Very few climbers free-solo and I would imagine that even fewer would ever actively encourage anyone else to do it. Compare that to the egging on that happens in skateparks or on bmx tracks or in ski resorts, etc. where loads of kids ‘inspired’ by extreme athletes are trying to copy what they saw that morning in a RedBull-sponsored video. The injury rates are orders of magnitude different. I’ve free-soloed a tiny bit in my time and the response from friends has never been “go brah!”. More like, “yer crazy!”
My main concern about climbers like Honnold being sponsored by corporations like The North Facade is not that they are getting a lot press through the sponsorship that might influence others to take risks they aren’t prepared to take, but that a whole lot of sweatshop mountain-chic is getting sold to making a bunch of white fatsos rich.
