Alex Honnold on Daniel Woods' V17 Scary Topout

[@NPC-fl3gq]

Alex is a great guy. Very intelligence and incredible on the wall, but extremely humble and quick to give credit where its due - and he has great perspectives on climbing.

[@mondainclimbing]

I think Mellow are releasing by far the best content being produced in bouldering at the moment. Mellow definitely draws a lot of inspiration from skate videos too. Daniel, Shawn, and Bobby all have some skateboarding background, and that definitely shows in the films. A lot of skate videos have a very unique feel to them that a lot of people wish they could be apart of. They give off that very cool, nonchalant atmosphere, and even with the more high quality production stuff that bobby is making, you still get that feeling ( well i do anyway ) that its not just this corporate production crew behind it, its still got that unique coolness and creative touch. its just a bunch of friends, who are passionate about climbing together, and it shows through in the videos they produce. Our videos certainly draw a lot of inspiration from both skate videos and mellow alike.

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

🙌🤘

[@Coleginter]

wait do they skate?

[@ussrknowsbest]

@@Coleginteryeah there are clips of a bunch of the mellow crew skating

[@JonPMelly]

daniel pushes mongo

[@dannygrout92]

Nnnooppppeeee WEDGE ❤❤

[@ClimbingEasy]

I completely understand Daniel Woods head space. So relatable.

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

Me too

[@MSHNKTRL]

Dosage & Rampage were produced by Big UP, and having somebody to edit and distribute physical videos was key. I used to salivate when some new video came out and we'd play that on repeat all day at my work. Mellow has the advantage where they can do all that on a rest day, and we can play it on repeat anywhere. Alex does have a point though, that because anyone can post some trash session at the gym, good quality is worth looking for.

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

I wore out my copy of Rampage. Man so good.

[@Hopesfallout]

All due respect, but when Daniel does a V16, he has probably been trying for weeks, sometimes months, if not years. Given how few and far between successful attempts at these difficulty levels are, it makes sense that Daniel is extra careful on the V0 slab ^^ Though I think Alex knows that too, don't you make fun of my idol Alex! :D

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

For sure. If I pull the crux of anything I immediately go into sloth mode and make sure I don’t biff the top / exit. I think Alex totally gets that- just having fun with his buddy.

[@justingreen6561]

worth remembering, honnold is just a 'different dude' in that, I think if it wasn't for his accomplishments/established persona he'd otherwise be seen as kind of an arse. Not that he is, but that stoic 'do it or dont' doesn't really leave room for much tip-toeing sensitivities. End of the day, I think he fanboys out on the Ondras/Mellow crushers as much as we do. No fouls to your Mr Woods. :)

[@Ptitviaud1337]

I think you may have missed the point : what Honnold is saying is that he finds it weird to freak out on a V0 slab, as a V17 climber. He wouldn't mind if you would climb it carefully, but he thinks that the experience for Woods would be more enjoyable if he had "basic" slab technique, and so would end up topping out the boulder in less than a minute in total confidence rather than within 5 or 6 minutes with a massive stress. I agree too. This is something that you can easily work on, at any level. It's definitely less fun not to be confident in easy terrain, it makes your whole climbing experience incredibly more stressfull for no reason.

[@sylvernale]

​@@Ptitviaud1337Agreed. I think some small changes could make it way easier - if you project the same boulder for 50 times you can make the top out part of the warm-up. Imo my natural inclinations when im scared and not good at slab dont decrease the chances of falling

[@MrSkill_420]

dude bro his insane topout was mega-shredded free-solo

[@johnnyd.j.6068]

There are only a few climbing youtube channels bigger than mellow. Midtbo, Eric Karlsson, and Bobat just make a different type of content than Mellow that is probably more watchable and more accessible to the average person interested in climbing. It's the same thing with some other bouldering channels that should be bigger, like ROKDO, lines, WEDGE, Shawn's personal channel, Megos', and Ruana's. A few ones that stand out are Ondra's channel, Stefano's, and Emil Abrahamsson's, as they post hard outdoor climbing in more of a content creator fashion. Aside from this, I can think of two main reasons Mellow doesn't get as many views/subs as they probably could: (1) they don't use clickbait titles or thumbnails, and (2) they don't post Shorts. It all comes down to the fact that they prioritize quality and viewing experience and documenting the hardest climbs in the world. Because of that, they use informative and slick titles and thumbnails, and they post longer, well-edited videos. Mellow does have the "uncut" videos which are usually

[@calebhunger]

To be fair it is a weird feeling when you are a combination of completely pumped and gassed with the overwhelming excitement of clearing your project. It is almost a complete shock when you end up with 15' feet of fall bellow you and another 10 feet of v0 finish. The overwhelming since of don't fuck this part up starts to kick in. as a fall would not only hurt but also force you to re do a low percentage problem in some cases.

[@MP-bx3uj]

I'd be shaky and unstable trying to walk on flat ground after doing the hardest boulders in the world, much less moving on to slab moves with big consequences right after...

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

Good point. Me too. On v4 😅

[@John-fv8sz]

I mostly watch e.k.b. and the Bobats because I feel it's relatable to my level of climbing where Mellow isn't.

[@BadWaterBouldering]

That Mellow conversation really had got thinking about my own climbing videos and how our KZbin channel is recieved. In a good way!

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

🤘

[@JuliusPischlöger]

this from a new episode?

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

Recent podcast ep with Alex (crossover with Climbing Gold) 🤘

[@JuliusPischlöger]

@@thestruggleclimbingshow appreciated. love the content :)

[@Yt-qi9ot]

Mellow is def modeled out of the Skating industry, skate videos and culture of the mid 2000s and 2010s. Glad it's around. Though skating industry's changed a bit. Way more players, harder to sustain soley on sponsors and not social media and you don't need pro names on decks to sell as much as 5-10 years ago.

[@themeatpopsicle]

This reminds me a lot of skate video culture that came up in the late 90s/early 2000s

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

Agreed 🤘

[@christophernones7178]

Haha Alex is always digging on the Mellow boys

[@yeskiii]

Mellow is such a gem

[@p0t4t0nastick]

hellyeah! alex talking bout mellow is hilarious, listened to his interview on his podcast. EDIT: dude how amazing would it be if you could get one of the mellow guys as well!?

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

For sure working on it 🙌

[@tristan.parrish]

Alex Honnold is just a different breed 😂😅

[@robertobreve8623]

How could Shawn possibly be running anything? ouch 😂

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

All in good fun 😁

[@rdtarcade7644]

no way alex just said that... has to be his worst ever take, in bishop the topouts of v15s and up are literally v8 slabs on blocks that are 60+ feet. and even for rots like the guy just did something he worked on for many many months and is pumped full of adrenaline. seems pretty normal to me that he might not feel super comfy just running up an easy slab

[@BodhiJMSRyder]

Fr vb my ass

[@oskain]

He said it was a VB exit slab, not v8

[@rdtarcade7644]

@@oskain yes on rotsw but not in bishop

[@stephendaedalus7841]

That top out must be heady when you’re totally bricked after doing a 17

[@mattylee7958]

Maybe it's down turned shoes ?

[@Ptitviaud1337]

No. I climb everything in the same shoes. When it's easy, it's easy no matter matter what you wear.

[@yannponty2214]

Unnecessarily trolly IMO. The "hard overhanging stuff to slab" transition is hard for anyone, but in this case I think it's a combination of "last move" pressure (no one wants to fall on the last move, but some manage better that others), and wearing super aggressive shoes (not ideal to create/exploit friction on a slab).

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

I agree with everything here, except that it was unnecessarily trolly. Understanding that the absolute best boulderers in the world still get gripped on topouts can help the rest of us feel better about struggling with the same fear. Alex was having a bit of fun at his friend’s expense but with a huge dose of respect alongside it.

[@natetronn]

As a slab climber I feel seen.

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

👀😁

[@sirporkrib7643]

So he probably won't take Daniel to free solo then🤣

[@thestruggleclimbingshow]

😅

[@JustinCasey216]

Alex doesnt play tennis lol 😂