Free Solo-2018 Subtitles

00:00:13,866 --> 00:00:18,Subtitles by explosiveskull

00:01:23,507 --> 00:01:27,Our next guest is a free soloing
phenomenon, please welcome Alex Honnold.

00:01:31,781 --> 00:01:34,Here is what I
don't understand.

00:01:34,718 --> 00:01:38,One little mistake, one little
slip, and you fall and die.

00:01:40,090 --> 00:01:43,Yeah, I mean, uh, you
seem to understand it well...

00:01:43,727 --> 00:01:46,- Yeah.
- Yeah.

00:01:47,197 --> 00:01:50,And I feel like anybody could
conceivably die on any given day.

00:01:51,903 --> 00:01:56,Soloing makes it feel far more
immediate and much more present.

00:01:58,841 --> 00:02:02,Does it feel different
to be up there without a rope?

00:02:03,281 --> 00:02:05,When you're climbing without
a rope, it's obviously like

00:02:05,715 --> 00:02:08,much higher consequence, much,
much higher level of focus.

00:02:08,419 --> 00:02:11,You know, it's a whole
different experience.

00:02:12,823 --> 00:02:15,So it's not like I'm just
pushing and pushing and pushing

00:02:15,658 --> 00:02:17,until something
terrible happens.

00:02:17,561 --> 00:02:20,I don't look at it, like,
with that perspective.

00:02:21,431 --> 00:02:24,But maybe that's why
it's dangerous for me.

00:02:24,634 --> 00:02:28,Maybe I'm too close to it and I can't
tell that I'm speeding towards a cliff.

00:02:45,521 --> 00:02:47,Okay.

00:02:58,701 --> 00:03:01,I like to differentiate
between risk and consequence.

00:03:01,104 --> 00:03:04,You know, when I'm doing these hard free
solos I like to think that the risk,

00:03:04,140 --> 00:03:05,you know, the chance
of me falling off is

00:03:05,908 --> 00:03:08,quite low even though the
consequence is extremely high.

00:03:08,145 --> 00:03:10,And that's kind of like one of the
appeals of free soloing, you know,

00:03:10,681 --> 00:03:14,to take something that seems difficult
and dangerous and make it feel safe.

00:03:14,585 --> 00:03:18,So, do you think that, uh, being a rock
climber has been a positive or negative

00:03:18,655 --> 00:03:20,for your dating life?

00:03:20,456 --> 00:03:21,My dating life?

00:03:21,824 --> 00:03:22,Yeah.

00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:25,I think, uh, I think
overall it's been a negative.

00:03:25,829 --> 00:03:28,Um, I just travel too
much and I live in a car.

00:03:35,438 --> 00:03:38,Let's talk through some of
the climbing adventures you've had.

00:03:38,908 --> 00:03:41,The historic free solo
climb, Moonlight Buttress.

00:03:41,645 --> 00:03:44,When I did it, it was like,
"Oh," you know, kind of groundbreaking,

00:03:44,747 --> 00:03:46,kind of extreme.

00:03:46,783 --> 00:03:50,But for me it always felt
quite easy and pretty secure.

00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,Well, that wasn't where you
stopped, because that next challenge then

00:03:53,623 --> 00:03:55,was free soloing Half Dome.

00:03:56,593 --> 00:04:00,Half Dome was a huge step for me
because it was twice as big as anything

00:04:00,197 --> 00:04:02,I'd ever soloed.

00:04:03,332 --> 00:04:06,Free soloing is so
dangerous that less than 1% of people

00:04:06,870 --> 00:04:08,who climb attempt it.

00:04:09,439 --> 00:04:13,Alex has done more than 1,000 free solo
climbs, but none were tougher than this one.

00:04:16,547 --> 00:04:19,I g***t quite scared in some places,
and then you start to panic a little bit.

00:04:20,084 --> 00:04:23,And then you have to,
like, reel it all back in.

00:04:25,456 --> 00:04:28,What is next in
free solo climbing?

00:04:28,759 --> 00:04:30,Well, I don't know, I mean,
I've thought about El Cap, like,

00:04:30,994 --> 00:04:32,for years and every
year I look at it and I'm like,

00:04:32,995 --> 00:04:34,"That's really scary."

00:04:34,598 --> 00:04:37,Um, well, I've never even wanted to
really, or I've always wanted to but then

00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:40,I've always been like,
"That's too scary."

00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:48,I'm aiming towards the most
beautiful valley on earth.

00:04:48,913 --> 00:04:52,I remember coming to Yosemite as a little
kid and my dad would always have a little

00:04:52,615 --> 00:04:55,cooler in the back of the car, and
have our cookies in the cold milk,

00:04:55,485 --> 00:04:58,and we'd sit on these slabs above
Tunnel View, which is, like,

00:04:58,822 --> 00:05:01,the most epic
view of Yosemite.

00:05:01,891 --> 00:05:06,As soon as you see El Cap it's like,
"Oh, there it is, pretty exciting."

00:05:08,932 --> 00:05:13,El Cap is the most
impressive wall on earth.

00:05:55,812 --> 00:05:58,Yeah, I mean I love,
I love being in the van.

00:05:58,548 --> 00:06:01,I probably feel extra comfortable
in the van now because I've lived

00:06:01,017 --> 00:06:03,in it for nine years.

00:06:03,586 --> 00:06:06,My first van, well, I actually
stole the family minivan.

00:06:06,923 --> 00:06:10,My dad died when I was
19 and I, I quit school.

00:06:10,226 --> 00:06:12,There was some life insurance.

00:06:12,728 --> 00:06:15,I had just enough to dirt bag.

00:06:15,665 --> 00:06:19,Six years ago I was living in a Walmart
parking lot and spending eighty-eight cents

00:06:19,336 --> 00:06:22,on dinner every night.

00:06:22,473 --> 00:06:25,Living in a van is great but, you know,
at a certain point it'd be nice to have a

00:06:25,608 --> 00:06:29,bathroom and have,
like, a shower at least.

00:06:35,952 --> 00:06:37,So you have a
girlfriend now, I heard.

00:06:37,687 --> 00:06:39,- Hmm, trending towards one.
- Trending towards?

00:06:39,956 --> 00:06:44,Hmm, I mean, she's very supportive
about, like, you know, you have to do you.

00:06:45,295 --> 00:06:46,Yeah we'll, we'll see.

00:06:46,730 --> 00:06:50,But yeah, there probably will be
plenty of girlfriends in my life,

00:06:50,334 --> 00:06:52,you know, in terms of,
like, big climbing,

00:06:52,869 --> 00:06:56,lifetime achievement deals,
where you're just like, well,

00:06:56,305 --> 00:07:00,like I will always choose
climbing, over, over a lady.

00:07:00,110 --> 00:07:02,At least, you know, so far.

00:07:04,982 --> 00:07:07,How many times have
you climbed El Cap?

00:07:07,317 --> 00:07:08,Probably like something maybe.

00:07:08,819 --> 00:07:13,- You ever free solo? -No and nobody has.
- Why haven't you done it yet?

00:07:13,956 --> 00:07:17,Um, look at it, like, I mean, you know,
think about it, it's freaking scary.

00:07:18,228 --> 00:07:22,I don't know, so I mean I've thought about
this since 2009, like, each year since 2009,

00:07:22,331 --> 00:07:24,I've been like, "This is the year,"
and each year I climb it and I'm like,

00:07:24,901 --> 00:07:27,"This isn't the year, like,
this is f***d," you know.

00:07:27,670 --> 00:07:30,So I'm like, "Uh." But the
thing is I'll never be content,

00:07:30,173 --> 00:07:31,unless I at least
put in the effort.

00:07:31,740 --> 00:07:34,Because, like, if I do all the work and
I'm still like, "This is messed up,"

00:07:34,377 --> 00:07:37,then maybe it's just not for me,
maybe its future generation, you know.

00:07:37,980 --> 00:07:41,Or maybe just somebody who
has nothing to live for.

00:07:51,327 --> 00:07:55,When I thought about El Cap years ago, there
were question marks all over the walls.

00:07:55,932 --> 00:07:58,It's like I don't know about this
pitch, I don't know about that pitch,

00:07:58,267 --> 00:08:00,like I don't know about this particular
slab, there are all these things that

00:08:00,903 --> 00:08:04,seem pretty crazy to me.

00:08:04,107 --> 00:08:10,If the ultimate dream is to solo El Cap,
then I need a good map of what that will

00:08:10,047 --> 00:08:15,take, you know, like a, a mental image of
what the hard parts are, where they are,

00:08:15,151 --> 00:08:18,what they will entail.

00:08:18,555 --> 00:08:21,If I'm going to do it, Free
Rider seems like the best route.

00:08:27,129 --> 00:08:28,Oh, hi.

00:08:28,365 --> 00:08:30,What's up, dude?

00:08:30,233 --> 00:08:32,Oh, hey.

00:08:32,201 --> 00:08:35,Oh, actually, I might as well just
rack it straight onto my harness.

00:08:35,706 --> 00:08:37,So, do you wanna lead
the Freeblast or do I?

00:08:37,341 --> 00:08:41,I feel like we should do what we did
before which would be you lead the, yeah,

00:08:41,477 --> 00:08:43,you lead the Freeblast.

00:08:43,779 --> 00:08:45,So, basically I'll just try
to take it, like, as far as I can.

00:08:45,881 --> 00:08:47,Yeah.

00:08:52,456 --> 00:08:55,So Tommy just g***t here
and they're going up Freerider.

00:08:55,258 --> 00:08:56,Okay.

00:08:56,659 --> 00:08:59,I'm just gonna try to shoot this
pitch and the traverse pitch and then

00:08:59,895 --> 00:09:01,I'm gonna jug out
like a maniac.

00:09:02,365 --> 00:09:03,Okay.

00:09:03,365 --> 00:09:05,Do we...