This trail tip comes from the movie Free Solo, so spoiler alert; stop reading if you want to see the movie before you read this tip, otherwise read and enjoy.
The movie Free Solo is about Alex Honnold’s successful ascent of the 3,000-foot Freerider route up the granite face of El Capitan. Climbing it alone and without a rope or other devices to help him, he is the first and only person to ever do it. Keep in mind the first time El Capitan was climbed it took over 45 days. He climbed it in under 4 hours. And like watching any good adventure movie, the trail tips and lessons to learn flooded my mind as I watch this fascinating movie. Here are two of them…
Knowing when to stop and bail. Alex first attempted this in November of 2016, climbed up 600 feet, and realized that it wasn’t right. So, he climbed back down and called off the climb. But he wasn’t the only one this affected. There were camera crews set up on the bottom, other camera crews (with ropes) had started up before him and others who repelled down from the top; to be in position to film this climb. How often do we start something that involves other people, has our pride resting on it, or we create an artificial deadline; and we keep going; knowing in our gut it’s not right and that we should stop. For me, I don’t stop on August 15, 2013 when I “had” to get all these tree branches cut down and was 5 feet up a step ladder, cutting a branch with a chain saw. The branch falls on the ladder, I jump, leg gets caught on the bottom step, and I’m laying on the ground with my right fibula and tibial broken in several places. But then there is the time I did stop when attempting to climb Mt. Elbert (tallest peak in Colorado). I got leg cramps, fell behind from the group, and was about a half mile when the summit when I saw the lighting storm coming in from a distance, I knew I wasn’t going to make, and got down to tree line just as the storm came in. So, Alex stopped on that November day and came back 7 months later, starting climbing again, and made history.
Practice and visualize your moves. Alex knew every section of the route he was climbing and practiced with ropes the hardest sections 10 to over 90 times, taking notes after each session on what worked and didn’t work. He isn’t taking anything for granted. At one point in the movie, he’s in his van acting out the moves he needs to make for a given section. I’m thinking he is visualizing what success looks like as he is climbing that section. How much time do we prepare, practice, and plan the routes we are going to be going through on a given day? In hiking, I used to go out and do trails with a minimal amount of gear because “I knew” the trail and it was only 5 miles. Then I met Randy Phillips, who would do the same route with me, but had a fully loaded pack because he did practice, visualize the route, and was prepared for any number of things that could (and do) go wrong on any hike. In work, I’m currently unemployed and looking for a new position. Here I’ve started to practice and visualize the job interviews. For interviews, it’s practicing the questions, knowing the company, using LinkedIn to know the interviewer, and having my information organized when the interview starts.
Several times during the movie, the analogy of this feat was made to “either you win the gold medal or you die, so plan accordingly.” While nothing in our lives will ever be this dramatic, maybe it’s time to start taking our planning a lot more seriously and start asking those preparation questions. This morning I was giving some trail advice to a couple in from Kansas City for the weekend. After I helped them determine the route to take; I asked some basic questions about: having traction, first aid kit, gloves, poles, etc. And all the answers were no. So yes, I just loaned them my day pack for the weekend. It reminds me that every encounter is worth taking the time to prepare for because I know preparation is the key to great outcomes. For Alex it was successfully free soloing El Capitan, for us, it can be any number of things in our lives.
Al Andersen 