This Fearless Rock Climber Scales Mountains Without a Second Thought- His Brain Scan Reveals Why

Alex uses only his hands to climb, regardless of the weather conditions.  Well, there’s a reason Alex can do this, and scientists found out when they scanned his brain. 

The brain scan took place at the Center for Biomedical Imaging in Charleston, South Carolina. The Center has some incredible equipment that takes unique pictures of brain activity. It was here that scientists wanted Alex to have a specialized brain scan.  

This piece of equipment shows changes in how the blood flows through your brain. You see, the brain absorbs oxygen while it’s active, and the colors of blood flow show up on the screen. This way, the technical staff can see exactly when the brain is active and where the blood is moving. 

Joseph believed that the way blood flows in the brains of some humans might have ties to a characteristic known as “sensation seeking.” That term can mean anything from addiction to certain behaviors to engaging in dangerous activities. Honnold was a perfect person to study in order to test that theory. 

So Dr. Joseph wanted to look at the area of Honnold’s brain that identifies fear. Alex was placed inside one of the fMRI machines and the machine then flashed photos in front of him. Some of the photos were of everyday activities, and others were of exciting and dangerous activities.

In other words, reactions were key. They told the whole story of whether or not a patient had a strong reaction to fear or not. Then came Honnold’s turn. His results stunned all of the medical specialists watching. 

In August of 2016, Alex was asked this question by the Nautilus website – and used a surprising analogy. Nautilus is a website devoted to delving into interesting and unusual scientific theories and phenomena.

In other words, Alex had enough experience to become interested in his own body makeup. He actually wanted to know why he was able to climb steep cliffs without any equipment and why he had little fear while he was doing it.

So it’s no surprise that Honnold’s fans were fascinated to learn what made him take these chances with his life. One false move, one slipped foot, and he’d be dead in seconds. His art, called “free-solo,” means climbing without equipment, and he was its poster child.

Yet it wasn’t as if Alex was overcoming fear; he had none. He did not think that rock climbing without ropes would endanger him, and he’s done hundreds of climbs without equipment. The climbing world is in awe.

Corrugation Corner is a 300-foot climb and was a good place for Alex to begin his free-solo career. Located near Lake Tahoe in California, it is known for its beauty and for its popularity with climbers.

Somehow, despite his concerns, he summoned up the courage to do it. Alex completed his free-solo all the way to the top. He was certainly proud of his accomplishment, and this first climb encouraged him to keep going. As he continued, he got better and better at it.

Half Dome is one of the hardest climbs, although thousands have made it with ropes and other protective equipment. Sadly, close to 20 people have died during their ascent. But no one had attempted to free-solo Half Dome before Alex Honnold. 

He carefully climbed the Half Dome, reaching a point called “Thank God Ledge.” The Ledge is about 2000 feet up. It is the only way to get from one part of the climb to the next. Just compare Alex’s first climb of 300 feet to the Half Dome. He was only half way up and had already climbed 2000 feet

So Alex backed his heels against the sheer rock wall, while most of his feet were hanging over the edge. He edged himself step by step the width of the ledge until he reached the next climbing area. 

In fact, he coined a new term for climbers – honnolding – which describes handling moments of great danger when climbing.  The term became popular among climbers who were fond of the more risky climbing challenges.

Alex has free-soloed mountains in Oman, Northern Ireland, and Mexico, among other places. He has the best record of successful free-solo climbs in the world.

He also landed lucrative advertising gigs for BMW, among other companies, and has been on the cover of National Geographic. In addition, the TV news program 60 Minutes interviewed him about his exploits.  

This famous rock face had never been free-soloed before Honnold climbed it in 2017. Sadly, between 1905 and 2018, over 30 people have died trying to climb El Capitan, including experienced climbers. Honnold was determined to meet this challenge.

Filming the movie was in itself ground-breaking and very hard on the crew since they needed to take some risks in order to capture every moment and were fearful for Honnold’s safety. But they didn’t have to worry.

The film earned close to $30 million around the world and is considered a stunning achievement in the world of documentary filmmaking. But the real achievement was accomplished by Honnold, putting him squarely at the top of the list of world-famous rock climbers.

It didn’t do so badly during the 2019 awards season, either. Free-Solo won for Best Documentary at both the BAFTAs and the Academy Awards. The film also garnered six awards at the Primetime Emmy Awards show that same year. 

Chin, who worked on Free-Solo, specializes in taking photos of climbers. During the talk, Chin told an amazing story about a trip he took with Honnold to Oman. The story illustrates the uniqueness of a climber who sees every mountain as a challenge.

The group was astounded – Honnold saw a mountain and just had to climb it. It was almost like a compulsion of some sort. They watched dumbfounded as, without any gear, he climbed up further and further.

This question-and-answer session led to an important exchange between the free-solo star’s friend and a scientist. That exchange would lead to further study of Honnold’s brain.

Two years later, in 2016, Alex Honnold was lying inside an fMRI machine, having his brain scanned and watched over by Dr. Jane Joseph. She was interested in seeing whether her previous assessment of Honnold still held true.   

Dr. Joseph was tracking the blood flow to Honnold’s amyglada to see if it lit up while seeing pictures of danger. So how did Honnold react to the images in the machine? Joseph reported on the Medical University of South Carolina’s website that Honnold’s general reaction was, “What? Was that supposed to do something for me?”

With the fMRI tracking the flow of blood through Honnold’s brain when it was exposed to different stimuli, the doctor assessed his reaction to fearful situations. For most people, the amygdala will light up when seeing photos of dangerous situations. For Honnold, his amygdala showed no signs of color. 

The test patient’s results were what one would expect from a typical individual. In other words, that person’s amygdala was lit up in a bright shade of red when he was shown pictures of danger. Dr. Joseph was satisfied that the test on Honnold was the real thing. Honnold’s brain did not react to fateful situations. 

As the college website reported, the three questions were: “Do you enjoy skiing very fast down a mountain? Would you enjoy parachute jumping? Do you like to explore a strange city or place, even if you might get lost?”

On top of that, when she compared his answers to those questions with those of people who considered themselves thrill-seekers, Honnold’s results were higher by a fifth. Joseph watched Honnold closely during these sessions – she noted no real signs of fear in either test.

One aspect of brain function in which Alex scored very high was the trait of being conscientious. That explains his focus, his careful preparation for his climbs, and his self-protection against any kind of obsession. He is very aware that he is going into dangerous situations and is not climbing as a result of an addiction to the sport.

It’s interesting to know that some things do frighten Honnold, although we doubt that anyone is going to try putting him in an fMRI scanner with a rattlesnake any time soon.

Honnold offered one explanation. He is a planner and a preparer, signs of his characteristic of conscientiousness. He does not just decide one morning to run to the nearest mountain and free-solo. There is a lot of planning ahead of time which does involve safety equipment. 

His triumph over El Capitan took nearly seven years of training, each time with the usual safety equipment. Each time, after the climb, he’d write down notes about the mountain to teach himself how to do the climb. Honnold is convinced that intense preparation, thinking out how he will do the climb ahead of time, calms any fears. 

He continues, “Look, it’s not that I’m not afraid. If I was in danger, I’m sure I’d respond the same as anybody. Pain, death, all the things you’d expect. They scare me too, you know?”

“If you think about what he does, he plans every detail out,” she told the Medical University of South Carolina’s site. “So, as opposed to the Mountain Dew adrenaline-junkie type, he really isn’t that. And that kind of surprised me.”

After all of the testing, Honnold immediately returned to his free-soloing attempts. He’s in top physical condition, has a powerful methodology in place that works very well for him, and still loves the experience. 

“Free climbing is what gives me the most pleasure in life. And I’m going to keep doing it until it stops.”  From what we’ve learned about Alex Honnold, he has a good handle on managing his dangerous pastime and is committed to it. We wish him well and best of luck.