`Alex was on vacation in Greece - but even on vacation, he still climbs. Fortunately, unlike in the film Free Solo, heīs on a rope hereīWhen youīre climbing, things can go from fun to serious pretty quick. The worst fall I ever had happened while I was in Aspen, Colorado, in 2002. I broke my neck, my pelvic bone and four ribs. I collapsed my right lung, too, and had kidney and liver damage. I didnīt think about anything as I fell. I was just waiting for my equipment to catch me, but it didnīt. It all came away from the wall and I hit the ground 11 metres below. I donīt remember the impact so there was no trauma associated with that. I just remember waking up pretty disorientated, with about eight heads looking down at me. `Oh my God, you just fell,` I thought.It shook me up and I swore I was finished with climbing. But I was 22 and my photography career was just starting to be a thing. So three months later, when a magazine asked me to go on a rock shoot, I agreed and Iīve been climbing ever since. Iīve had close friends who died base-jumping, ice-climber friends who died on big mountains, and one friend who died `free-soloing`. Thatīs climbing without a rope. Itīs one of the most dangerous things you can do because thereīs no room for any error at all. Continue reading...
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