The ledge he's standing on looks like its already detached and ready to fall
this post was submitted on 29 Apr 2025
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Mildly Interesting
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The good thing about this is that you don't have to do this
"Because it's there" is not sufficiant reason for climbing a mountain.
Row, row, row your boat?
It's a good enough reason for me.
Thank God I'm not stupid enough to do this LOL.
No. I'm not going there.
On a scale of "1 to NOPE" I rate this an "absolutely the fuck not, what is wrong with you?"
nonononononono. nope. non. nein.
When I say I'm not afraid of heights; what I really mean is that I'm not abnormally afraid of heights.
*bonus edit: the legendary Dan Osmond. Died not long after, when a rope snapped. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCByLWtM7y4
Misread:
The legendary Dan Osmond who died not long after his rope snapped.
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One fart and I'm dead
Fun fact, Alex said in an interview that this is a picture of him having a panic attack. Just shaking and desperately trying to keep calm as adrenaline pours through his system.
Oh, this guy.
Dude needs to keep his death wish to himself and maybe use some safety gear when he's on camera.
Like, he's good; really good. But being good and being sensible are not exclusive.
Unpopular opinion, I get it. I never understood free climbers, especially when I was playing outside (I was raised gymbo with no wish to be mangled and no illusions about my normie skill, and one of those things makes me need to see a safety line on that kid). Downvote away because apparently that's cool.
Iirc, he was doing that up until about the moment that this photo was taken. He started soloing because he was too awkward to make friends at the crag. He gets really good at it, doing it purely out of an enjoyment of doing it - before this photo, he was living out of a van, basically jobless, no social media, just dedicated to climbing.
Then the news of his solo ascent of half dome gets out, 60 Minutes does a piece on it, and gets this photo. Turns out a lot of people are captivated by the feat. Suddenly he has offers coming in from every direction to become a pro athlete, to endorse products, to do commercials, etc. So what does he do?
He figures that if he was going to do the climb anyway, then he might as well have a camera pointed at him to get paid. This allows him to not have to work part time jobs, and climb full time. He starts really raking it in, and what does he do? He buys a slightly nicer van, then donates what he doesn't spend on his still very modest lifestyle to efforts to alleviate global poverty.
Speaking about the potential influence he could have on others, he has noted that free solo rock climbing is typically a self-limiting experience. A random 14 year old might think they want to go free soloing - but every human has a natural self-preservation instinct that will kick in after you are about a dozen feet off the ground, and said 14 year old will quickly realize that what they are doing is a terrible idea. It takes years of practice and mental exposure to get to the point where free soloing even very easy routes isn't a completely paralyzing experience - at which point, we would say that such a person has sufficient experience to make their own decisions about the level of risk they are willing to take on. His point has been borne out - I have yet to hear about any people who have died soloing right after they watched Free Solo.
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It’s Alex Honhold. He’s wired differently than most people. Definitely not tethered.
Wired very differently. Free-climbing El Capitan is certified bonkers.
It’s amazing to me that he’s still alive, and lives in Las Vegas with a wife and kids. Like somehow he has a “normal” life on top of his climbing insanity.
Seriously. Doing that shit when you have a kid is nuts to me.
Irresponsible with an inevitable conclusion.
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Is it really as steep as shown in the picture? The trees seem to lean a little bit to the left.
Either way. Hell no.
It's the sheer face of half dome. It may not be exactly 90° upright but it basically is.
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Please mark this NSFL.
Hard pass
Why? Why would you do this?
And to quote Gwen on Galaxy Quest:
Well fuck that!
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That is one dedicated Shel Silverstein fan.
What a nice place to relax and have a cool refreshing glass of NOPE.
I can imagine myself on that ledge and being the one person where after thousands of years of being perfectly fine, the ledge finally decided to give way and separate from the cliff.
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Imagine sneezing
Idk man, I think you'd want more than one God to thank if you want to make it out of there alive. lmao
Reminds me of the Via Ferrata in Switzerland. It really gets the blood pumping and gives you a massive adrenaline rush, as your feet are walking on tiny metal bolts driven into a sheer cliff. You can see all the way down to the valley floor from between your toes :3
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Remember kids, it's not the fall that kills you...it's the sudden stop at the end.
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/c/majorlyterrifying
Nah not for me chief
Imagine standing there and then suddenly that slab under your feet shifts.
Its called that because you have a new appreciation for your life after coming back from that alive... "Thank God I didn't drop to my death!"
"Thank God Ledge" is an iconic feature on the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. This narrow granite ledge, approximately 35 feet long, varies in width from about 5 to 12 inches and is situated roughly 1,800 feet above the valley floor.
WHY
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