Cirrus@Austlit

'Early in the writing of this book I went to see a film called Free Solo. It is about a remarkable feat of human courage and strength: a man climbing the goo-metre high rock face, El Capitan, without ropes or harness. The film looks at the psychology of Alex Honnold, the man who could do some-thing that would seem, to most people, utterly terrifying. He is single minded to such an extent that he comes across as comic. He starts a relationship with a woman while they are filming: 'I don't mind having her in the van, he says of his new girlfriend. 'She's pretty; she doesn't take up too much space.' His climbing  friends discuss the risks of entering into a relationship when attempting such a difficult goal.  Would his concern for her impact his capacity to carry it out? I tried not to guffaw when he referred to himself as a warrior.  Facing down and ignoring danger. Here I thought is a kind of masculinity that 'gets the job done.' It prides itself on its lack of encumbrance. Solitude. There is no concern for the minutiae of life: he eats his dinner with the spatula he used to cook it. Such embodiment of masculinity enables a focus so intense that a man can balance his body on a tiny foothold  800 metres in the air while he switches his grip between one thumb and the other. And in doing so, he achieves an act of the the most extreme self-reliance and, arguably, pride: doing the most dangerous thing without dying.' 

 (Introduction)