The Freesoloist YouTube Channel

Sent the thread to austin expect him to chime in/laugh from afar.
This is going to be juicy.

The thing with soloists is this.

If you like to flaunt it you don't care what others think. That's narcissism.
If you keep it quiet you don't care what others think. That's being humble. Either way you don't care what others think.

Doug S wrote:

Ugh

What a douche! 

You know what I like about Alex Honnold?  How soft spoken he is about his soloing.  How many times has this guy soloed something and not told anybody?  Not recorded himself doing it?  For as much as Honnold has been recorded, it’s pretty obvious that he isn’t interested in the attention.  Not sure if the same can be said for this guy.

I met Austin at Military Wall at the Red. He was TR soloing on Gung Ho, a soft 12b, one-hanging it as we arrived. My buddy wanted to try it so we asked him to take down his setup and just climb with us. It took him a few goes but he got it. The idea that he is onsight soloing 12a with difficult moves in consequential terrain is a little unsettling. He seemed like a nice guy if a bit overstoker.

Is this the same dude?

Wow... Seb... It seems some people like to spray about me more than I do... thanks to all of you for digging up all my media and sharing it about! All the free advertisement is lovely! Not sure what TF I’m selling, other than idiocy... but if you come up with some good ideas, holler at me! On second thought... don’t. I have a day-job, and I actually like it. Which is rare. I’m very lucky. So on the whole, I don’t need to sell anything. Use that idea yourself. Anyhow.....

On RedRiverClimbing.com. To be blunt... I couldn’t give a flying fandango about the kind of people who Could say these things about a ten-year-old

On Flailing around... The red vexes me. All those infernal pockets... never can tell how to bloody use them... or which twelve out of the forty-seven available are necessary. In The Canyon, a friend who understands my climbing better than I do... he tipped me off to a route that would work for the OSS. After five years in the area, I could read that stone. I cant read The Red. Until its dialed, it feels like a project, after it’s dialed.... it feels like a warmup. The Swiss cheese confuses me... I’ve been climbing in The Red for about five months, that’s next to nothing. Every rock speaks its own language, and i’m an absolute neophyte at this language

On grades: Hardest thing I’ve ever sent (both boulders and ropes) was done in a single session. When it comes to projecting, frankly my dears... I just don’t give a damn. Might be why my numbers seem “off.” Historically soloists’s maximums are either four letter-grades behind their redpoint (if they care about that kind of thing) or on-par with their onsight grade (for those who don’t). My maximal onsight was a 5.12c near Chatty... it later became my maximal solo. Everything I’ve done at The Red has been lower difficulty than that route, despite the fact that I’ve had two years of hard-training in-between
Humble monk of soloing? Nah. I’m a right proper arse-hole. Just ask my friends. You’ll never hear me claim humility, but if there’s one thing that discourages the “copycat effect” that so many folks are afraid of... it’s talking process. Kids die on buildings for instagram selfies. You scream “danger” they hear “cool” and fly towards it like moths to a flame. You talk preparation, they get bored. It’s that simple. I’m not going to spray about how “awesome” what I did was... because soloing isn’t cool, and neither am I. I’m sharing what I do to build stoke, and talking about what went into it to keep people from trying any stupid ideas. I’ve had folks message me to say they chose not to solo because of what they’ve read/heard on my pages, others that they realized they were soloing off-the-rails and decided to reign it in.
Humble? Me? Not so much. Although... I can’t help but notice... most often it seems the “Brave and Humble” moniker is used to lambast others into conforming to your personal norm, whatever that may be. This sport used to be a bunch of non-conformists. I may not be humble, but I’m not so intent on spraying my opinion that I think I have the right to tell someone how to live. I just exercise the right that everyone else has, to be stoked about what they do. I see no reason to live in shame. Some folks need to look in the mirror and contemplate why they feel such a need to push shame on others...
I play on Reddit a good bit these days. Not in a reactionary state, but rather to help others. I don’t give back much, and I feel guilty about that. So I hang out on the r/climbing New Climber Tread and the r/climbharder weekly questions thread. If I’m a monk of religiosity, it’s with regards to training. My way of giving back is to hang out there and answer as many questions as I can. In two years I’ve made thirteen posts in climbing Reddits... about one every two months.
I used to get bent up when one of these threads would go off and reply incessantly. That’s not a healthy trait now, is it? Turns out I’m bipolar (BP-2 to be specific for those of you who empathize). Found out a little over a year ago. I think that a proper internet roasting used to kick off a sort of manic response. I’m medicated now, so that doesn’t happen, I’m a bit more even keel these days. I shan’t turn on the notifications for this post after this comment, and leave the internet to foment upon itself. I’ve got flaws. Furgin’ loads of them. I’m trying to be very aware of those and work on them. It’s a work in progress.
PS: The Doc and I agree that soloing has provided me with a very useful form of therapy. It’s the only time my brain-box turns off. Furthermore, as that sense of clarity on the wall begins to deepen.... it comes off the wall with me into my daily life more and more as I keep doing it. That’s not particular to soloing mind you, I know folks who’ve gotten that from the guitar
PPS: anybody out there struggling with mental health, listen to this episode of the podcast. You’re not alone, there’s millions of us, and therefore you have community. Holler at me if you need anything <3
https://freesoloist.blubrry.net/2019/04/01/stepping-back-from-the-edge-landing-under-the-knife/
PPPS: Yes, I’m “crazy,” just not in the way you expected. PLOT TWIST! No, it doesn’t affect my climbing, if my obituary read “we told you so,” I’d be mighty pissed off, so that keeps me *extra careful.* Actually... third thing: some folks have reached out to tell me that the podcast gave them the impetus to seek treatment for their mental health. So.... convincing some *not* to solo, convincing others to solo *less recklessly* and convincing still others to seek help when they need it... I’m helping people come home alive, and that’s all I care about, not some internet kerfuffle.

And lastly... a polite reminder from the top of the comment box itself:

So on that note... Alright y’all, I’m out! Have fun, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, just keep in mind... that’s a very short list (also, why TF can’t I ever make a short reply?)

This guy seems chill.

Damn! I sure can pick 'em!

Austin, alot of people can't handle the idea of a person dying in front of them so when you present this possibility right in their face they react with disdain, it's only natural for the normies.

I hope you don't eat shit, but if you do I couldn't care less, just another soldier gone. Godspeed.

All the haters, if you don't like it, don't watch it!

Holden Caulfield wrote:

Like this: mountainproject.com/route/1…  ?

Sort of. But given how the route was FAed, there is at least some relevance  to video soloing the same route, and it’s presence in route comments. 

I also don’t have a problem with someone posting a picture of themselves soloing a route, and linking it to the route, this is no different than posting a picture of yourself climbing a route... if the picture is good. You can even record your own ascent and you have an option of marking it as a solo. 

It’s the need to comment on the route with “I soloed this twice, here is my YouTube channel”, in addition to doing all of these other things, that I find ridiculous. 

The difference between someone saying “I saw John Gill onsight solo this in 1962”, and John Gill himself sending a letter to everyone in the climbing community, telling them that he onsight Free soloed Thimble, please make 5 copies of this letter and mail it to your friends for the chance to win my autograph, if you will.

Lena chita wrote:

Sort of. But given how the route was FAed, there is at least some relevance  to video soloing the same route, and it’s presence in route comments. 

I also don’t have a problem with someone posting a picture of themselves soloing a route, and linking it to the route, this is no different than posting a picture of yourself climbing a route... if the picture is good. You can even record your own ascent and you have an option of marking it as a solo. 

It’s the need to comment on the route with “I soloed this twice, here is my YouTube channel”, in addition to doing all of these other things, that I find ridiculous. 

The difference between someone saying “I saw John Gill onsight solo this in 1962”, and John Gill himself sending a letter to everyone in the climbing community, telling them that he onsight Free soloed Thimble, please make 5 copies of this letter and mail it to your friends for the chance to win my autograph, if you will.

This is a well thought out point and I would add that route comments should be for beta, history, and quality assessment only. In this case his video fits those categories. 

Sure, a true brag should get shut down, which I have had to do myself for DL when some joker commented "I solo'd this, I was just wondering if I'm the first to solo this route?". Sometimes it's a fine line between stoking the stoke and being a bragging bitch.

Austin Howell wrote: Wow... Seb... It seems some people like to spray about me more than I do... thanks to all of you for digging up all my media and sharing it about! All the free advertisement is lovely! Not sure what TF I’m selling, other than idiocy... but if you come up with some good ideas, holler at me! On second thought... don’t. I have a day-job, and I actually like it. Which is rare. I’m very lucky. So on the whole, I don’t need to sell anything. Use that idea yourself. Anyhow.....

On RedRiverClimbing.com. To be blunt... I couldn’t give a flying fandango about the kind of people who Could say these things about a ten-year-old

On Flailing around... The red vexes me. All those infernal pockets... never can tell how to bloody use them... or which twelve out of the forty-seven available are necessary. In The Canyon, a friend who understands my climbing better than I do... he tipped me off to a route that would work for the OSS. After five years in the area, I could read that stone. I cant read The Red. Until its dialed, it feels like a project, after it’s dialed.... it feels like a warmup. The Swiss cheese confuses me... I’ve been climbing in The Red for about five months, that’s next to nothing. Every rock speaks its own language, and i’m an absolute neophyte at this language

On grades: Hardest thing I’ve ever sent (both boulders and ropes) was done in a single session. When it comes to projecting, frankly my dears... I just don’t give a damn. Might be why my numbers seem “off.” Historically soloists’s maximums are either four letter-grades behind their redpoint (if they care about that kind of thing) or on-par with their onsight grade (for those who don’t). My maximal onsight was a 5.12c near Chatty... it later became my maximal solo. Everything I’ve done at The Red has been lower difficulty than that route, despite the fact that I’ve had two years of hard-training in-between
Humble monk of soloing? Nah. I’m a right proper arse-hole. Just ask my friends. You’ll never hear me claim humility, but if there’s one thing that discourages the “copycat effect” that so many folks are afraid of... it’s talking process. Kids die on buildings for instagram selfies. You scream “danger” they hear “cool” and fly towards it like moths to a flame. You talk preparation, they get bored. It’s that simple. I’m not going to spray about how “awesome” what I did was... because soloing isn’t cool, and neither am I. I’m sharing what I do to build stoke, and talking about what went into it to keep people from trying any stupid ideas. I’ve had folks message me to say they chose not to solo because of what they’ve read/heard on my pages, others that they realized they were soloing off-the-rails and decided to reign it in.
Humble? Me? Not so much. Although... I can’t help but notice... most often it seems the “Brave and Humble” moniker is used to lambast others into conforming to your personal norm, whatever that may be. This sport used to be a bunch of non-conformists. I may not be humble, but I’m not so intent on spraying my opinion that I think I have the right to tell someone how to live. I just exercise the right that everyone else has, to be stoked about what they do. I see no reason to live in shame. Some folks need to look in the mirror and contemplate why they feel such a need to push shame on others...
I play on Reddit a good bit these days. Not in a reactionary state, but rather to help others. I don’t give back much, and I feel guilty about that. So I hang out on the r/climbing New Climber Tread and the r/climbharder weekly questions thread. If I’m a monk of religiosity, it’s with regards to training. My way of giving back is to hang out there and answer as many questions as I can. In two years I’ve made thirteen posts in climbing Reddits... about one every two months.
I used to get bent up when one of these threads would go off and reply incessantly. That’s not a healthy trait now, is it? Turns out I’m bipolar (BP-2 to be specific for those of you who empathize). Found out a little over a year ago. I think that a proper internet roasting used to kick off a sort of manic response. I’m medicated now, so that doesn’t happen, I’m a bit more even keel these days. I shan’t turn on the notifications for this post after this comment, and leave the internet to foment upon itself. I’ve got flaws. Furgin’ loads of them. I’m trying to be very aware of those and work on them. It’s a work in progress.
PS: The Doc and I agree that soloing has provided me with a very useful form of therapy. It’s the only time my brain-box turns off. Furthermore, as that sense of clarity on the wall begins to deepen.... it comes off the wall with me into my daily life more and more as I keep doing it. That’s not particular to soloing mind you, I know folks who’ve gotten that from the guitar
PPS: anybody out there struggling with mental health, listen to this episode of the podcast. You’re not alone, there’s millions of us, and therefore you have community. Holler at me if you need anything <3
https://freesoloist.blubrry.net/2019/04/01/stepping-back-from-the-edge-landing-under-the-knife/
PPPS: Yes, I’m “crazy,” just not in the way you expected. PLOT TWIST! No, it doesn’t affect my climbing, if my obituary read “we told you so,” I’d be mighty pissed off, so that keeps me *extra careful.* Actually... third thing: some folks have reached out to tell me that the podcast gave them the impetus to seek treatment for their mental health. So.... convincing some *not* to solo, convincing others to solo *less recklessly* and convincing still others to seek help when they need it... I’m helping people come home alive, and that’s all I care about, not some internet kerfuffle.

And lastly... a polite reminder from the top of the comment box itself:

So on that note... Alright y’all, I’m out! Have fun, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, just keep in mind... that’s a very short list (also, why TF can’t I ever make a short reply?)

TLDR

Spraying before social media was a thing - get your accolades do it for you -
https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/106906895

Austin Howell wrote:  I’m not going to spray about how “awesome” what I did was... because soloing isn’t cool, and neither am I. I’m sharing what I do to build stoke, and talking about what went into it to keep people from trying any stupid ideas. I’ve had folks message me to say they chose not to solo because of what they’ve read/heard on my pages, others that they realized they were soloing off-the-rails and decided to reign it in.

I dunno, I actually listened to your podcast (which came across as pretty narcissistic; next time I listen I'll be donning goretex on account of the 90% forecast of spray), and I believe that the end of your account about your onsight solo of a 5.12a you said something to the effect of "I don't know of anyone else who has onsight soloed a route this hard... maybe Honnold, I dunno."  This reflected a pretty severe lack of climbing history knowledge (Frenchies in the Verdon 30 years ago?  Ben Heason?).  That's some Dunning-Kruger Spray right there.

To quote Game of Thrones:

"I don't care what people think of me."

"That's what you want people to think of you."

There's nothing different between spraying about sending 5.12 and soloing 5.12 except that one is way more impressive, but the former seems to be met with praise and the latter with scorn...kinda annoying.

John Tex wrote: How come you guys dont jump on honnold? He sprays a ton.  

He gets paid by The North Face and La Sportiva to spray about it. It’s literally his job.

Dan Cooksey wrote: I can't ever find it, but there is a video out there of some guy free soloing a route in southwest Pennsylvania.  He is talking to the camera about his cliche reasons for doing so........then he falls.  It was only about 35-40 feet, and the guy is fine.  Its just a funny video.  I tried to find it but cant. 

I wish this cavalier attitude would vanish. 40 feet is a long fucking way for a ground fall. Hell, there are 30' routes with 3 bolts in them. Once 20' is exceeded in a ground fall, the death rate is around 50% (from something I read several years ago).

This isn't a comment on free soloing, but on the concept of the fall being *only about 35-40 feet*, implying it's no big deal. And I'm not specifically calling out Dan on this - that kind of comment has been used by a lot of other folks.

This fella climbs hard stuff and likes to talk about it. It's his life. Objectively, by looking at this thread, you can see a lot of his feats are remarkable - garnering quite many remarks from folks whose own feats are far less "remarkable."

Leave the trash talk and think about why you need to spray negativity towards people you don't know on the internet. Trolling says more about the troll than the subject of the trolling.