Ethical Issues In El Capitan

7,573 feet. This is the height of the rock formation El Capitan. Alex Honnold scaled this steep, slippery rock formation that is at least three times the height of the Eiffel Tower with no ropes or safety gear (“El Capitan”). This type of life-or-death situation is not only terrifying, but it creates a large amount of pressure for both the climber and his supporters. Honnold’s dream is to free solo El Capitan but different stress and pressures placed on him throughout this journey make it difficult to achieve his goal. However, not all of the pressure falls completely onto Honnold. This decision also creates an immense amount of pressure on the people around him such as the camera crew, his mother, and his girlfriend. This pressure forms

Within this dilemma, there are multiple smaller issues that Alex faces throughout his free solo journey. Alex has to confront the pressure from failing on his first try of free soloing El Capitan. This creates an obligation to climb again without bailing. It also builds the burden of knowing that everyone is watching him risk his life. Another dilemma Alex risks is having to deal with the stress from the camera crew to complete the climb with the cameras even though Alex is not completely comfortable with it. Hearing the defeat in the filmer’s voices and hearing them wonder what went wrong brings a large amount of anxiety on Alex to go climb back up El Capitan and do better. Lastly, Alex is aware that death is a possible outcome from free soloing. This produces pressure to not complete the climb with cameras because of how brutal it would be to see Alex fall to his death. It also builds more of a pressure for Alex to not complete the climb at all. His supporters do not want him to risk his life, yet they want to see him live out his dreams which poses a challenge for

This struggle of failure is prevalent when Honnold does not successfully complete his first attempt free soloing El Capitan. When Alex reaches the Heart, a pitch on El Capitan, he radios down to the camera crew to announce that he is bailing. Honnald says, “I don't know if I can try with everybody watching. It's too scary. Just can't, like, try for real” (Chin and Vasarhelyi). The uncertainty in Alex’s words is a prime example of how the pressure of whether filming his climb is the best option for Alex or if he would be better off climbing without cameras. Not only that, but the dialogue Alex uses displays his insecurities about climbing. He lacks the confidence to finish the climb with everyone watching him which in turn forms performance anxiety. The anxiety from all the pressure placed on him is what caused him to bail on his first climbing attempt. The dialogue Alex uses shows his real emotions as well. It shows how he really is feeling at that point in his climbing. Honnold goes on to say, “By myself, I maybe would have just, like, persevered, I don’t know, maybe I just suck, but, you know, at least I’ve like, at least I’ve tried” (Chin and Vasarhelyi). Alex knows that the result would have been different if he was climbing by himself. He would not have felt the need to bail when it became too difficult for him to continue his climb. Alex bailing goes to show that