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Why without ropes?

The unfathomable climb was nearly 20 years in the making.

Growing up in the Californian suburbs, Honnold had started scaling indoor climbing walls at a local gym as a child. In many ways, it was a sanctuary.

Honnold struggled with socializing as a youngster but was able to express himself through climbing, gradually transitioning to outdoor climbing as he sought out new challenges.

Moving on to free soloing -- climbing without ropes -- was a natural progression.

"It was an important part of rock climbing for me," he said. "It wasn't all of climbing and never has been to me. It's just one part of climbing but it's free soloing, it's awesome, it's fun."

Living and traveling in a small van, Honnold spent his days climbing -- getting better and more confident with each step.

He started completing increasingly impressive feats but El Cap was always at the back of his mind.

Ascending the monolith is regarded as the pinnacle of rock climbing, so making history by becoming the first person to scale it without ropes certainly appealed, but he also simply wanted to experience it.

"I'm sure every astronaut wants the opportunity to walk on the moon but if you're the first human to ever go to the moon, it's an incredible thing," he said.

"But I'm sure the tenth astronaut is just as excited in their own way." Some of Honnold's friends have died tackling lesser challenges.

It's a stark reality that doesn't sit well with his girlfriend, Sanni McCandless, who left Honnold alone in the days running up to the climb.

"It just seemed like the right call for both of us. We never really had to talk about it," he said.

"It was useful for me to have empty time to just lay around by myself and visualize or imagine and just emotionally process what was to come."

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Posted by Miller Stephen to Học Để Thi at February 24, 2019 at 10:28 PM

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