in Honnold's case I think he welcomes it because it helps support his climbing lifestyle, though he doesn't have a larger than life attitude when he does it.

As Will Stanhope has said, Alex isn't really built for the limelight.  But he clearly is deeply intelligent and quite articulate.

I, for one, am super inspired by him and so proud to share in a sport with a person whose moral compass seems so on track.  He rejected a very large endorsement from Dr Pepper because he didn't want to promote drinking soda to other people.  He started the Honnold Foundation to help in a small but important way to bring solar energy to remote areas.  He thinks deeply and acts responsibly.  It's hard to think of any other major sports figure who comes close.

John RB wrote:

As Will Stanhope has said, Alex isn't really built for the limelight.  But he clearly is deeply intelligent and quite articulate.

I, for one, am super inspired by him and so proud to share in a sport with a person whose moral compass seems so on track.  He rejected a very large endorsement from Dr Pepper because he didn't want to promote drinking soda to other people.  He started the Honnold Foundation to help in a small but important way to bring solar energy to remote areas.  He thinks deeply and acts responsibly.  It's hard to think of any other major sports figure who comes close.

I don't see anything wrong with him have some coverage when he does something.  He is humble about it, can be entertaining, and he gives back to the community.  His sponsorships help support what he wants to do and apparently he owns a house near Tahoe, that's a good deal and good for him for earning it. 

jay smith wrote:

I was in the valley bailing off the Nose and heading for some R&R in Santa Cruz the day Dereck decked and as far as I know there were no film crews with him.

Other than Osman, and perhaps Potter, I’ve never heard of any of these other guys (Bachar, Croft, Hersey, Barber etc.) free soloing for $ or attention, could be mistaken, not a particularly attentive fan of other climbers.  I do seem to remember Croft specifically addressing, in some interview I read years ago, that he felt free soloing was a highly personal and private endeavor, and perhaps something to the effect that anyone doing otherwise was just asking for trouble.  

I’ve always felt the wisdom in Crofts attitude bout soloing was right on point and perhaps his approach has something to do with why he is still going strong.  Personally I’ve been onsight free soloing for years and I aside from the OFS notations in the back of my guidebook’s tick list pages there is no record of my “accomplishments”.  Granted I don’t free solo 12c but given that I’m in my mid-fifties and can only onsight perhaps 12a on increasingly infrequent good days, I think it’s appropriate to keep my free soloing at least a couple of number grades below that since I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be alive in this miraculous world.

There may be hundreds of folks out there free soloing and onsight free soloing that none of us will ever hear about because they have acquired an education and employment.  They don’t need to catch bullets with their teeth for money to avoid having to work for a living and make a substantive contribution to their community.  I have never been much impressed by folks who enjoy the luxury of giving away excess cash to charity.  What impresses is the donation of one’s only true currency, time, often doing boring repetitive work for little thanks. Honnold seems to be the ultimate one trick pony, if he is still alive in ten years what’s he going to do with so little work experience and education?  Get a job at REI for minimum wage selling gadgets made by slaves in China?

The assertion that Honnold’s own mom does not know the difference between roped and un-roped climbing sounds too absurd to be taken seriously.

http://gripped.com/news/alex-honnolds-summer-injuries-result-of-rope-climbing-accident/

If you're the Jay Smith from Tahoe, back in the day... then... HEY!  I was in the valley when Derek fell off the Steck-Salathe.  The mood was pretty somber.  Peter soloed up the next day to try and find any broken holds (he didn't find anything).  And Derek didn't have a film crew (nor was soloing the Steck-Salathe that big a deal in 1993... a lot of people had soloed it).

Osman had a film crew constantly (usually Perlman's crew).  Potter too (even the Delicate Arch debacle was filmed).  Croft was featured in Moving Over Stone (Doug Robinson's video in the late 80's).  Bachar had no problem being filmed and even made commercials and did talk shows.  I don't hold this against any of these guys... collecting cans in the valley is a shitty life and why not try and get some security in life if you can.

I disagree with you, Jay, about Honnold's "one trick pony" status however.  He's a super smart guy, he'll put money away for the future.  He is also the most famous climber in the world now, and he can milk that for a long time now.  Personally, I hope he stops the hard solos now that he's done El Cap.

nathanael wrote:

Catherine Destivelle another woman famous for her some of her free soloing among other accomplishments.

that photo gives me the shivers.

She's entirely right in expressing her opinion in her world. She shouldn't be and dosent belong in this one-

Important question: Was she hot?

Jplotz wrote:

Important question: Was she hot?

Why does it take so long to boil down the most important question?

Jplotz wrote:

Important question: Was she hot?

She was blonde, 35, worked out every day, had a great smile.

But into hunting, country music, and line-dancing (not my cup of tea).  The final straw was when we were walking with her dog and she let it shit in someone's yard and said, "I don't have a plastic bag.. oh well" and walked off.  I'm probably weird for letting that be my deal-breaker, but it was...

So have the trolls yet read https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/113509375/everyone-you-meet 

AndrewArroz wrote:

that photo gives me the shivers.

Thanks for the wet hands bro.... I'm trying to work here!

John RB wrote:

She was blonde, 35, worked out every day, had a great smile.

But into hunting, country music, and line-dancing (not my cup of tea).  The final straw was when we were walking with her dog and she let it shit in someone's yard and said, "I don't have a plastic bag.. oh well" and walked off.  I'm probably weird for letting that be my deal-breaker, but it was...

If I were 55 and on a date with someone 20 years younger than me with a great smile/body/hair I would let a lot slide.

The dog pooping in someone's yard might be the deal breaker for me also though.  It's concrete while everything else is "theoretical."  Hunting, while I dislike it, many of us eat meat, just let others do the dirty work.  My pet peeve is when someone claims to be a vegetarian but eats seafood - ie labeling fish/lobster as sub-animal.