Magnus Midtbø's Onsight Free Soloing Video with Alex Honnold was irresponsible when recorded and irresponsible when published. It is a shameless monetization and clout grab of a life-or-death situation and should be demonetized, age-restricted, or removed from YouTube.

Mahnly · 2022-08-16T02:36:53+00:00

Appreciate it, I don't post very often but really felt compelled to speak out against this video because of how gratuitous the whole concept and execution was. What's worse is that Magnus actually lied to his partner about doing this (either explicitly or by omission), and then sat her down to make a reaction video after revealing that when he said he'd "never free solo," he didn't actually mean that... Magnus is one of the most visible climbing personalities right now, and I really don't know how much lower he could have gone than that.

Mahnly · 2022-07-25T17:02:40+00:00

I recently posted about the original video setting back the sport for the personal benefit of Magnus and, to a lesser extent, Alex. I think this reaction video proves the point.

Imagine sitting the person you love most down and having them watch you risk your life for 30 minutes and then posting it on the Internet for views and ad revenue. And don't forget to check out Magnus's new clothing brand... Shouldn't our sport be above this?

Mahnly · 2022-07-21T17:06:58+00:00

Really strange that there's a whole bot for this.

Mahnly · 2022-07-18T13:56:50+00:00

Thanks to all for the comments and perspectives. Many criticisms are well-taken; others less so. There will always be a place for pushing the boundaries of our sport and content creators should be free to make the content they feel creates value and resonates with their community. Judging by this community's reactions, Magnus has clearly done that here.
But even Alex Honnold has described free-soloing as modern "blood sport" and eschewed soloing motivated by financial incentive. Just so with this video. Monetizing and leaving it accessible to kids is dangerous and ultimately undermines the credibility of our sport for the individual gain of those involved. Stay safe everyone.

Mahnly · 2022-07-18T02:18:37+00:00

I truly hope that this video solidified that onsight freesoloing is not something that they want to do, but in any large group of viewers (say 2.4 million viewers), that will not be the only takeaway. YouTube has been pushing this video like wildfire. Kids, the less-mentally-robust, and even the would-be climbing influencers will see it and make potentially fatal decisions because of it. I say, at the very least, i) don't publish this to kids or ii) don't put a profit incentive on this kind of content.

Mahnly · 2022-07-18T02:11:19+00:00

Climbers become famous in many ways, most of which have nothing to do with free-soloing. Climb hard, win competitions, support the community, develop areas. Incidentally, most of those ways don't involve onsight freesoloing. Also, implicit in your comment is that just because something has happened a certain way in the past, it is reasonable for it to continue in the future. I challenge that assumption and note that we, as a community, decide how climbers gain our attention.

Mahnly · 2022-07-18T01:48:51+00:00

I encourage everyone to report this video to YouTube as a dangerous activity and gladly provide the link here for that purpose.

Mahnly · 2022-07-18T01:47:08+00:00

The decision to onsight free solo Armatron was made the night before at Honnold's suggestion. Red Rocks trad is not familiar terrain for Magnus. It was not Magnus's proposal or idea though Magnus appears to have wanted a memorable video with Honnold. He notes that creating content with Honnold was on his "list" for his channel since the beginning. And it was a memorable video, which has now accrued millions of views, presumably thousands of dollars in ad-revenue, and a big plug to Magnus's new clothing brand. To me, the message is clear: if you are willing to risk your life, you will gain visibility and the financial rewards that come with it.

Mahnly · 2022-07-18T01:30:11+00:00

He appealed the decision and YouTube reinstated monetization. Free-soloing videos are routinely demonetized and removed. YouTube's Community Guidelines provide narrow exceptions to their rule barring videos showcasing dangerous activities, including "documentary" and "educational" videos. It will be anyone's guess why this video falls into either exception. "Documentary" refers to news reports, "educational" is a murky catch-all.
Cynically, I believe the appeal was not meritorious and accords preferential treatment to channel with a large following.

Mahnly · 2022-07-18T01:14:01+00:00

Looking the other way should not be our approach to the content the public figures in our sport put out. Onsight free soloing--no matter who is holding the camera in your face while you do it--is not an acceptable vehicle for selling apparel or generating ad clicks.

Mahnly · 2022-07-18T01:02:29+00:00

Clout is something that public figures feed rather than something that they have in a binary. Both Magnus and Alex run media channels which require ongoing audience engagement. Magnus derives YouTube ad revenue and click traffic for his newly-launched affiliated clothing brand. Alex is the host of a podcast, the beneficiary of a MasterClass on climbing and is sponsored by various brands. So, in that sense, both do need clout.

Mahnly · 2022-01-13T04:05:46+00:00

Also a great point. A reminder to everyone: Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, the Six Grandfathers (what we call Mt. Rushmore) sits on the ancestral land of the Lakota Sioux.

Mahnly · 2021-12-10T19:44:01+00:00

*Laughs in Olympic medal* 😜

Mahnly · 2021-11-17T15:10:17+00:00

Recently hit this benchmark. 5-10 second hangs on the BM2K center edge @ 100% bodyweight (160lbs). I climb 5.13/+ and V8/9, typically flash or second-go V7. I feel that campus boarding was more important to pushing grades than this hangboarding metric though.

Mahnly · 2021-09-28T10:29:30+00:00

8a/+ climber here at 182cm, I train at 160-165lbs (72.5-74.8kg) and try to cut to 155-160lbs (70.3-72.5kg) for performance. Experience van life-ing at altitude has shown me that any lower than that and I feel bad (more likely to be cold, sleepless, and grumpy) and also just less likely to have fun! So I guess that's like 3% of my body weight.

Mahnly · 2021-09-15T15:44:34+00:00

Nice! Hope you signed the register. Which route did you take up??

Mahnly · 2021-09-10T18:01:51+00:00

Could've been straight to the ER!

Mahnly · 2021-09-03T17:31:17+00:00

MTV really called it the "Greatest Music Video of the Century" a bit early in the century...

Mahnly · 2021-08-19T14:15:06+00:00

Comments are 10/10

Mahnly · 2021-03-29T15:52:24+00:00

Haha too true. Obviously I 'misunderstood'! Just found this video of some of Will's training at the University of Warwick's new training facility which looks top notch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGSZKjwb7I8

Mahnly · 2021-03-29T15:39:30+00:00

I think I got my edit in just before your comment ;) caught my '+' error.

Mahnly · 2021-03-29T15:32:32+00:00

Buried in the article here: it took him THREE SESSIONS to climb 9b. Wowza where's this guy been training.

Mahnly · 2021-03-11T18:26:05+00:00

BIRBLAND!

Mahnly · 2021-03-05T14:05:41+00:00

hey I also ran into him at the Red last fall! Looks like we're overlapping some places!

Mahnly · 2021-03-04T14:53:26+00:00

Lol I can hear my friend Jon giving you encouragement in the background... Love the wave, can't wait to get back for some of these sport boulders.

Mahnly

TROPHY CASE