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Frame from Climbing SOLO with Alex Honnold   **INSANE EXPERIENCE** Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Climbing SOLO with Alex Honnold **INSANE EXPERIENCE**

Magnus Midtbø
Documentaries
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this documentary3 months2022–2026 score 3.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Recommended for conveying viscerally just how exceptional Honnold's composure is compared to other elite climbers.

Norwegian climber Magnus Midtbo spends a day climbing with Alex Honnold on exposed routes, shot as a vlog. The video shows the stark contrast between Midtbo's visible nerves and Honnold's calm.

“I need to share a video [0] which helped contextualize Alex Honnold for me” (HN, 2026)

1 strong recommendations · 2 recommendations · 1 citations · Documentaries

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@TheAceOfHearts Jan 2026 Strongly recommends
on HN thread Alex Honnold completes Taipei 101 skyscraper climb without ropes or safety net
I need to share a video [0] which helped contextualize Alex Honnold for me by contrasting him with another climber I've watched for years: Magnus Midtbo. In this video they're solo climbing a fairly simple and safe mountain, and Magnus is visibly stressed out while Alex calmly shouts encouragement all while recording. When watching Alex Honnold in Free Solo, I understood there was a exceptional aspect to him, but it took me seeing him climb with other people to really grasp the magnitude. [0] [this video]
Contrast shows how exceptional Honnold's calm is
@bargle0 Jun 2023 Recommends
on HN thread The Free Soloist Who Fell to Earth
Try this climbing video: [this video] One legendary climber pressures an experienced climber in to a high danger situation. It’ll make you about as uncomfortable as a SFW video can.
Uncomfortably tense climb pairing Honnold with another climber
@cf1241290841 Jan 2024 Recommends
on HN thread Best Documentaries You've Ever Seen
>34. Free Solo Also worth mentioning The Dawn Wall (2017) Meru (2015) The Alpinist (2021) The mindset of the people at these extremes is really interesting. Clash of cultures with Magnus Midtbø visiting Honnold was also an interesting watch: [this video]
Interesting clash of cultures visiting Honnold

Citations, criticism and jokes

@simple10 Jun 2022 Cites it
on HN thread Laddering a Chimney (1978) [video]
Wow. That's amazingly mesmerizing and cathartic for free soloing. Thanks for posting. It's a stark contrast to the Magnus Midtbø and Alex Honnold free solo video [1] released today. The Magnus video made my palms literally drip with nervous perspiration. [1] [this video]
Tense contrast with the calm free solo clip

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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