How I climbed a 3,000-foot vertical cliff -- without ropes | Alex Honnold

TED Talks Daily

TED

Creativity, Ted Podcast, Ted Talks Daily, Business, Design, Inspiration, Society & Culture, Science, Technology, Education, Tech Demo, Ted Talks, Ted, Entertainment, Tedtalks

4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2018

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Imagine being by yourself in the dead center of a 3,000-foot vertical cliff -- without a rope to catch you if you fall. For professional rock climber Alex Honnold, this dizzying scene marked the culmination of a decade-long dream. In a hair-raising talk, he tells the story of how he summited Yosemite's El Capitan, completing one of the most dangerous free-solo climbs ever.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This TED Talk features rock climber Alex Honnold recorded live at TED 2018.
0:06.0	We begin this talk right after Alex plays a video of him climbing El Capitan without ropes.
0:12.0	He explores how he mentally and physically prepared for this 3,000 foot climb and what he learned on this journey.
0:19.0	This talk has several powerful visuals.
0:22.7	Make sure to watch the full talk on TED.com.
0:27.2	So that was El Capitan in California's Yosemite National Park. I was climbing by myself without a rope,
0:33.4	a style of climbing known as Free So Long. That was the culmination of a nearly decade-long dream,
0:38.5	and in the video, I'm over 2,500 feet off the ground.
0:41.3	Seemed scary?
0:42.6	Yeah, it is.
0:43.9	Which is why I spent so many years dreaming about Soling El Cap
0:46.2	and not actually doing it.
0:47.8	But on the day that that video was taken,
0:50.0	it didn't feel scary at all.
0:51.6	It felt as comfortable and as natural as a walk in the park,
0:56.3	which is what most folks were doing in Yosemite that day.
0:59.6	Today, I'd like to talk about how I was able to feel so comfortable and how I overcame my fear.
1:01.6	I'll start with a very brief version of how I became a climber,
1:04.1	and then tell the story of my two most significant free solos.
1:07.1	They were both successful, which is why I'm here.
1:09.5	But the first felt largely unsatisfying,
1:16.0	whereas the second, L-CAP, was by far the most fulfilling day of my life.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of TED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.