Fascinating compelling film. Honnold is an odd duck for sure. At one point they did an MRI of his brain to study how he reacted to shocking or distressing imagery, compared it to a typical response and showed them side by side. The amygdala in a normal human is lit up bright red, in Alex it was completely dark. My question is whether this was an acquired ability, or was it genetic or a combination of both.

It would be very useful to have that kind of ability in a gunfight or any serious emergency.

...or when you fall off of a mountain.

It's nuckin' futz just thinking about it. I haven't watched "Free Solo" yet.

"Meru" on Netflix is another great climbing film with Jimmy Chin (no Alex Honnold). It's using ropes and standard gear, etc. but is just as crazy to me. https://youtu.be/YvS6O9lVkkg (movie trailer)

I watched it last night. I learned that the guy graduated from my high school! Neato!

For those who've never been to Yosemite Valley, it's hard to describe just how mammoth the granite walls are. It really is staggering.

Yeah, we’re very familiar with the Mira Loma IB program. One of my kids had Mr. K as a teacher in junior high.

And yes, Asperger’s for sure, and that same kid is also Asperger’s and has the same difficulty expressing (but not feeling) emotion. We can’t for the life of us figure out what he wants.

I’m sure a “normal” person—a neurotypical as the Asperger’s kids say—couldn’t have done this. Especially with a girl friend who clearly doesn’t want him to do it.

And for people totally devoid of sense, there is free solo high lining.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/Ac_t4pNYr1g

^^^^^^ Oh hell no!

Finished watching it last night. Fantastic!

I always will have respect for a person that lives completely "out of the box".

You can have respect for his mortal remains after he falls off a fucking mountain.

At that point, though, he'll be back in "the box".

That is, the part of him they can find and scrape off of the granite before the buzzards eat it.

I just love people who have something to prove, and who risk their life in foolish ways to prove it.

How is climbing a mountain without safety gear proof of anything but one's insanity? And reading the comments about this guy's demeanor- yeah, it begins to make much more sense to me.

But, let's do applaud and admire this guy's mental illness.

^^^^

Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETOMQubayeY

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@ 7:30 is mention of Honnold climbing with an injured foot (girl friend bungled a belay and he fell about 60 feet).

I climbed a 5.6 route with a steel pin immobilizing my left thumb. This was after my 60-into-stopped-car motorcycle accident necessitated surgically reattaching the ligaments.

Just finished watching the show, the actual free climb, and I can not remember my hands being so sweaty. Did not help that I knew he would succeed.

He does seem a little Aspergers-ery. That is probably a major component in how he can do this.

If we can support conscious decisions to commit suicide, how can we not support conscious decisions to engage in activities that have a higher likelihood of fatality than most? He knows it could kill him - and he persists. We all have the right to control our own bodies, lives and destinies.

His Asperger's, if that is what it is, doesn't seem to be severe enough to make him incompetent, as that term is usually understood.

And yeah, the movie does make you as nervous as you can be, even knowing that he doesn't fall. It is well-done.

quote:

If we can support conscious decisions to commit suicide, how can we not support conscious decisions to engage in activities that have a higher likelihood of fatality than most? He knows it could kill him - and he persists. We all have the right to control our own bodies, lives and destinies.

I have no problem with Honnold and those like him making that decision. I do have a problem paying for the mop and bucket when, not if, he falls.

The interesting thing is, based on his MRI, I'm not sure that even seeing the remains of someone who has fallen a thousand feet onto the rocks and turned into red jelly and bone splinters would faze him. Knowing that eventually, that will be him. I sometimes wonder what these people think as they fall. Wish I was somewhere else? Shouldn't have made that last traverse? Glad I'm doing what I love? What did I have for breakfast? I suppose the closest we can come is the reported comment of one of Honnold's contemporaries, actually rope climbing as a team fairly recent to his climb, and in Yellowstone I believe, when one team member fell and pulled the other to his death off the rocks. The last words of the second member as he was jerked off the climbing anchor were "Oh, fu...." Appropriately, I would say.

quote:

Originally posted by jigray3:

quote:

If we can support conscious decisions to commit suicide, how can we not support conscious decisions to engage in activities that have a higher likelihood of fatality than most? He knows it could kill him - and he persists. We all have the right to control our own bodies, lives and destinies.

I have no problem with Honnold and those like him making that decision. I do have a problem paying for the mop and bucket when, not if, he falls.

This. It’s a matter of time, not possibility.

As amazing as Free Solo was, I just watched Dawn Wall last night. 19 days living on a shear rock wall!

If you havent seen Free Solo yet, First watch Valley Uprising (netflix), then watch Dawn Wall (also Netflix) and then watch Free Solo. I will give you a better appreciation for Alex Honnold's accomplishment.

As I am watching Dawn Wall I kept thinking, "I dont remember this" and yet it is something I would have followed. Then it hit me, I was in High Springs the week it really hit the news heavy taking my Cave class. In the water for 6 hours and class at night for another 4, i never watched TV for over 7 days. As I watched the movie and how tore up their finger tips were all I could think was at the same time, my finger tips were so tore up from "pulling and gliding" in the cave that, when on the surface, they would just "burst" and the tips would ooze "fluid". HA! Good times!

I'd add Meru to the list of good views on this theme. Same director/photographer as Free Solo.

I was oblivious to this line of crazy until I took this job. One of my docs has a daughter who spends some time on the fringes of this group (in general, not the specific people). He's opened my eyes to their lifestyle some, and the living in a van thing is part of the culture in many instances apparently.

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:
I'd add Meru to the list of good views on this theme. Same director/photographer as Free Solo..

That one was very good also. I guess it is from being from a flat state, but I am fascinated by climbing movies.