Professional rock climber Alex Honnold discusses risk management and mental readiness with Andreessen Horowitz partner Peter Levine at the a16z Summit.
Assertion Supported
Honnold climbed previously unclimbed variations during his El Capitan free solo
“A few of the parts that I climbed had never been climbed by anybody before, because they just, ah, are off the normal climbing, like, they're not where you would normally go with a rope”
Insight
Honnold: Falling 100 feet in open air is safer than 12 feet
“Because, yeah, if you fall 12 feet and land on a ledge, you'll break both your ankles. But if you fall a hundred feet and touch nothing, it's totally fine. The rope absorbs the force, and you're just like, oh, wow, that was crazy, and then you keep climbing ag…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Honnold predicts Free Solo will not trigger a wave of reckless climbers
“No, no, I really don't actually. And that's a common question. I mean, obviously, you know, there's the possibility for that to happen. In general, though, I think that rock climbing is actually getting more risk averse than it used to be.”
Insight
Honnold: Environmental care depends on meeting basic human needs first
“People don't care about the environment unless, unless they can meet their basic needs.”
Opinion
Honnold: Ice climbing is too unpleasant and dangerous
“Well, I mean, no, I genuinely don't like ice climbing. It's cold. It's unpleasant. It's really painful. It's you know. Yeah, and it's dangerous. I mean, it is legitimately dangerous. It's that you have all these pointy tools, and you hit yourself with the poin…”
Assertion Contradicted
Honnold completed six groundbreaking free solos omitted from the documentary
“Over the course of the two years that we were filming, I did maybe six or seven free solos that had never been done before, that were sort of cutting edge, that were, you know, like, groundbreaking within the climbing community, but, you know, when they edited…”