El Sendero Luminoso ft. Alex Honnold | The North Face
Why Hacker News recommends it
It is linked whenever Honnold or free soloing comes up, as a gripping and frightening example of extreme climbing.
What it is
A short film of Alex Honnold free soloing El Sendero Luminoso, a 2,500-foot route in El Potrero Chico, Mexico, in a little over three hours with no rope. It was made by The North Face with climbing footage and music.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2015 to 2017.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec sgrytoyr · 2015-01 · on “On El Capitan’s Dawn Wall, Climb Thought to Be Toughest Progresses Slowly”
Fantastic achievement if they pull it off. Incidentally, Alex Honnold, one of the climbers interviewed in the article, is the star of one of the most frightening videos I have ever seen - him free-soloing El Sendero Luminoso: [this video] Even though I know perfectly well that nobody fell to their death on that climb, and have done a fair bit of climbing myself, I can’t watch this video without having a powerful physical reaction. It’s mind-boggling what some people are capable of.
Strong rec sgrytoyr · 2016-08 · on “Rock climber Alex Honnold doesn’t experience fear like the rest of us”
I feel compelled to post this video whenever Honnold comes up. Here he is free-soloing El Sendero Luminoso: [this video] He really is something else.
Cites Fricken · 2016-08 · on “Rock climber Alex Honnold doesn’t experience fear like the rest of us”
Here's a video that touches on Honnold's prep for his ascent of El Sendoro Luminoso. Given that it's likely the most difficult ropeless climb in history (and on limestone, which is far more prone to breaking holds than Yosemite granite), he wasn't exactly super meticulous: [this video] At lower grades he has been known to just go for it.
Cites arcticfox · 2017-07 · on “Two days in an underwater cave running out of oxygen”
I really hope that guy practiced repressing the instinct to lunge at a bad throw when juggling. Extremely rare occurrence with such a simple pattern, but ooph! I feel like any of Alex Honnold's ropeless climbs deserves a link too, for example: [this video]