本文為翻譯文章，文件段落格式依原始文章編排，中文放在原文段落之上方便大家對照。因為我的英文很破，中文的文筆又不好，所以如果有翻得不通順或翻錯的地方，就再麻煩各位多多指教，直接留言或私訊都可以，請不必客氣。
獨家：攀岩者締造史上最危險的無繩獨攀紀錄
Exclusive: Climber Completes the Most Dangerous Rope-Free Ascent Ever
Alex Honnold 成為史上第一位以無繩獨攀 (free solo) 方式 完攀優勝美地高達 900 公尺的酋長岩的攀岩者。
Alex Honnold has become the first climber to free solo Yosemite’s 3,000-foot El Capitan wall.
作者：Mark M. Synnott | PUBLISHED JUNE 3, 2017
翻譯：陳震宇 (若有任何問題請來信：maurice.chen67@gmail.com)
搶先目睹全世界最危險的無繩獨攀的首發片段 (ALEX HONNOLD) SEE FIRST VIDEO OF MOST DANGEROUS ROPE-FREE CLIMB EVER (ALEX HONNOLD) 2017 年 6 月 6 日 – 這段令人寒毛直豎的驚險片段，是知名攀岩者 Alex Honnold 以無繩獨攀的方式，攀登高達 914 公尺的酋長岩的第一支公開影像紀錄。6 月 3 日，Honnold 成為歷史上第一位以無繩獨攀方式完攀加州優勝美地國家公園最知名岩壁的第一位攀岩者。全程由國家地理雜誌聘請的知名攝影師 Jimmy Chin 拍攝，完整專題報導紀錄片將於稍後推出。 June 6, 2017 - These hair-raising moments are the first video footage from renowned rock climber Alex Honnold's ascent of the 3,000-foot wall of El Capitan—without a rope. On June 3rd, Honnold became the first person ever to free solo climb this famous rock face at Yosemite National Park, California. The video was shot by Jimmy Chin (who also photographed the climb) for an upcoming documentary by National Geographic.
加州優勝美地國家公園 – 上週六，知名攀岩者 Alex Honnold 在未使用繩索與任何安全裝備的條件下，成功完攀園區境內一座高達 900 公尺，最具象徵意義的岩壁 – 酋長岩，成為史上第一位以無繩獨攀方式完攀酋長岩的攀岩者。這項卓越成就在無繩獨攀領域中，或許是有史以來最偉大的創舉。
他在 3 小時 56 分內成功爬上岩壁頂端，最後一段難度中等的繩距，他幾乎是以小跑步的速度完成。太平洋夏令時間早上 09:28，在蔚藍的天空與幾朵浮雲的襯托下，他從岩壁頂端的邊際翻身而上，站上了一處約莫臥室大小、佈滿砂礫的平台。
Honnold 這次的創舉，是在凌晨 05:32，破曉黎明的粉紅色暮光下展開。起攀前，他在他自己的行動基地營 – 一輛改裝的小貨卡上睡了一覺，並在夜色中起床。起床後，他穿上一件最愛的紅色T–Shirt，和一件自己裁短的尼龍七分褲。在驅車前往酋長岩大草原之前，他還吃了他一貫的標準早餐：燕麥、亞麻籽、奇亞籽、和藍莓。
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CALIFORNIA—Renowned rock climber Alex Honnold on Saturday became the first person to scale the iconic nearly 3,000-foot granite wall known as El Capitan without using ropes or other safety gear, completing what may be the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport.
He ascended the peak in 3 hours, 56 minutes, taking the final moderate pitch at a near run. At 9:28 a.m. PDT, under a blue sky and few wisps of cloud, he pulled his body over the rocky lip of summit and stood on a sandy ledge the size of a child’s bedroom.
Honnold began his historic rope-less climb—a style known as “free soloing”—in the pink light of dawn at 5:32 a.m. He had spent the night in the customized van that serves as his mobile base camp, risen in the dark, dressed in his favorite red t-shirt and cutoff nylon pants, and eaten his standard breakfast of oats, flax, chia seeds, and blueberries, before driving to El Capitan Meadow.
攀岩者 Alex Honnold 正在 Freerider 路線上訓練，為這史無前例的無繩獨攀創舉做準備。他在 6 月 3 日星期六成功完成這項紀錄，而這項充滿歷史意義的行動，也已收錄在即將發佈的國家地理頻道專題報導紀錄片、以及國家地理雜誌的專欄中。 Rock climber Alex Honnold training on Freerider for the first ever rope-free climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He completed the feat on Saturday, June 3rd. The historic event was documented for an upcoming National Geographic feature film and magazine story. PHOTOGRAPH BY JIMMY CHIN, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
將車停妥後，他沿著佈滿大石塊的小徑走到岩壁底部。在那裡，他穿上一雙有著特殊橡膠鞋底的岩鞋，並在腰間綁上能讓他的雙手保持乾燥的小巧粉袋。在找到了第一個腳點後，他開始一寸一寸地爬出一頁全新的攀岩史。
在這之前，Honnold 花了超過一年的時間為這項計畫在世界各地訓練，足跡遍及美國、中國、歐洲、和摩洛哥。而他少數知道這項計畫的朋友和繩伴也都一直為他保守秘密。
而 Honnold 的老繩伴 Jimmy Chin，也特地為這項計畫組成一支專業攝影團隊，和 Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelvi 一起用影片記錄這次的攀登行動，製作成即將發佈的「國家地理頻道專題報導紀錄片」。去年 11 月，Honnold 就曾首度嘗試完成這項無繩獨攀計畫，但卻因為心理狀態不佳，而在起攀不到一小時內就決定撤退。
He parked the van and hiked up the boulder-strewn path to the base of the cliff. There, he pulled on a pair of sticky soled climbing shoes, fastened a small bag of chalk around his waist to keep his hands dry, found his first toehold, and began inching his way up toward climbing history.
For more than a year, Honnold has been training for the climb at locations in the United States, China, Europe, and Morocco. A small circle of friends and fellow climbers who knew about the project had been sworn to secrecy.
A team of filmmakers, led by Jimmy Chin, one of Honnold’s longtime climbing partners, and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, captured the ascent for an upcoming National Geographic Documentary Films feature. This past November, Honnold made his first attempt at the free solo, but backed off after less than an hour of climbing because conditions did not feel right.
HONNOLD的一小步，無繩獨攀領域的一大步 THE MOON LANDING OF FREE-SOLOING
出身於沙加緬度的一間室內岩館，今年 31 歲的 Honnold，在 2008 年相繼完成兩次風險極高的無繩獨攀行動 – 優勝美地半穹頂的 Regular Northwest Face，以及猶他州錫安 (Zion) 國家公園的 Moonlight Buttress – 讓他瞬間躍上國際舞台，成為媒體焦點。這兩次的無繩獨攀行動，不僅震驚了全球攀岩圈，同時也為攀岩界設下了全新的標竿，一如 Roger Bannister 在 1954 年打破了一英里跑步的 4 分鐘記錄，重新定義了中長跑的極限。
「Alex 在 Moonlight Buttress 完成的創舉，徹底違背了我們從小到大對所有事物的既有認知。」與 Honnold 一起完成許多影片的攀岩者 Peter Mortimer 這麼說道。「那裡根本就是最不適合人類存在的地方」。
Trained in a climbing gym in Sacramento, Honnold, 31, burst onto the international scene in 2008 with two high-risk, rope-free ascents—the northwest face of Yosemite’s Half Dome and the Moonlight Buttress in Utah’s Zion National Park. Those free solos astonished the climbing world and set new benchmarks in much the same way that Roger Bannister redefined distance running when he broke the four-minute mile in 1954.
“What Alex did on Moonlight Buttress defied everything that we are trained, and brought up and genetically engineered to think,” said Peter Mortimer, a climber who has made numerous films with Honnold. “It’s the most unnatural place for a human to be.”
為生死攸關的路線而訓練 TRAINING FOR THE CLIMB OF HIS LIFE
Honnold 為了這項大膽的計畫，已經花了超過一年的時間在優勝美地山谷和世界各地訓練。 Honnold has been practicing for the daring climb for more than a year, training on routes throughout the Yosemite Valley and other locations around the globe. PHOTOGRAPH BY JIMMY CHIN
然而，那些創舉總是會被人們拿來與酋長岩比較。這座向上延伸約 900 公尺的岩壁 – 比世界最高建築物，杜拜的哈里發塔還要高 – 向來都被人們視為攀岩界的重要舞台，在這座岩壁上進行無繩獨攀，無論是生理或心理上的難度，任何路線都將難以超越。站在酋長岩底部的草原上，你幾乎無法以肉眼分辨出岩壁上半部的攀岩者。
「這根本是無繩獨攀領域裡的『登陸月球』」Tommy Caldwell 這麼說。2015 年，他和他的繩伴 Kevin Jorgeson，以自由攀登的方式 (使用繩索與其他安全裝備) 順利完攀酋長岩上最困難的路線 – 黎明之牆 (Dawn Wall)，成功寫下屬於他們的歷史。 (Caldwell 和 Jorgeson 所採用的形式稱為「自由攀登」，意指攀岩者不借助裝備，僅靠自己的力量與技巧往上攀升。繫在他們彼此間的繩索，只有在不慎墜落時才會被用來止住墜落。「無繩獨攀」，則是指攀岩者獨自攀登，過程中不使用繩索與任何裝備，因此也容不下絲毫差錯。)
But those pioneering climbs pale in comparison to El Capitan. It’s hard to overstate the physical and mental difficulties of a free solo ascent of the peak, which is considered by many to be the epicenter of the rock climbing world. It is a vertical expanse stretching more than a half mile up—higher than the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. From the meadow at the foot of El Capitan, climbers on the peak’s upper reaches are practically invisible to the naked eye.
“This is the ‘moon landing’ of free soloing,” said Tommy Caldwell, who made his own history in 2015 with his ascent of the Dawn Wall, El Capitan’s most difficult climb, on which he and his partner Kevin Jorgeson used ropes and other equipment only for safety, not to aid their progress. (What Caldwell and Jorgeson did is called free climbing, which means climbers use no gear to help them move up the mountain and are attached to ropes only to catch them if they fall. Free soloing is when a climber is alone and uses no ropes or any other equipment that aids or protects him as he climbs, leaving no margin of error.)
經過近四小時的獨攀後，Alex Honnold 站在酋長岩頂端，身上沒有繩索、裝備、或任何安全措施。 Rock climber Alex Honnold stands atop El Capitan after nearly four hours of climbing alone, without ropes or any other equipment or safety gear. PHOTOGRAPH BY JIMMY CHIN
攀岩者們對於無繩獨攀酋長岩的可能性早已思索多年，但過去只有兩個人公開表示他們曾慎重地仔細評估過。一位是無繩獨攀者 Michael Reardon，2007 年他在愛爾蘭一處濱海岩場的平台上被大浪捲入海中不幸溺斃；另一位是 Dean Potter，2015 年他在優勝美地的一場飛鼠裝跳傘意外中不幸身亡。
而 John Bachar，1970 年代最偉大的無繩獨攀者，也從未考慮過這件事，因為在他的巔峰時期，酋長岩甚至還沒有人能夠以自由攀登的方式完攀。2008 年，他在一場無繩獨攀的墜落意外中不幸身亡，年方 52 歲。而現年 58 歲，曾寫下 1980 年代無繩獨攀輝煌紀錄 – 優勝美地長達 300 公尺的 Astroman – 的 Peter Croft，則從未認真考慮過酋長岩，但他明白，遲早會有人嘗試。「它一直都很明顯，就是攀岩界的下一步」Croft 說道。「但我真的不知道再下一步會是什麼。它已經是那經典的一大步了」。
到 2014 年底為止，Honnold 的多項創舉已經讓他變得舉世聞名。他成了國家地理雜誌、紐約時代雜誌、戶外雜誌的封面話題人物，也曾受邀擔任知名電視節目「60 分鐘」的專訪對象。不僅如此，他也擁有了大量的企業贊助，並與出版商合作出版了暢銷回憶錄，同時還創辦了公益基金會，協助世界各地的貧民改善生活。然而，他仍覺得自己尚未寫下心目中期望的攀岩歷史。
2015 年 1 月，當 Caldwell 和 Jorgeson 順利完成他們投注多年心血的計畫，成功站上 Dawn Wall 的頂端時，Honnold 也到場致賀。Jorgeson 對著記者說「我想每個人心中都有一個秘密的 Dawn Wall，期待有一天能完成」。 我的 Dawn Wall 是什麼？Honnold 問自己，但他的心中早已有了答案。多年以來他一直都在想著，到底要花多少心力，才能以無繩獨攀的方式完攀酋長岩。
Climbers have been speculating for years about a possible free solo of El Capitan, but there have only been two other people who have publicly said they seriously considered it. One was Michael Reardon, a free soloist who drowned in 2007 after being swept from a ledge below a sea cliff in Ireland. The other was Dean Potter, who died in a base jumping accident in Yosemite in 2015.
John Bachar, the greatest free soloist of the 1970s, who died while climbing un-roped in 2009 at age 52, never considered it. When Bachar was in his prime, El Capitan had still never been free climbed. Peter Croft, 58, who completed the landmark free solo of the 1980s—Yosemite’s 1,000-foot Astroman—never seriously contemplated El Capitan, but he knew somebody would eventually do it. “It was always the obvious next step,” says Croft. “But after this, I really don’t see what’s next. This is the big classic jump.”
By the end of 2014, Honnold had achieved international fame for his exploits. He had been featured on the covers of National Geographic, New York Times Magazine, Outside, and 60 Minutes had profiled him. He had a slew of corporate sponsors, had co-written a best-selling memoir, and started a nonprofit foundation to improve the lives of needy communities around the world. But he felt like he had not yet made the mark he hoped to on climbing history.
In January 2015, when Caldwell and Jorgeson summited the Dawn Wall, a project they had spent years studying and training for, Honnold was there to meet them. Jorgeson told a reporter, “I think everyone has their own secret Dawn Wall to complete one day.” What’s my Dawn Wall? Honnold asked himself. But he already knew the answer. For years he’d been thinking about what it would take to free solo El Capitan.
控制恐懼的能力 AN ABILITY TO CONTROL FEAR
Honnold 在酋長岩上挑選的這條路線，名為 Freerider，是優勝美地最具挑戰性的大岩壁路線之一。這條路線一共有 30 個區段 – 或稱「繩距」– 由於難度極高，因此即便是在最近這幾年內，只要有攀岩者能夠以自由攀登的方式完攀此路線，都將吸引大量的關注。
這是一條曲折、艱辛、且漫長的路線，沿著由寬窄不一、錯綜複雜的裂隙系統交織而成的網路蜿蜒而上。一路上，Honnold 不時將他的身體擠入狹窄的煙囪地形裡；或用腳尖踩著火柴盒寬的小岩點；或僅靠著指尖讓自己的身體懸盪在半空之中。 Freerider 考驗攀岩者幾乎所有面向的能力 – 從手指、手臂、核心、到腳尖的力量，以及柔軟度和肌耐力。而環境因子如日照、強風、以及突如其來的暴風雨，也是 Honnold 必須審慎評估的條件。
但 Honnold 真正的考驗是，當他孤身一人在數百公尺高的岩壁上，是否還能泰然自若地執行極其複雜的攀登動作，畢竟在那裡，一個腳點踩得太高或太低，可能就是生與死的差別。許多攀岩界的菁英都指出，Honnold 有一種獨特的能力，讓他在這樣生死交關的危險時刻，還能冷靜地分析眼前的客觀條件。而這股能力，是他在過去 20 年的攀岩生涯裡慢慢發展而成的。
The route Honnold chose to reach the top of El Capitan, known as Freerider, is one of the most prized big wall climbs in Yosemite. The route has 30 sections—or pitches—and is so difficult that even in the last few years, it was newsworthy when a climber was able to summit using ropes for safety.
It is a zigzagging odyssey that traces several spidery networks of cracks and fissures, some gaping, others barely a knuckle wide. Along the way, Honnold squeezed his body into narrow chimneys, tiptoed across ledges the width of matchboxes, and in some places, dangled in the open air by his fingertips. Freerider tests nearly every aspect of a climber’s physical abilities—strength of fingers, forearms, toes, and abdomen, as well as flexibility and endurance. Environmental factors, like sun, wind, and the potential for sudden rainstorms, are also factors that Honnold had to carefully calculate.
But the true test for Honnold was whether he could maintain his composure alone on a cliff face hundreds or thousands of feet up while executing intricate climbing sequences where positioning a foot slightly too low or high could mean the difference between life and death. Elite climbers have pointed to Honnold’s unique ability to remain calm and analytical in such dangerous situations, a skill that Honnold has slowly developed over the 20 years he has been climbing.
然而他的冷靜，有一部分是來自他縝密的準備工作。對於訓練，他的執著幾乎已經到了強迫症的程度；當他不在岩壁上的那些日子裡，他每天會花一小時左右的時間，利用他鎖在車門門框上的指力板，將全身重量掛在手指上做雙手和單手的引體向上。另外，他也會花好幾個小時將路線上每段重要繩距的每個動作順序，乃至每個手腳點的確切用法，全都記在心裡，並在腦海中不斷反覆揣摩，甚至優化。同時，他還有嚴重的紀錄癖，他會記下他的體能訓練資訊，然後評估他在每一條路線上的表現，並仔細地記錄下來。
像 Honnold 這樣訓練的攀岩者有很多，但沒有一個能擁有像他那樣的心理強度，可以控制自己的恐懼。他對危險的寬容值是如此異乎尋常，就連神經學家都曾針對他的大腦對於恐懼的反應區的運作狀態仔細研究，希望能找出他的大腦和普通人之間的差異。 Honnold 自己則是從比較務實的角度來看待這件事。「在無繩獨攀的過程中，我很明白自己身處險境，但對於身在岩壁上的我，恐懼絲毫沒有任何幫助。」他這麼說道。「它只會妨礙我在岩壁上的表現，所以我只好把它擱在一旁不予理會。」
Some of his poise can be attributed to his detailed preparation. He is obsessive about his training, which includes hour-long sessions every other day hanging by his fingertips and doing one- and two-armed pullups on a specially-made apparatus that he bolted into the doorway of his van. He also spends hours perfecting, rehearsing, and memorizing exact sequences of hand and foot placements for every key pitch. He is an inveterate note-taker, logging his workouts and evaluating his performance on every climb in a detailed journal.
There are other climbers in Honnold’s league physically, but no one else has matched his mental ability to control fear. His tolerance for scary situations is so remarkable that neuroscientists have studied the parts of his brain related to fear to see how they might differ from the norm. Honnold sees it in more pragmatic terms. “With free-soloing, obviously I know that I’m in danger, but feeling fearful while I’m up there is not helping me in any way,” he said. “It’s only hindering my performance, so I just set it aside and leave it be.”
LAUREN C. TIERNEY, NG STAFF; CHARLES PREPPERNAU LOCATOR MAP ART: CLAY WADMAN SOURCES: MARK SYNNOTT; ANTOINE GUERIN, BATTISTA MATASCI, MICHEL JABOYEDOFF, AND MARC-HENRI DERRON, UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE.
Honnold 在 Freerider 面對的最大挑戰，是位於 180 公尺高的兩段近乎垂直、且呈現波浪起伏的繩距，這兩段繩距無論是在生理或心理上，都是一項極為艱鉅的挑戰。這裡的花崗岩，在經過數千年歲月的冰河洗禮後，早已沒有手腳點可供攀岩者使用，他們僅能靠雙腳的摩擦力一點一點地踩上去。在這裡，Honnold 運用一種精湛的攀岩技巧稱為「摩擦腳法 / smearing」，將全身重量集中在他的腳尖用力踩住岩面，讓鞋底的橡膠與岩壁之間產生足夠的摩擦力來支撐他的體重，同時，他也必須讓自己的身體保持完美的平衡，並且持續不斷地移動，以免從岩壁上滑落。「根本就跟在玻璃上走路沒兩樣」Honnold 說。
陣亡將士紀念日的那個週末，Honnold 和 Tommy Caldwell 一起在 Freerider 上訓練，他們只花了 5.5 小時就順利登頂，打破他們自己過去的紀錄。「Alex 正處於顛峰狀態，」Tommy 說道：「我從沒看過他爬得這麼好過。」 而在這個週末的前幾天，Honnold 曾徒步走上酋長岩的頂端，垂降到 Freerider 路線上，確認之前的暴風雨沒有將他用止滑粉在幾個關鍵手腳點上所做的記號給沖掉。當下他發現，路線上的岩壁相當乾燥，正處於絕佳狀態。現在萬事皆備，他剩下的工作，就是休息，並做好心理準備，努力去完成這條他生命中最重要的攀登路線。
On Freerider, one of the most daunting physical and mental challenges Honnold faced was two pitches of steep, undulating expanse of rock about 600 feet up. Polished smooth by glaciers over the millennia, the granite here offers no holds, forcing a climber to basically walk up it with his feet only. Honnold used a delicate technique called “smearing,” which involves pressing his rubber shoes against the rock to create just enough grip to support his weight on the incline. He had to keep his weight perfectly balanced and maintain enough forward momentum to avoid sliding off. “It’s like walking up glass,” Honnold said.
Over Memorial Day weekend, Honnold made a practice run up Freerider with Caldwell. The pair reached the top in a little over five and half hours, breaking their own speed record in the process. “Alex was on fire,” said Caldwell. “I’ve never seen him climbing so well.” A few days before this week’s climb, Honnold hiked to the top of El Capitan and rappelled Freerider to make sure that a recent rainstorm had not washed off the marks he had made with dabs of chalk to highlight the route’s key holds. He found it dry and in perfect condition. Now all that was left was to rest and prepare mentally for the climb of his life.
「幾年前，當我第一次在心裡揣摩以無繩獨攀的方式去爬 Freerider，會是怎樣的感受時，有好幾段繩距讓我想到：噢，那個動作太恐怖.... 那一連串動作也超恐怖.... 還有那個小斜板.... 還有那段橫渡....」Honnold 說道：「有一大堆小地方讓我覺得：呃.... 算了我還是龜著好了。這幾年裡，我一直很努力讓舒適圈不斷地向外擴展，直到這些看似瘋狂的小小目標全都變得有機會實現。」
星期六，夢想終於付諸行動。經過他在數百個手腳點上展現的完美技巧與超高耐力，以及他掌握內心恐懼的特殊能力，在短短不到四小時內，Honnold 終於翻上最後一段平台。攝影師 Jimmy Chin 和他的助手 Cheyne Lempe 帶著攝影機從頂部垂降下去，想跟著 Honnold 拍攝他爬最後一段繩距的身影，而他們即便是用上升器 / Jumar – 一種能夠咬住繩索的器械 – 沿著繩索上升，他們也必須費盡九牛二虎之力，才能勉強跟上他的速度。 Jimmy 汗流浹背，拼了老命想趕在 Alex Honnold 之前，為他拍下站在世界顛峰的身影。
“Years ago, when I first mentally mapped out what it would mean to free solo Freerider, there were half a dozen of pitches where I was like, ‘Oh that’s a scary move and that’s a really scary sequence, and that little slab, and that traverse,’” Honnold said. “There were so many little sections where I thought ‘Ughh—cringe.’ But in the years since, I’ve pushed my comfort zone and made it bigger and bigger until these objectives that seemed totally crazy eventually fell within the realm of the possible.”
On Saturday, the possible finally became reality. After trusting his skill and endurance over hundreds of handholds and footholds and controlling his fear for just under four hours, Honnold pulled his body over the last ledges. Chin and his assistant Cheyne Lempe had rappelled down with their cameras from the top to follow Honnold as he climbed the upper half of the wall, even using jumars—a type of mechanical winch—to hoist themselves up, the two had struggled to keep up with him. Chin, panting and covered in sweat, raced ahead to film Alex Honnold on top of the world.