Courage or broken Amygdala?

[Rasulis]

Is it courage or broken amygdala?

Alex Honnold is the only person that ever free-solo El Capitan. This article from the Alpinist actually talked about the technical aspect of the ascent instead of just gushing.

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web17s/n...freerider-solo

tl;dr

The planning took around 8 years with 2 years of rehearsal. He did the 3,000-foot climb in 3:56. To put it into perspective, in 2015 it took Tom Caldwell and Kevin Jorgenson 19 days to free-climb El Capitan. Caldwell and Jorgeson used no climbing equipment, just ropes and harnesses to prevent deadly falls. None of that for Alex Honnold. The climb is rated 5.13a (5.14 is max difficulty and usually involves weather/snow/ice).

The question is then what makes this person tick? In 2015, they did an MRI of his brain while he was subjected to both stress and reward tests. Keep in mind this is not an exhaustive study, and his brain activities was only compared against one baseline subject (another high-risk sensation seeking climber).

http://nautil.us/issue/39/sport/the-...t-solo-climber

tl;dr

He does have normal amygdala.

During the stress test, they could not detect any activities in his amygdala region.

For the reward test they were looking at his nucleus accumbens brain apparatus. Again no reaction. It is possible that they choose the wrong reward to motivate him. To a 31 years old guy who chose to live out of his van, money probably does not mean much.



In the end, there was no clear anwer. The experiment was pretty crude. It definitely won’t stand against thorough scientific scrutiny. Still it does provide an insight into the only person who had ever free-solo El Capitan.

[Milchshake]

The planning took around 8 years with 2 years of rehearsal. He did the 3,000-foot climb in 3:56. To put it into perspective, in 2015 it took Tom Caldwell and Kevin Jorgenson 19 days to free-climb the same route. Caldwell and Jorgeson used no climbing equipment, just ropes and harnesses to prevent deadly falls.

Bad info in the article summary. Caldwell and Jorgeson did the Dawn Wall route in 2015. Honnald just completed the Freerider route.

Not the same route.

[Rasulis]

Bad info in the article summary. Caldwell and Jorgeson did the Dawn Wall route in 2015. Honnald just completed the Freerider route.

Not the same route.

Oops. You are correct. They also had to deal with weather.

[Machismo]

It really is a monumental accomplishment. I can't imagine how hard it must be to lug those enormous brass balls up cliff faces with such ease.

[Farrarie]

broken Amygdala to fall either break something or die bravery if he did it for a reason
a monkey climb everyday
a Lion fights for reason protect family and honor that's what courage is

[Milchshake]

Just to hi-light why its crucial to understand the difference in the routes. Freerider was fist done in '98, so there's alot more knowledge on the route. Whereas Dawn Wall was a fist ascent by C&J, and first ascents always involve more puzzle time. Seemed unfair to compare the two.

Good to hear he finished safely. Especially since Uli Steck died in an accident about a month ago.

[Templar 331]

amygdala

Took me a minute to figure out what this word was since I had never seen it written down before. >.<

OT: The answer is he's stupid. Anyone who looks at a giant freaking rock and says "I'm going to climb that with no safety equipment" is stupid, even if they succeed.

[Rasulis]

Just to hi-light why its crucial to understand the difference in the routes. Freerider was fist done in '98, so there's alot more knowledge on the route. Whereas Dawn Wall was a fist ascent by C&J, and first ascents always involve more puzzle time. Seemed unfair to compare the two.

Good to hear he finished safely. Especially since Uli Steck died in an accident about a month ago.

Thanks for the clarification. I did not want to get into a discussion on the different routes up El Capitan. The two articles were long enough already.

[Aucald]

To each their own, I guess; that's all you can really say. People put emphasis and priorities on different things in their lives - and what is considered laudable or praise-worthy speaks more about the society doing the praising than it does the person accomplishing the feat. Not to belittle or underscore the person's achievement as it certainly seems praise-worthy, at least to me.