GQ article on climbing - thoughts?

As others have said, I don't blame Honnold, even though I feel a bit embarrassed for him. Professional athletes have short careers, and the "pension program" sucks. He's stacking some cash to float through the drier years that inevitably lie ahead. And he's still funneling a lot of money into his nonprofit. It's not like he's some Jeff Bezos sitting on billions, evading taxes, and forcing the government to subsidize his shitty wages.

That said, the article is repulsive because GQ is repulsive. What are the core values of GQ magazine? Endless consumption. Peacocking. Using women as status-symbols. Inflating masculinity with wealth.

I’ll take one of those $213 beanies.

If it's still true he donates 1/3 of his income every year then go get that bread.

source: kinder.world/articles/solut…

That article and photoshoot were not for climbers. They were for the customers of the brands advertised in GQ. No climber climbs in Louis Vuitton and Gucci. This was about trying to give sad consumerist men a way to touch the coolness they see in sponsored athletes. The ugliness of the clothes is part of the point. It's about being rich enough to drop that much money on a flash in the pan, impractical, ugly outfit.

I think Alex has the right attitude about selling out. I would bet most of us are working at jobs that we'd be happy to give up if we could....which is, you know, what selling out is. It's easy for him to get paid right now, so he should take advantage of that. I'm glad he will be able to live a comfortable life and also support his foundation and values. 

C Archibolt wrote: 
That said, the article is repulsive because GQ is repulsive. What are the core values of GQ magazine? Endless consumption. Peacocking. Using women as status-symbols. Inflating masculinity with wealth.

This is exactly my problem. I wanted to throw my computer through the window every time I read the description under a photo which described clothing items by who made them and how much they cost. 

C Archibolt wrote: As others have said, I don't blame Honnold, even though I feel a bit embarrassed for him. Professional athletes have short careers, and the "pension program" sucks. He's stacking some cash to float through the drier years that inevitably lie ahead. And he's still funneling a lot of money into his nonprofit. It's not like he's some Jeff Bezos sitting on billions, evading taxes, and forcing the government to subsidize his shitty wages.

That said, the article is repulsive because GQ is repulsive. What are the core values of GQ magazine? Endless consumption. Peacocking. Using women as status-symbols. Inflating masculinity with wealth.

I started to correct your last sentence to "conflating"..... 

GQ is the mens' version of Vogue.  It's about fashion.  I think no one on this forum is inside their target market.  (Well, I aspire to be.)  I'm talking about the market segment that aspires to 5-figure watches and 4-figure pants and shirts.  Us regular folk can't conceive of such things but there are many people in the world who have so much money that they need these things to feel right.  And I can dig it and hope to get there some day.

It's a different world and different universe in the high end fashion world.  You can claim it's all "bull'" the way people step back from Piccasso's work and say it looks like a little kid scribbled something. It is just humans focusing on something the way we focus on climbing. It's just a game. And yes, it is very funny in the Zoolander lens.

Alex is the real deal.  A genuine guy who has powered through the greatest accomplishment ever achieved by a human being.  He is our brother climber.  Proof is his quote that his body is just a piece of meat that is being used by others.  Every hour of every day, his creativity is making other people rich.  May the money rain down all over him and those of us in our community.     

seamus mcshane wrote: It’s true that weddings are expensive.
But children cost a whole lot more

do tell?!?

Alex and Sani expecting?
Shotgun Wedding?
Enquiring minds wanna know

Spider Savage wrote: GQ is the mens' version of Vogue.  It's about fashion.  I think no one on this forum is inside their target market.  (Well, I aspire to be.)  I'm talking about the market segment that aspires to 5-figure watches and 4-figure pants and shirts. 

Paging Mr. Adventure.

Honnold reads like a bored tour guide while the author riffs on what’s hot right now. 

Honnold is laughing all the way to the bank.

The pricey clothes are hilarious and he looks like a deer in the headlights in them.

I thought the article captured the current climbing scene, as viewed from the indoor perspective, very well.

rgold wrote: 
The pricey clothes are hilarious and he looks like a deer in the headlights in them.

if you're not bouldering in a $213 beanie, you're not bouldering....

Spider Savage wrote: 

Alex is the real deal.  A genuine guy who has powered through the greatest accomplishment ever achieved by a human being.    

Lol seriously?  This statement is more cringeworthy than the "dramatic" blackout background composition of those photos or the clown outfits poor dood is wearing.  Skewed world views like this are why GQ can even sell a single copy of their garbage dump magazine.

Getting paid is getting paid but he could have just done some car insurance commercials like Shaq. Those pics are gross, And climbing a rock is way down the list of human accomplishments.

WHO WEARS A FUCKING WATCH WHEN THEY CLIMB!?

rgold wrote: Honnold is laughing all the way to the bank.

The pricey clothes are hilarious and he looks like a deer in the headlights in them.

I thought the article captured the current climbing scene, as viewed from the indoor perspective, very well.

I certainly hope he did that for the money and the clown clothes. Anybody who climbs outdoors and the gyms probably didn’t learn much more than luxury resort wear is seriously expensive and Honnold’s “blue steel” is kinda funny.

If I got a chance to wear orange pants and stare awkwardly into a camera to avoid having a real job I'm putting those fucking pants on. Man's got a mortgage now, I'm damn sure my 9-5 is more demeaning than being naked in a magazine.

Andy Wiesner wrote:

I dunno. Dress funny. Get money. Go climbing. I didn't know Fred, but I suspect he might have gotten it. 

Fred cleaned up nicely. Real GQ material. But, from what I've heard, I expect he'd wear pretty much anything if it would fund his climbing. 

If you want to lament the popularization and commercialization of climbing, or the vacuous consumerism promoted by GQ, by all means go right ahead (you should!).  But if you think for one second that any of your climbing heroes wouldn't have also jumped at the opportunities Honnold is being offered, you're living in a dream world.

Of all the people that could be enriched by the popularization of climbing, I would -hope- it would be someone like Honnold, who has demonstrated by his actions (not words) a complete devotion to both climbing and humanitarian causes, plus a complete eschewal of conspicuous consumption in his personal life.

PNW Choss wrote: WHO WEARS A FUCKING WATCH WHEN THEY CLIMB!?

This guy 

I actually read through the entire article and thought it was pretty well done given the target audience and where it was printed. I've seen much worse. It did, as rgold mentioned, capture the essence of where climbing is at now in our society. However, the pictures... ah, the wonderful, professional, super-slick pictures... they  did cause me to vomit up and re-swallow a bit of my breakfast. (Loved the "gag me with a nut tool" comment earlier.) Yes, Alex does indeed look like a deer in the headlights--way out of his element here. To me, something is really out of whack in this world if we actually feel like we need clothing  with these prices--and, worse, clothing that will be "out of style" next season (I personally wouldn't accept any of that clothing even if you gave it to me). Future generations (assuming there will be any) will likely look back and wonder what we were thinking to call ourselves "consumers" and see nothing wrong with it.