Free Solo & the Environmental Crisis

Parallels between climbing and climate

I started rock climbing a few years ago, and at that time any conversation with someone who doesn’t derive great joy from moving up and down overhanging walls would likely end before starting. This is unsurprising, considering climbers have been dubbed “conquistadors of the useless”, and flailing around on rock faces doesn’t exactly appeal to most. This all changed when Academy Award-winning film Free Solo struck the world’s collective consciousness last year. It features athlete Alex Honnold’s unbelievable ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan, rising 3000 feet above ground without a rope or any safety equipment. Seemingly overnight, Honnold became a household name and climbers everywhere started being questioned by their concerned families, “Do you free solo too?!”

Now, even without slipping on a harness or stuffing into a pair of purposefully painful shoes, anyone can relate to this increasingly mainstream sport. For climbers and non-climbers alike, Free Solo is fun to marvel over, gawk at, and talk about at parties. In a time where it seems the list of less-than-uplifting dinner conversation topics is growing, this is a welcome opportunity. Problematic politics, technology taking over, and the most uncomfortable reality of them all: climate change. Nothing else tramples a vibe quite like the ol’ carbon footprint!

Spending time climbing (mostly falling from) rock walls has undoubtedly intensified my level of attention to and fascination for risk. It is now through this lens that I view many areas of interest, such as the field of sustainability. For this reason, I’ve come to believe there are a number of parallels between climbing risks, and climate risk.

Free Soloing

“What if I fall?” Oh but my darling, What if you fly?” — Erin Hanson

This gorgeous quote has been enjoyed by many people, but almost certainly none of them were free solo climbers. Free soloing involves scaling a rock face without any protection to catch the climber’s fall. Bouldering, another form of climbing, also lacks ropes. However these “problems” are usually less than 20 feet tall, and climbers set up thick “crash pads” to land on. Consequently, the major factor that differentiates free soloing from all other variations of the sport is the extreme level of risk to the climber’s life, even if the route is relatively easy.

While it may be difficult to understand why someone would put themselves in this sort of position in the first place, most people can comprehend how it works: if you fall, you die. Mr. Honnold, when asked repeatedly in interviews to confirm his knowledge of this fact, often cites feeling completely relaxed during these epic feats.

“There is no adrenaline rush. If I get an adrenaline rush, it means that something has gone horribly wrong.” — Alex Honnold

He is not fearless or unaware, yet he reacts to this fear in a way that enables an athletic performance where the only thing that drops to the ground are the jaws of spectators.

On this graph that represents how I visualize activities on axes of consequence severity and degree of control, free soloing would lie in the upper-right quadrant. The climber has a high degree of control over their own finger and foot placements; the movements are predictable, they can be rehearsed and ingrained in one’s memory. Alex prepared for years to free solo El Cap, so when the time came, he was sure he could do it. Unfortunately, the severity of consequence for the most microscopic slip-up brought on by an unexpected gust of wind or bout of fatigue is as high as it gets.

Climate Crisis

It is no mystery that we are in the midst of a crisis. It is predicted that a global average temperature increase of more than 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius will be devastating. Now alarming reports by the United Nations say we are on track for a warming of 3.2 degrees. Anthropogenic climate change, the result of years of excessive greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution, has already begun to catalyze a string of catastrophic natural events. In 2019, the World Economic Forum determined five out of the top ten global risks to be environmental. Extreme weather events, failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation, and natural disasters occupy the podium. I believe this confirms climate crisis as the single biggest threat to our communities, economies, food security, health, political stability and world peace. If we imagine the climate crisis using the mental model above, the same as we did with climbing, it would be safe to classify the consequences as severe.

What about our degree of control over this situation? I would (optimistically) argue this is also very great. For example, Project Drawdown provides a seemingly endless list of solutions to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere either by emission avoidance or carbon sequestration. Most interestingly, these solutions range from renewable electricity generation, to optimizing land use, to educating women and girls. By ranking the impact of these initiatives on their CO2-equivalent reduction potential, it is clear to see how cross-sector cooperation and collaboration is absolutely imperative. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have also served as a common framework and universal language for the humanity’s shared mission to promote personal and planetary wellness. We got ourselves into this mess, and I think we also have the ability to get out.

The Parallel

While Free Solo is a fun icebreaker topic at parties, unfortunately climate change is an icemelter that will result in destructive sea level rise. However I see both climbing risk and climate risk as quite similar when represented in terms of consequence severity as well as degree of control over the outcome. There is a parallel here, yet why aren’t we talking about Free Solo and the climate crisis in the same way?

There is one more C word I’ve neglected: complexity. The path up El Capitan is charted. It can be memorized, rehearsed, and executed. This is not the case for this lifetime’s biggest threat to humanity. The global environmental crisis has a dizzying number of contributing causes, additional effects, stakeholders, and relationships between all aforementioned factors…the complexity rating is off the charts. In order to avoid paralysis from this, I believe one can take a lesson from Alex and his world of climbing.

“I like the simplicity of soloing. You’ve got no gear, no partner. You never climb better than when you free-solo.’’ — Alex Honnold

Honnold climbs best when he goes back to basics and is most vulnerable. He is conscious of how insignificant he is, alone on a wall far more powerful and permanent than a human ever could be, and this results in an enhanced performance. He climbs at his best because he understands and respects the natural rules that govern his interaction with the Californian granite: namely the Law of Universal Gravitation. There is simply no such thing as defying gravity, even though Alex can make it appear that way on screen. Honnold, in all his majesty, is also not immune to the physical laws that cause surfaces to heat up when exposed to the sun’s rays. He has no choice but to climb early in the morning before the sun warms the rock and increases the likelihood his rubber soles will slip. Alex understands the limits his environment places on him, and has learned to play safely within them.

Perhaps it is time we all reviewed our relationship with natural forces. Taking a page out of Alex’s book, it may be beneficial for humanity to start abiding by environmental realities far beyond our control, realizing that our lives depend on it. For example, Newton taught us every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Yet we neglect to account for the negative externalities (external costs such as waste) created through production. We realize every ecosystem has a specific carrying capacity, our population continues to grow exponentially nevertheless. And although we are aware the earth’s resources are finite, humankind strives for endless economic growth that depends on continued consumption. Similar to fighting fire with fire we attempt to address problems caused by market forces with technological and economic tools derived from the same flawed systems.

Humans not only view ourselves as the most important entity in the universe, but also choose to act as if we are exempt from the natural laws that apply to every other being. I believe the world’s incompatibility with sustainably is a direct result of this anthropocentric paradigm. Honnold is successful in his sport because the consequences for disregarding these forces are extreme and immediate, so instead he embraces constraints and prepares accordingly. Alternatively, the repercussions for taking more from the earth than what we can replenish are equally as threatening to life and limb. However the feedback loop isn’t as tight, so the motivation to act differently is significantly reduced.

When people first see footage of Alex balancing on tiny granite foot chips thousands of feet above the Yosemite Valley floor, it is both terrifying and awe-inspiring. The gravity of the situation (ha) is glaringly obvious, yet he maneuvers with grace. Because of Honnold, we all feel a little braver in our everyday lives, equipped with a new perspective of what it truly means to live life on the edge. And thanks to revolutionary activists like Greta Thunberg, it is possible to view environmental issues in the same way. We can both comprehend the seriousness of the situation, while marvelling at her strength. Thanks to people like Greta, this sense of urgency begins to permeate our everyday decision-making.

“Each day, there is a chance you might die. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Every living being on Earth is facing that same existential rift.’’ — Alex Honnold

Hell yeah we are, Alex. But when facing an existential crisis as significant as the climate crisis, we must do as the climbers do with our set of solutions and just send it.