Alex Honnold

And now as a recent 40-year-old climber,

you know like that happens from time to time for sure but not all the time you know it's like and and now occasionally i have things where i was like oh i was sure i could do that and and then i failed you know and you're kind of like oh you can blame conditions you can blame whatever but you're kind of like oh i really thought i would do that and i fell off anyway and you're like damn it what is the role of aging and climbing uh traditionally and how you're experiencing it like there are fields of science like mathematics where that the stereotype is uh

I don't think anybody calls free soloing an old man's game.

But no, but it could be.

But no, I think in general, climbing has more longevity than most sports just because it's relatively low impact on your body.

It's very technique and like movement focused.

And so it's not just pure physical strength.

That said, I mean, climbing is in the Olympics now, and the people winning the Olympics are all sort of 18 to 23-ish, you know, sort of same as gymnastics type of range.

So I think at the most elite levels of climbing performance, it's kind of similar to gymnastics probably.

But then to do interesting new things on real rock outdoors, I think there's a much wider latitude.

You know, it's like...

And then even into your 50s and 60s, there are plenty of climbers who are leading expeditions to new places, developing new climbs, doing things that are noteworthy and sort of meaningful for the climbing community, even though they're not necessarily cutting edge physically.

So I think there's a lot of...

A lot of opportunity for climbing, more than most sports.

And I think actually the other big thing with climbing is that in so many other sports, like I think ball sports, NBA, NFL, baseball, whatever, it's kind of like if you don't make the team, then you're done playing forever.

Like you'll literally never play football again if you're not a professional football player.

Whereas with climbing, even if you're not playing at the highest level, you can still go climb all the time and you can still do cool climbs.

You can still do things that matter.

You can help teach, you can do whatever.

And so you can kind of like stay in the game much, much longer.