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That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Kepler said:
I honestly don't see how what he's doing is physically possible. Even though he's rail thin his center of gravity has to be a couple inches out from the rock face. The angle of incline on El Cap averages 80 degrees, so there must be places where it is virtually a perfect right angle. There don't appear to be ledges of greater than fractions of inches, so even if you get great purchase with your fingers you would have no assist from your legs -- you would be doing a pull-up using your finger tips. Is that even possible?
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I'm pretty sure Alex can do one fingered pull ups. With climbing shoes he can also stand on dime thin bumps on what looks like a pretty smooth 80 degree slab of rock. I'm a ****ty climber, it really blows my mind what he can basically walk up effortlessly (something I could never even think about climbing). Obviously it isn't all "slab" climbing (less than 90 degree relatively featureless rock), there are cracks where you wedge feet/hands or fingertips/toes (or even entire limbs or your body), I'm sure there are even some overhanging sections, but obviously those have holds or cracks that allow him to climb them.
 
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Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Kepler said:
I honestly don't see how what he's doing is physically possible. Even though he's rail thin his center of gravity has to be a couple inches out from the rock face. The angle of incline on El Cap averages 80 degrees, so there must be places where it is virtually a perfect right angle. There don't appear to be ledges of greater than fractions of inches, so even if you get great purchase with your fingers you would have no assist from your legs -- you would be doing a pull-up using your finger tips. Is that even possible?
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Have you seen rock climbing shoes in the past 20 years or so? They're extremely "grippy", and some are designed to provide support on just the smallest of lips/edges you can imagine.

Also, there are short routes that people have set where the entire thing is goes outward from the base. In MN, at Interstate Park, there's a slew of mostly simple climbing routes, but there's one route titled "Witche's T*t." There's a small bit of ground at the bottom of the route, no place up top to set protective gear (no anchors spots for setting a belay), so if you can't complete it, you're taking a swim in the St. Croix River.
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

BassAle said:
I'm pretty sure Alex can do one fingered pull ups. With climbing shoes he can also stand one dime thin bumps on what looks like a pretty smooth 80 degree slab of rock. I'm a ****ty climber, it really blows my mind what he can basically walk up effortlessly (something I could never even think about climbing)
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Well, I guess once it's possible at all then it's possible to do effortlessly, since that's just a "trivial" matter of strength, technique, and conditioning.

With stuff like this I always wonder about something stupid: does it hurt? Has he trained himself not to care, or is he so well conditioned that his body says, "fine, sure."
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Regarding Alex Honnold, I think it is one of the greatest athletic achievements in history.
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

BassAle said:
Regarding Alex Honnold, I think it is one of the greatest athletic achievements in history.
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No argument here. It seems like the equivalent of swimming solo, unaided from Muskegon to Milwaukee.
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Re: Honnold, truly mind boggling. I read his first interview when he finished, the guy asked him what he'll do now, he said "Today is hang-boarding day. I'll have to go hang board." (this is when he goes and does the one-fingered pullups in the gym for a few hours) He's so super-disciplined that it's basically a mental illness. Being lazy and an early quitter, I have no understanding of a person like that.
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

geezer said:
Re: Honnold, truly mind boggling. I read his first interview when he finished, the guy asked him what he'll do now, he said "Today is hang-boarding day. I'll have to go hang board." (this is when he goes and does the one-fingered pullups in the gym for a few hours) He's so super-disciplined that it's basically a mental illness. Being lazy and an early quitter, I have no understanding of a person like that.
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He's obviously neurotic. Maybe his parents died in a mountaineering accident and he subconsciously feels that if he can just hang by his fingertips long enough they'll be restored to him.

So, he's super f-cked up in the head, which is bad, but it makes for a moment's passing entertainment for me, so that's good.
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Kepler said:
He's obviously neurotic. Maybe his parents died in a mountaineering accident and he subconsciously feels that if he can just hang by his fingertips long enough they'll be restored to him.

So, he's super f-cked up in the head, which is bad, but it makes for a moment's passing entertainment for me, so that's good.
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So he's frogurt purchased from a dark Chinese trinket shop?
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Kepler said:
So, he's super f-cked up in the head, which is bad, but it makes for a moment's passing entertainment for me, so that's good.
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he has a pretty amazing ability to keep calm when he's putting himself out there. He might as well be on the moon when he's half way up El Cap solo; he's on his own and he keeps his cool when other climbers, even some of the best professionals in the world, would be ****ting their pants (https://www.outsideonline.com/2190306/why-alex-honnolds-free-solo-scared-me) even though this climb was well below their technical climbing ability. I read his autobiography "Alone on the Wall" about a year ago (an autographed copy was my thank-you gift for my yearly donation to the Access Fund). He's a very interesting and intelligent person. As he started getting more lucrative endorsement deals and other income streams (books, climbing films), he continued to live in a van (which he did upgrade) and started a charitable foundation and also started saving for 'retirement' because he says he doesn't plan to do this forever (I think he still has a few decades left as a sponsored athlete if he fully transitions away from free soloing, if he doesn't walk away from this now he will eventually die doing it -- the only way to top this is to climb an even harder el cap route sans rope)
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Today (in the Northeast at least) is the earliest sunrise of the year.

A week from today is the day with the longest amount of daylight hours.

A week after that is the latest sunset of the year.


To me, at least, it is "neat" that it happens this way.
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

FreshFish said:
Today (in the Northeast at least) is the earliest sunrise of the year.

A week from today is the day with the longest amount of daylight hours.

A week after that is the latest sunset of the year.


To me, at least, it is "neat" that it happens this way.
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That is neat.

Is the day with the earliest sunrise the same for all points in the hemisphere or does it vary by latitude?

Why isn't the procession of sunrise and sunset symmetrical?

Where's our godd-mned USCHO pet astrophysicist?
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Kepler said:
That is neat.

Is the day with the earliest sunrise the same for all points in the hemisphere or does it vary by latitude?

Why isn't the procession of sunrise and sunset symmetrical?

Where's our godd-mned USCHO pet astrophysicist?
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In part, I'm willing to bet it has something to do with the globe not being a perfect sphere - it's wider at the equator than it is between poles. It's conjecture on my part, but otherwise it doesn't seem to make much sense to me.
 
Re: That's Neat! 1: That's neat

Kepler said:
That is neat.

Is the day with the earliest sunrise the same for all points in the hemisphere or does it vary by latitude?
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It varies by latitude.

Kepler said:
Why isn't the procession of sunrise and sunset symmetrical?
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Short answer: because the earth's orbit is elliptical and because the earth is tilted on its axis. The rest is math. :eek:

At the northern hemisphere's summer solstice, the earth is actually further away from the sun than at the northern hemisphere's winter solstice, which is why summers in Australia tend to be hotter than summers in the US at comparable latitudes away from the equator.
 
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