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Comment by sgrytoyr | Hacker News Reader

I feel compelled to post this video whenever Honnold comes up. Here he is free-soloing El Sendero Luminoso:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phl82D57P58

He really is something else.

Amazing video. I went to see him speak and he introduced himself with that, and then quickly went over his philosophy about the risk of death as "the boring stuff".

He seems genuinely sick of discussion about death, which at first shocked me (shouldn't someone tell him that almost every free soloist dies?! It's irresponsible not to!).

But if you listen to him, it's immediately apparent that he's fully cognizant of the situation. After just a few minutes even I was annoyed by the hypocrisy and judgment when someone questioned his risk assessment. And he has to deal with that almost every time he interacts with people outside of his inner circle. I can hardly imagine how frustrating that must be.

Seems like normal questioning. Most people aren't (and can't be) in elite high risk sporting circles.

Right, which is why it can be forgiven before he explains himself, and why he starts every public appearance with the same spiel.

Almost every free soloist dies? Literally? That would make it the most dangerous hobby in the world? Are there any references or discussions on that handy?

Many die. Are you surprised from watching the videos that it's dangerous?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_solo_climbing#Notable_acc...

One of my favorite climbers and free soloists, Dan Osman, also died in an accident but not while free soloing. He was doing a 1000 ft rope jump (jumping from a cliff while connected to a climbing rope and catching oneself while trying not to slam back into the cliff face) when his rope snapped.

Here's two videos of him doing a rope jump and of him free soloing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EilwLq7w1bs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYbwZQ-QnMY (note the "dyno" at 1:09)

Well everyone dies.

If you mean, "died while freesoloing", you've got,

* Derek Hersey * John Bachar

off the top of my head. There are others,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_solo_climbing#Notable_acc...

Dan Osman died from a roped fall (jumped with the intent of the rope system to slow his fall), not a free solo. Dean Potter died from a wingsuit accident, which "literally" is probably the most dangerous hobby.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatalities_due_to_wing...

"72 percent of fliers had witnessed death or serious injury, and 76 percent had experienced what they categorized as a “near miss.” http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/12/thrilling-deadly-world-wi...

Dean Potter on Heaven, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRUkolahw58

The late, great Patrick Edlinger survived a terrible fall before retiring, only to fall into depression.

The American Alpine Club gathers reports and publishes Accidents in North American Mountaineering [1] annually. That's probably the best source. I've been climbing for thirty odd years and recall very few deaths free soloing.

[1]: http://publications.americanalpineclub.org

Every non free soloist also dies.

I mean that only 90% facetiously.

shouldn't someone tell him that almost every free soloist dies [early and spectacularly]?!

This is indeed all too true, but surprisingly very few of them actually die while free soloing. It's nearly always something they took up later that was even more dangerous, such as base jumping, rope jumping, motorcycle riding, etc. that gets them. And even when it is rock climbing that does it, it tends to be on an easier route, with objective chance (Hersey) or suicide (Bachar) eventually deciding things.

One thing you can say about most serious free soloists is that they know their limits on rock.

Do we really have evidence about Bachar's suicide?

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