Free Solo: The Movie

gixxerjeff

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
Saw it last night.
Absolutely unbelievable.
We like to think we engage in some high risk activities. This guy is on another level.
The one point that I took from the movie that surprised me is I sincerely don't believe he's an adrenaline junkie.
I also found the somewhat unexpected conflicts his girlfriend developed with his *lifestyle* were fascinating. She had a good grasp of the divide between letting him pursue his dream but still having him around after.
Few movies make me think.
This one did.
 
Climber

Climber

Well-known member
Every free soloist that I've known has not been suicidal, in fact quite opposite, they loved life.

Not intuitive unless you've been through the thought process, as I have. The only thing that kept me from free soloing was my young daughter, though I didn't consider it a big risk and it wouldn't have been. You don't just go hop on a route and free solo it, you've climbed it multiple times before with a rope so that you know exactly what you'll encounter.
 
CDONA

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
That movie about the guy with his arm trapped in a slot canyon hit on what I see on the teasers for this movie.
Mental focus, zen flow, no second guessing.
 
Archimedes

Archimedes

Fire Watcher
I posted a thread about this movie a while back. Best movie I've seen in a year. Even if you think you know what he did, you don't until you watch what he actually had to do to make that climb. It's fucking mind boggling. And I hope he never does it again.
 
bergmen

bergmen

Well-known member
The preparation Alex went through is mind boggling. I believe it was two years of intense study of several possible routes, climbing many with rope/piton ascents and studying every feature that could be used for hand/foot placement.

Only when he felt that every microscopic detail was solid did he plan the climb. Went exactly as planned.

He did have an issue when free soloing Half Dome, got to a point where he questioned his resolve. He hesitated for a few minutes, recovered his concentration and moved on. It scared him a little but taught him to never waiver.

Incredible.

Dan
 
Shaggy

Shaggy

Zoinks!!!!
Just watched it on NatGeo... holy shit. Wifey and I knew how it ended and we were still anxious and nervous. Intense!
 
Killroy1999

Killroy1999

Well-known member
Really awesome movie.

I don't follow climbing, but I remember that guy from "Valley Uprising", which is also very good.
 
boney

boney

Miles > Posts
Killroy1999 said:
Really awesome movie.

I don't follow climbing, but I remember that guy from "Valley Uprising", which is also very good.
Click to expand...

Valley Uprising is a great intro to what the hell all that Yosemite stuff is about. Free Solo seems like the obvious sequel, even though I know it's not meant to be.

The girlfriend left me with a great deal of annoyance at the end of the film. She was a great cause of his distractions. Now that I've had a minute to think about it, she may also be a great cause of his ability to ultimately gain the focus to do it.

I wonder what the future holds for him. The life expectancy for someone who solos at his level is, um, not long.
 
gixxerjeff

gixxerjeff

Dogs best friend
boney said:
The girlfriend left me with a great deal of annoyance at the end of the film. She was a great cause of his distractions. Now that I've had a minute to think about it, she may also be a great cause of his ability to ultimately gain the focus to do it.
Click to expand...

I had the exact same thoughts. I began to resent her until I realized she just may be the one that keeps him alive.
She was in a tough, impossible spot....but she put herself there.
The fact that he purchased a house spoke to her influence on him.
A complicated guy presenting her with complicated problems.
 
UDRider

UDRider

FLCL?
Not sure if she is the one keeping him alive or not, but seems like it's the usual story of GF dealing with BF hobbies and walking that edge between letting him do what he loves and asserting her needs and desires. In this case the activity is on extra extreme side of things.
 
Archimedes

Archimedes

Fire Watcher
gixxerjeff said:
I had the exact same thoughts. I began to resent her until I realized she just may be the one that keeps him alive.
She was in a tough, impossible spot....but she put herself there.
The fact that he purchased a house spoke to her influence on him.
A complicated guy presenting her with complicated problems.
Click to expand...

Meh, I thought she was a self absorbed nag. By the end of the movie I wanted to do to her what James Caan did to Kathy Bates with a phone at the end of Misery.
 
Killroy1999

Killroy1999

Well-known member
Did you see the size of Honnold's HANDS!!!

I know why he has a girlfriend despite having top terminator prime directives of 1. climbing, 2. climbing, 3. climbing.
 
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