World's Greatest Climber: If I Had One Last Climb It Would Be...

It drives me crazy that nobody else

thinks about risk in this way. People

look at my life and they're like, "Well,

you're crazy. You're such a risk taker."

Well, at least I'm taking the risks that

I'm choosing because think of all the

people that like go out partying every

weekend and they get buzzed and they

drive home. And even sedendary people

who are like, "Well, I don't take risk.

I stay home and I play video games." No,

you're at a much higher risk of heart

disease. Like, they're taking all kinds

of risk that they're not actually

choosing to take and you're still going

to freaking die either way. So, you

might as well take smart, calculated

risks and do all the things that you

want to do and at least die happy when

you go. He's done it. Alice Honold has

made history again, scaling one of the

world's tallest skyscrapers. [music]

>> But the conclusion that a lot of people

have arrived at is that you don't

experience fear because when they look

at these two brain scans, your amydala

is lighting up less when you're shown

scary images. I I actually hate all the

brain stuff because people always put me

in this box. They're like, "Well, you're

different." And I'm like, "Well, not

really. Like, I'm a middle class

suburban kid. Nobody in my family is

athletic. I just after [music] 20 years

of climbing 5 days a week and being

really freaking scared, I respond

differently than an average person." And

there was tons of emotional turmoil

throughout it. Periods where you're just

like I'm trying so hard and I'm just

like not as good as I want to be. You

know, I was like living in a car. I had

like a couple hundred bucks a month for

10 years. Like that's challenging. But

you just can't master a craft overnight.

I guess that's what people don't see.

And so how do you create the conditions

to out persist other people? And then in

all your career, when is the moment

where you were most scared?

>> On an expedition to Antarctica. I kept

hoping that it's going to get better and

it just kept getting [music] worse. Like

I could die.

>> Do you have a conversation with your

partner before you go and do something

like this? because she wrote a letter.

>> Oh gosh.

>> Obviously, this is your worst nightmare,

she said. But we all have to do scary

things sometimes, Alex.

>> Guys, I've got a quick favor to ask you.

We're approaching a significant

subscriber milestone on this show, and

roughly 69% of you that listen and love

this show haven't yet subscribed for

whatever reason. If there was ever a

time for you to do us a favor, if we've

ever done anything for you, given you

value in any way, it is simply hitting

that subscribe button. and it means

[clears throat] so much to myself but

also to my team because when we hit

these milestones we go away as a team

and celebrate and it's the thing the

simple free easy thing you can do to

help make this show a little bit better

every single week. So that's a favor I

would ask you and um if you do

[clears throat] hit the subscribe button

I won't let you down and we'll continue

to find small ways to make this whole

production better. Thank you so much for

being part of this journey. Means the

world. And uh yeah, let's do this.

[music]

Alex to understand you. I think from

everything I've learned about you, from

the research I've done, from speaking to

your wife, your agent, everybody I could

speak to, I think to understand your

context, we first need to understand the

circumstances in which you were raised

and the childhood you had because it

seems to be I mean for all of us there's

like fingerprints left on us that define

the anomaly um that many of us become

including yourself. So what do I need to

know? What does the viewer need to know

about the early context?

>> I mean, how deep do you want to go? I

need get a sofa. I need to reply.

[laughter] Like, all right. Uh, but

yeah, certainly there's a there's an

imprint from my parents, my upbringing.

I mean, they had a a very fraught

relationship. They eventually got

divorced, but they stayed together for

the kids and it was a whole like, you

know, say a tense home life because

neither of them really liked each other.

And then my mom is very driven, very,

you know, high performing. And then my

dad was hard to say. I mean, I think my

dad was deeply depressed basically the

whole time I knew him cuz he was in this

relation. You know, it's hard to tell.

He wasn't living his best life. And then

sadly after they got divorced, he was he

was much happier, but then he died. And

so then never really got to see uh never

really got to see him blossom that much.

>> And your mother's high performing. And

did did she sort of implicitly demand

that of you in any way?

>> Yeah, I mean my mother speaks like seven

or eight languages. She like plays every

instrument. It's like kind of crazy.

She's very artistically minded in that

way, like you know, the arts and

classical sense. But um yeah, she I mean

she wanted us to do all those things

too. I'm a deep disappointment in that

regard.

>> There was a phrase that I saw when I was

watching the documentary that your your

mother would continually say which I

think translates to something like not

good enough like pressing a ka like

almost like almost doesn't count. It's

funny because I feel like uh a lot of my

adult life now one of my sort of go-to

sayings is you know don't let perfect be

the enemy of good. I'm really into like

good enough. Like it's better to like

try. It's better to do something, you

know, it's better to fail quickly and

learn and keep moving forward than to

not try something. Like basically, I

don't want to be crippled by

perfectionism. Sort of like my mom is

very much a perfectionist, you know,

like if you can't do it right, don't do

it. I'm sort of like I think it's better

to try and learn and improve,

>> but she's accomplished a lot of things

with that approach.

>> Yeah, she Yeah, she has for sure.

>> What about emotions? This is something

you I've had heard you sort of talked

about a lot is in that environment where

your mother and father aren't getting

along well. I think I I heard you say

that your you hadn't seen your father

really happy before he'd passed away.

>> Yeah.

>> Was it an emotional household in terms

of affection?

>> No, it was a very unemotional household.

That said though, you know, it was a

safe, relatively happy household. Like

it was it was fine, you know, and and I

was close to a lot of my extended

family. And so I had a really good

relation with my grandparents and some

my aunts and uncles. And so I mean I

basically would have characterized it as

a totally happy family life until I

became older and started seeing other

people's families more and was kind of

like, "Oh, this seems even happier." You

know what I mean? It's like basically

really good until you see what what else

it can be and then you're like this

seems even better.

>> And your mom wasn't ever affectionate.

>> You know, it always feels slightly

conditional, you know, where it's like

uh you know, she cares if you be you

know, if you perform well, like if you

do well, like if you're a good kid or

whatever, you know what I mean?

>> Where where did climbing come into your

life? Cuz I've got some I have found

some photos of you climbing and you look

your like with your sister, I believe.

Here we go. This one here.

>> Yeah. Classic. How old have you been?

>> I don't know. I mean, I don't know, like

six or something or eight. It's hard for