• Home
    • Recent
    • Calendar
    • Register
    • Login
    Iron Heart Forum
    Iron Heart Forum

    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

    Climbing

    Sport
    9
    13
    4.0k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • nurunuruN
      nurunuru
      Raw and Unwashed
      Joined:

      I was looking for the climbing thread to post Alex Honnold's new TED talk in and was astonished to see (after repeated checking) that one didn't even exist yet!  There's gotta be a few climbers around here, right?!

      I was just gonna post the vid, but as this is the first post in the climbing thread, I suppose I should write a bit more.

      I started climbing whilst at university in Bangor, Wales.  Although it's such a great location for outdoor climbing, I ended up doing most of my climbing at the university's little bouldering wall.  After leaving Wales, though, I barely climbed for about fifteen years.

      Then, the winter before last, I decided to start bouldering indoors again.  It transpires it's pretty humbling trying to get back into climbing after fifteen years and fifty pounds… but it's been totally worth it.  Climbing (and especially for me, bouldering) is a sport like no other.  When you find an excellent problem, it's such a fun puzzle trying to figure out the route.  A puzzle where you don't need a ballpoint pen, but instead get to move and grip and scamper and potentially fall.  Which is surely the best kind of puzzle.

      But I digress.

      Here's that video of Alex Honnold talking about his free solo of El Cap last year; definitely one of the most amazing feats in the history of any discipline of climbing.

      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • GilesG
        Giles
        IHUK Crew
        Joined:

        I've read the account, can't wait to watch this.  Thanks…...

        I climbed at school, usual stuff; Wye Valley, Derbyshire, Skye, Tryfan etc, but stopped when I realised that most of the time I was shitting myself with fear and that the only reason I could get up stuff was that my reach was longer than my mates.....I was technically incompetent...

        "OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011

        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • nurunuruN
          nurunuru
          Raw and Unwashed
          Joined:

          @Giles:

          I've read the account, can't wait to watch this.  Thanks…...

          I climbed at school, usual stuff; Wye Valley, Derbyshire, Skye, Tryfan etc, but stopped when I realised that most of the time I was shitting myself with fear and that the only reason I could get up stuff was that my reach was longer than my mates.....I was technically incompetent...

          Cool beans.  Think I may have climbed some of Tryfan once, back in the day.

          Bouldering is a lot more chilled-out in terms of elevation-induced incontinence.  Plus you can easily go and do it on your tod, which is handy.

          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • mclaincauseyM
            mclaincausey
            見習いボス
            Joined:

            My buddy is doing The North Face Speaker Series with Jimmy Chin debuting the film Free Solo (incredible documentary abut the same ascent and deserving of all the nominations), and I met Alex (very, very nice and thoughtful person) and some other TNF athletes (climbers and ultramarathoners) at another TNF speaker series. Big fan of what the Honnold Foundation is doing getting solar power to regions lacking power infrastructure.

            That said, climbing beyond class 3 bouldering is something I stay very far away from. Plenty of my friends are aggressive rock, ice, and mixie climbers though.

            Think it, be it.

            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • nurunuruN
              nurunuru
              Raw and Unwashed
              Joined:

              @mclaincausey:

              My buddy is doing The North Face Speaker Series with Jimmy Chin debuting the film Free Solo (incredible documentary abut the same ascent and deserving of all the nominations), and I met Alex (very, very nice and thoughtful person) and some other TNF athletes (climbers and ultramarathoners) at another TNF speaker series. Big fan of what the Honnold Foundation is doing getting solar power to regions lacking power infrastructure.

              That said, climbing beyond class 3 bouldering is something I stay very far away from. Plenty of my friends are aggressive rock, ice, and mixie climbers though.

              That's great!  Back when I used social media, Jimmy Chin's posts used to give me some wicked wanderlust.  The little bouldering wall that got me back into climbing a coupla years ago (in the basement of Midwest Mountaineering) is actually where Jimmy apparently worked on his moves waaaaay back in the day before he left Minnesota.  I look forward to seeing Free Solo sometime; I'm sure it's incredible!

              Speaking of Jimmy, have you seen this video of him telling the story of a time he got caught up in an avalanche?  It's one of the most compelling monologues I think I've ever seen.

              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • HighOnFireH
                HighOnFire
                Raw and Unwashed
                Joined:

                Started climbing many years ago but lost track at some point. I am trying to get back in shape (not that i ever was) which proofs to be a difficult undertaking being in my final year before becoming a teacher and having a daughter. However this is me climbing in the Frankenjura/Germany in spring this year. Trying to haul my weak ass over that pebble  😃

                last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • den1mheadD
                  den1mhead
                  Raw and Unwashed
                  Joined:

                  @mclaincausey:

                  . . . . . . Free Solo (incredible documentary abut Alex Honnolds free solo ascent of El Capitan and deserving of all the nominations) . . . . . . .

                  So so so looking forward to watching this documentary. Alex Honnold is a legend

                  last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • AetasA
                    Aetas
                    見習いボス
                    Joined:

                    After years of climbing in The Alps, family situation forced me to calm down!
                    Missing it, but not regretting!


                    Puez-Geissler-Group Dolomites are beautiful for climbing!

                    last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • mclaincauseyM
                      mclaincausey
                      見習いボス
                      Joined:

                      @nurunuru:

                      @mclaincausey:

                      My buddy is doing The North Face Speaker Series with Jimmy Chin debuting the film Free Solo (incredible documentary abut the same ascent and deserving of all the nominations), and I met Alex (very, very nice and thoughtful person) and some other TNF athletes (climbers and ultramarathoners) at another TNF speaker series. Big fan of what the Honnold Foundation is doing getting solar power to regions lacking power infrastructure.

                      That said, climbing beyond class 3 bouldering is something I stay very far away from. Plenty of my friends are aggressive rock, ice, and mixie climbers though.

                      That's great!  Back when I used social media, Jimmy Chin's posts used to give me some wicked wanderlust.  The little bouldering wall that got me back into climbing a coupla years ago (in the basement of Midwest Mountaineering) is actually where Jimmy apparently worked on his moves waaaaay back in the day before he left Minnesota.  I look forward to seeing Free Solo sometime; I'm sure it's incredible!

                      Speaking of Jimmy, have you seen this video of him telling the story of a time he got caught up in an avalanche?  It's one of the most compelling monologues I think I've ever seen.

                      Nice, watching now, thanks for sharing. MW Mountaineering is awesome, I miss that place. Didn't know Chin was from MN. Man he rips at climbing, photog, and skiing. They don't get much more legendary than JC. It was cool to shake his hand and congratulate him for Free Solo. I met Hannold last year, so I congratulated his ascent and his charitable efforts, but not yet the movie.

                      Think it, be it.

                      last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • ChrisC
                        Chris
                        Raw and Unwashed
                        Joined:

                        @nurunuru:

                        Here's that video of Alex Honnold talking about his free solo of El Cap last year; definitely one of the most amazing feats in the history of any discipline of climbing.

                        And to add to that, he has a fascinating brain, neurologically speaking.

                        last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • mclaincauseyM
                          mclaincausey
                          見習いボス
                          Joined:

                          Great article. Somewhere I heard about this, maybe from Alex's lecture last year, though I suspect his modesty wouldn't have let him talk about it. Isn't it interesting to see how low boredom registers for him relative to other thrill-seekers? I would expect him to be restless and bored unless hanging from a cliff.

                          One thing is for certain, folks are certainly wired differently than I am to even entertain the notion of climbing anything dangerous. I used to climb buildings and towers and rappel down them in my youth, but I can't imagine doing stuff like that, much less technical climbing, these days. I have gotten stuck in scenarios where I've been single and even double exposed in recent years quite by accident and I didn't enjoy it at all. What others must find exhilarating fills me with dread–the same goes for gambling.

                          Another great climbing film, probably really old news to anyone reading this thread, is Meru. And of course there's the classic Touching the Void. What a nightmarish scenario that one details.

                          Think it, be it.

                          last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • L
                            Lycheeban
                            Banned
                            Joined:

                            If anyone here hasn't checked out the "Free Solo" documentary about climbing then you really should. Follows Alex Honnold on a wild adventure up El Capitan.

                            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • AlexA
                              Alex
                              IHUK Crew
                              Joined:

                              @Lycheeban:

                              If anyone here hasn't checked out the "Free Solo" documentary about climbing then you really should. Follows Alex Honnold on a wild adventure up El Capitan.

                              Watched it last weekend, it is seriously good!

                              last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • First post
                                Last post
                              Copyright Iron Heart 2022.