I watched Free Solo with my little brother. This documentary on unprotected rock climbing tells the story of Alex, a professional rock climber, who challenges to climb Emirates Peak with his bare hands.

Both of them are outside the door players of extreme sports, and they are thrilled to see that.

Me: Please tell me that he is still alive.
Little brother: Nonsense, he also gave me my signature poster.
Me: Sorry.

Don't judge heroes by success or failure

Although I don't judge heroes by success or failure, I am thinking that as a commercial shooting, if the challenge fails, can the company still release films.

Me: The law requires specific terms of the contract. From a moral point of view, it is obviously inappropriate, although I can't explain why.
Little brother: To say the least, the company has no reason to do so. Even if the film is reluctantly released, it will not only lose its box office, but also face pressure from the public.

This is not only a challenge of hand climbing, but also the shooting scene of a film. In addition to dealing with hand and foot movements, Alex has to bear the additional psychological burden brought by the presence of the lens, which is simply the Heisenberg uncertainty principle in the literary and art world. Honest as he is, he admits that he is afraid of being caught accidentally. Perhaps more terrible than physical death is the sight of others.

Thankfully, he succeeded.

In addition to praising Alex's superb skills, I also want to add chicken legs to photographers. It is said that in many cases, extreme sports photographers are more skilled than the subjects. In this film, the photographer used ropes to make it safer, but it was not easy to aim at the camera while climbing high. And the documentary shows how the photographer shot the footage, so that the people behind the scenes come to the stage, full of sincerity.

The importance of adequate preparation

This documentary has a rich content arrangement. It has made layers of preparations before the challenge itself. It includes family members and friends who speak to express their support and understanding, as well as Alex's preparations for climbing with ropes before the challenge. In particular, the latter has great educational significance for the entire extreme sports community.

As the threshold for participating in extreme sports is getting lower and lower, more and more fans join in. Some of them lack awareness of potential risks, ranging from injury to life.

Some sports have formed a complete qualification assessment mechanism, such as diving, sailing and diving, which can be verified. Many people mistakenly think that the number of times is equal to the absolute experience value, and overestimate their actual level. Dozens of dives at the same place in Hawaii are calm, or hundreds of jumps at the high altitude in Dubai are not enough to cope with the complex terrain and fluid conditions elsewhere. The nature is charming and ruthless. When the sea comes to devour life, it doesn't care whether you have a small piece of broken card of PADI.

do according to one's ability. Without sufficient preparation, blindly pursuing progress will only increase the risk of injury.

Even if Alex is skilled, he has waited eight years to complete the feat of climbing the Chieftain Peak by hand. Behind this is the accumulation process of many years of climbing training, dozens of times of rope simulation and thinking, and quantitative change produces qualitative change.

It's shameless to flee

The documentary faithfully recorded the episode that Alex gave up after climbing for a while when he first tried. The photographer said, "He bailed out" in a calm voice, without blame or discouragement.

Fleeing is not cowardly behavior. If you feel uncertain, you can unconditionally refuse to start. Thanks to one of my long diving friends for letting me understand this truth as early as possible. It was my first time to dive. With dozens of kilograms of equipment on my back, I had no bottom in the face of waves as high as people. She told me that she would not put pressure on students to go into the water, or come again next time, because only you can be responsible for your life.

The width of life

What is the spirit of extreme sports?

My answer is that I believe that life is not defined by length. As Alex said, if he doesn't do anything, he really has a greater probability of living longer, but maximizing life time is not his goal in life. Of course, there are many ways to realize the value of life. Appreciating extreme sports is not the same as encouraging everyone to die.

When a person yearns for the sky and the sea, and follows his heart to pursue the things he loves, the value of TA's life is defined by himself, and it is not his turn to be pointed out by others.

Support and understanding of relatives and friends

In the film, Alex's mother said that it was something he liked, so she still supported him to do it.

Some people accuse that it is unfilial to parents to risk their lives. I think children are not the appendage of parents. It's totally different to assume social responsibility versus live according to the wishes of others. Others said that only children should not lose the baton of life. In this regard, I can only say that there is still a long way to go to abandon the backward concept of inheriting the family line, but it is another topic.

Me: Last question, why do you like rock climbing?
Little brother: It's the fun of solving problems. So I won't climb with my bare hands.
Me: Great, indoor climbing is safe.
Little brother: Really? Your first indoor rock climbing, but you won't let go of the rope.
Me: It's my first time! And after I came down, everyone in a rock climbing class beside me applauded me!

I won't stop and secretly hope that people around me will be fine. This is probably the attitude of my relatives and friends.