Impressive, but also stupidly risky no matter how good you are.
I wrote below that I am also critical.
Interviewer: Does having a family make it impossible to climb without fear entering your mind?
Alex: "Time will tell. It’s maybe possible, but it might be a challenge. I think it’s easier to free solo when you can tell yourself that your life doesn’t matter that much. You’re kind of like, “Well, I’m just doing my thing, and it’s my own choice.” And if you have any real acceptance that your life matters a lot to other people, then you are sort of like, “Well, you know, it’s sort of my responsibility to not squander that.”
On the other hand, with a lot of the hard free soloing, the whole point is to make it feel safe and relatively comfortable. To basically prepare enough that it doesn’t feel like you’re rolling the dice.
Actually, last fall I did a big soloing traverse in Red Rock, near my home in Las Vegas. It was a 32-hour soloing traverse by myself, climbing up over all the major peaks in Red Rock. I think to the average viewer, they’d be like, “Holy shit, he’s still soloing at a really high level.” But the reality is that, for me personally, that just doesn’t feel like extreme free soloing in the same way. It was kind of more akin to ultrarunning or like a giant endurance event or something. I was free soloing, but it’s a far cry from El Cap."
My thoughts: While he is skilled he isn’t taking the natural environment in his equation. It might be a easypeasy climb like he mentions in the interview above. Sure, but the risk of Rockfall, high winds, adverse weather, unexpecited animals mid route, sudden noises etc. that scare you are still real. In Nevada where he climbs they have air force jets, if you get caught off guard during a climb things can get friggin’ dangerous.
Yeah I understand this doesn’t happen every day but once you have children I wouldn’t want to risk a single solo climb. It’s not required and he is climbing at a level he doesn’t have to prove anyone anything. He is rich and already extremely good. At this point it’s selfish and stupid. I don’t know normally I really don’t care but well I don’t think free soloing should be glorified and he is a person that younger people look up to. He is a person younger people SHOULDN’T look up to. Climbing without a rope shouldn’t look like they are better climbers than climbers with ropes. Especially because we have access to ropes, we have them for a reason.
Most climbs he solos are nothing and I’d say most of the climbs might go well but nature can screw him up. A fly lands on your nose and you get distracted - you die. Free solo equates with being totally alone on the rock, not being able to call anyone for help, and not being able to bail if things go wrong. You either go up, or you fall (and very probably, die). Another option might be climb back down, but… dunno why would you climb down if you already know the route and are confident?
That’s all it is. Nothing a man should risk once you have children.
He’s an adrenaline junkie. Like most addicts, he only cares about his next fix. Nothing else matters.
Nothing a man should risk once you have children.
There is risk in everything. Being an employee and relying on a business to provide you with money is risky, yet billions of men take that risk across their working lives.
If a man cannot risk anything to have a family, then there will never be any man who qualifies.
In fact many men work high risk jobs because they pay the most.
I think you misunderstood. What you mentioned are risks that have a payoff; some reason to do them, and sometimes that’s required. This doesn’t really. Maybe he makes slightly more money, but he really doesn’t need that even if that’s the case. It’s more like the risk of sticking a loaded gun in your mouth because you like the taste, not going to work because you need money to live.
You’re taking vastly different levels and kinds of risk and equating them. That’s either disingenuous or foolish, but we can only guess which.
Stupidly? If you have full awareness and understanding of the risk you aren’t being stupid
There’s a significant flaw in that reasoning…
“I knew I was walking into a lion cage and that I would be attacked. I wasn’t stupid when I then did it!”
If you’re a fully trained, and aware lion trainer or zookeeper, it’s not stupid
