Post: #1

This will probably be quite a short article, since Alex Honnold essentially leaves me speechless. If you are not impressed with this 29-year-old, you should be; the drive and focus he shows is beyond human.

To get an idea of what he’s devoted the last 10+ years of his life to, it’s best to watch the 60 Minutes documentary, which details his ascent of a 3000-foot rock face “Sentinel” in Yosemite, completely free solo, WITH NO SAFETY ROPE.

The thing to understand here, is that he’s not doing this to be some show-off badass, or to make money, he’s doing it because it’s what he’s dedicated himself to. He lives in the back of a modest van and spends his time going between climbing venues.

The largest part of what he does is psychological, with perfect mastery and execution of climbing techniques that’s taken hours of practice.

The 60 Minutes clip also contains some quite cool parts about base jumping and swimming with great white sharks, but Alex is the most inspirational as far as I am concerned. His section is at 15:30.

The armchair critics out there would probably deride him as selfish or egoistical,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fuu5JYwPIbg and yet what he does requires such a high level of focus, with any error causing certain death, that the level of mental control he must have developed to do what he does, gives us some hope that the human race may be able to wean itself off constant smart phone abuse and mindless trivia.

There really isn’t any room for ego or pride in a sport like this. There isn’t even room for the slightest error. Let’s see some of these puffed-up NBA stars and rappers take on a real death-defying challenge.

This is another clip worth watching, a interview with Alex, although the interviewer is a bit of a douchebag asking stupid questions and waffling on, you see Alex’s mindset.

He dropped out of college to do what he loves and has lived on next to nothing, although I expect media and book offers are coming his way now. There are always rewards of success for those who do not seek instant material gain AND have the tenacity to see it through.

Some of the peaks that Alex has climbed free solo with no safety rope were thought in the 1950s to be impossible to climb AT ALL, while the first mountaineers who attempted them took weeks, working in teams and commuting up and down each day to eke out a few hundred feet per day.

When he did decide to use a rope and work with a climbing partner, they hammered out seven peaks at Yosemite in seven days, breaking speed records on four of the faces.

Climbing just one route on El Capitan — the biggest and best cliff in North America — in a single day is a lifetime achievement for most people, an achievement that is usually followed by a day or two of rest. But Alex Honnold and David Allfrey aren’t most people: They are two of the best speed climbers alive today. So it’s no surprise that when David and Alex set out to climb seven El Cap routes in seven days, they did more than simply complete the climbs — they smoked them!

• New Jersey Turnpike (12 hours 24 minutes — new speed record)

• Tangerine Trip (9:28 — new speed record)

• Eagle’s Way (7:56 — new speed record)

• Nose (5:16)

• Lurking Fear (5:05)

• Zodiac (5:05)

• Triple Direct (5:15 — new speed record)

I am not suggesting that anyone runs out and becomes a mountaineer, much less free soloing with no safety rope – each to his own. What I am doing is showing you one man’s determination and drive under the most extraordinary circumstances.

When Alex starts up a 2000-foot face, there is no turning back whatsoever. It is literally impossible to go down unless he slips and is in free fall. Random risks such as bird or ants nests can take his life and still up he goes; preparing himself mentally for his ascent, that might take several hours.

Essentially what Alex shows us is a 21st Century version of Zen mind control. Doing something in its most pure form, purely for the sake of doing it, perfecting it and being absolutely in the moment, while testing the skill (and mind control) against a back drop of certain death. This is a challenge that most men have never taken on.

So the next time you are having some difficulty and feeling frustrated with something or someone, just imagine what it’s like halfway up a 3000-foot rock face with only your fingers to rely on—and re-focus yourself.

The pea brain will probably have all kinds of ideas about extreme sports being lame replacements for real masculine pursuits or run some mindless debate, to try to excuse its own lack of focus, discipline, and drive. The fact remains that YOU and the other 6,999,999,998 people on Earth CANNOT DO THIS, in large part because they lack the mental skill.

And that is truly inspiring.

Read More: This Accidental Experiment Shows The Superiority Of Patriarchy

Posted on Thu, 02 Apr 2015 22:00:11 +0000 at http://www.returnofkings.com/59324/one-o...n-on-earth
Comments: http://www.returnofkings.com/59324/one-o...h#comments

Post: #2

I find nothing in the least inspirational about him. He is a suicidal fool who risks throwing away his life at any moment for no good reason.

Men who find him "inspirational" must feel that everyday life, as it unfolds, is "empty" and "meaningless" and has nothing to offer, and that such extremes of experience must be sought to gain anything of value. That is a dull ingrate's idea based on a misunderstanding of life and of what is best and deepest about it.

Post: #3

Well, a lot of extreme sports/activities are basically just ways to force yourself into living the present moment, when you feel most alive. But you can become dependent on the method and there are other ways to achieve this.

Post: #4

A man who loves life and is in league with it can feel "most alive" when deliberating between de Cecco fusilli and de Cecco penne rigate, and ultimately settling on both, in the grocery store pasta aisle.

But the way to enter into such a life is through a lifetime of thought and feeling and interest in the world as it is. It is a delusion to think that climbing the face of some rock, or any other supposedly "extreme" bodily activity, is a shortcut to a greater love and understanding of life. What it can be a shortcut to is a premature and pointless death.

And of course there is a difference between your average "extreme" sport and the kind of necessary death from one wrong move idiocy that this loser engages in.

Post: #5

(04-03-2015 12:10 PM)The Lizard of Oz Wrote:  A man who loves life and is in league with it can feel "most alive" when deliberating between de Cecco fusilli and de Cecco penne rigate, and ultimately settling on both, in the grocery store pasta aisle.

But the way to enter into such a life is through a lifetime of thought and feeling and interest in the world as it is. It is a delusion to think that climbing the face of some rock, or any other supposedly "extreme" bodily activity, is a shortcut to a greater love and understanding of life. What it can be a shortcut to is a premature and pointless death.

And of course there is a difference between your average "extreme" sport and the kind of necessary death from one wrong move idiocy that this loser engages in.

Damn you went hard on him with you criticism! Me too I do not see and understand the why he does it, but you gotta respect his pasion for Climbing no matter what. This is a men that his probably void of any trace of instant gratification and an ego in check. That's the kind of men I'd like to have by my side. Only thing that scares me about this guy is the possibility of pussy fucking him up! Part of me wants him to get his fame, but my other part wants him to stay away because he seems to not be ready for the women that will flock to him if he blows up

Post: #6

Captain Gh, there is nothing wrong with a passion for climbing but he deliberately does it in a way that endangers his life at every moment with one false move. No real climbers do that, and the motivation for this kind of suicidal behavior comes from psychological compulsions that have nothing to do with a true quest for achievement and excellence.

And any soldier will tell you that the last guy you want to have next to you in a battle is someone so stupid and reckless that he places zero value on his own life. People like that just put everyone else around them in unnecessary danger.