El Capitan climb truly a sports feat
Alex Honnold started his four-hour climb up El Capitan in Yosemite early in the morning on June 3, when several other climbers were pinned to the wall in safety harnesses, sleeping during their multi-day climbs.
As Honnold, using no ropes or safety equipment of any kind, scooted past, awakening climbers were startled. For them it must have been like cruising at 90 mph in your Corvette, impressing your lady, and being passed by a guy on a skateboard.
This fellow is my sports hero, my first in at least 50 years. I appreciate and admire many athletes for what they do, but they’re just guys and gals who do cool stuff. Hero worship is for kids. I’m making an exception. I can still enjoy a courageous charge at the Masters, or a gutty World Series win, or Kevin Durant’s cold-blooded threepointer over LeBron James. But none of them compare to a 3,000-foot vertical scamper in the (national) park.
At one point in his climb, this 31-year-old Velcro man faced “the Boulder Problem,” which required him to hang by a oneeighth-inch wide ledge and execute a karate-kick move to the next hold.
On another move, he hung by one thumb and did a quick switch to the other thumb. Come on. Triumphant champions celebrate, spray Champagne, address their adoring fans, collect their bling — a heavyweight belt, a Larry O’Brien Trophy, a Super Bowl ring.
Honnold scampered atop El Cap, had a light lunch, then did his usual round of hanging exercises. Wouldn’t want to get flabby. Who knows, maybe he bought himself a Yosemite snow globe to commemorate his feat.
The climb was thought to be impossible because of the acute focus required every second, for hours. Even the greatest climbers eventually waver, and there you are, hanging on a wall, facing death.
Honnold explained that fear gets in the way of what he is doing, so during a climb, here’s what he does with fear: “I just set it aside and let it be.”
He treats fear, the terrible cosmic force that builds and destroys humans, like it’s a dirty coffee cup.