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Comment by stefs | Hacker News Reader

honnold may be a special case. his capabilities of dealing with risk and fear are exceptional.

He has a unique perspective, I've heard on a couple occasions him talking about his father dropping dead of a heart attack changing planes. I can't find the exact video or I'd link it, but he's clearly thought a lot about risk and is pretty interesting to listen to even if you're not enamored with his exploits.

I'd say it's partly that, but more a case of survivorship bias; we don't hear from other solo free climbers because most of them are dead.

citation needed

Edit: It's not like these climbers never climb with gear. That is, they don't have to confront the learning curve and fatal consequences at the same time. They can also learn safely via bouldering, climbing above water and such.

Yes, that's sort of why I recommended his interviews, because he's given it a lot of thought and has interesting things to say about risk (I imagine even if he initially didn't think a ton about it, people constantly asking has given him some good answers) in addition to the explanation that these climbs are prepared for in advance.

Why is he a special case. There are hundreds if not 1000s of people that want to be risk takers for no other reason then the risk its self

You're right. Just visit GoPros youtube channel. There's no shortage of adrenaline seekers.

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