COOL

[rydra_wong]

They put Honnold in an fMRI scanner, for SCIENCE (okay, clearly just out of raging curiosity):

The Strange Brain of the World’s Greatest Solo Climber

Unrelatedly, but I'll sneak in the self-promo in while I can -- I started a comm, bodies_in_motion, which might be of interest to some people here. The brief is that it's:

A comm for exploring the experiences and meanings of movement practices, whether an activity is labeled as “sports”, “art”, “exercise” or something else completely, whether it’s Olympic lifting or Zumba or rock climbing or ballroom dancing or tai chi or Pokemon Go or a walk around the block.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

This is really interesting. I wonder if he'd come out of an environment of fear and anxiety if he would have been able to do this.

The reason I think of it is I have PTSD from childhood abuse. I don't think I could ever completely repress fear because of it. I deal with stress better than most, because I have developed magnificent coping mechanisms (grin), but I can never completely be fearless.

Climbing is pure joy for me, but I would never, ever think "I'll just do this and if I die, well that's what happens." Survival has been drilled into my brain WAY too deep.

[rydra_wong]

I wonder if he'd come out of an environment of fear and anxiety if he would have been able to do this.

Oh, wow, that's a fascinating question. And thank you for being willing to contribute your personal experience.

Yes, it seems clear from film of him with his mum that he comes from a very safe and supportive background.

The other possibility that occurs to me is that someone naturally wired for very very high sensation-seeking and relative fearlessness who grew up in an abusive situation could easily end up very self/other-destructive.

[wpadmirer]

Many do, and I think some of the daredevils we see did! (grin)