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Alex Honnold response to Clif Bar & Co

EricF · · San Francisco · Joined May 2012 · Points: 120

Also, still two ways climbers die; 1) Something (Rock, Ice, Avalanche) falls from above and hits them or 2) Climber falls from above while descending. Those are the statistics, or "Exceeding Abilities" i.e doing something stupid. Soloists bat 1.000 until they don't.

What's Clif Bar?

My stomach hurts.

Dude, whats wrong with your poop??

Ha!
He called the shit poop!

Anonymous · · Unknown Hometown · Joined unknown · Points: 0
v.nova wrote: I don't particularly dislike Alex. I think he is arrogant and self centered like a lot of climbers. He is a kid with a sudden popularity. Of course he will not be able to interview intelligently. Alex is not very considerate of pretty much anybody. But really, who cares? It's cool to see him rolling around in his van. Why hating on the kid? I kinda think he just rolls with whatever life throws in front of him. By all means he is not your typical role model for school age children, all bumming around instead of going to college. But I would rather see him embarrass himself again interviewing with a french groupie of his then hear hear another story about a model who happens to be a climber or visa versa. Boring.... Alex needs a radio talk show. Now THAT would be entertainment! Cheers!
Where do you get arrogant from him? Dean Potter? Yes arrogant, compared to him Alex doesn't have an arrogant bone in his body.

College isn't for everyone. There is this strange misconception that if you try hard enough anyone can do anything. This is the big myth that is being taught in school and it just isn't true. Not everyone needs to go to college, life isn't about getting a job and making a ton of money, it is about living your life. Stop looking at that person who is making more money than you, find what you love to do, and go live your life please.

I personally went to college i make good money / manage my money well. I am a diabetic and that limits what i can do. I am in my 20s and would quit my job in a heartbeat tomorrow and go live in a tent the rest of my life... but i have the small problem of paying for medical expenses related to being a diabetic.
v.nova · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2015 · Points: 0

Dean Potter is a freaking god! Alex is a self proclaimed "militant atheist" . Haha what kind of a term is that anyway?! Dropping on Dean by saying "oh, he just has this vision and he follow his vision" ...c'mmon now! Alex is still a little boy wearing a grown man's pants compared to Dean. Simply, there is no comparison.

On a personal note, not that it's even mine or anybody else's business about your diabetes. Yes you can just quit your job and live a climbing bum life. First, quit your job, apply for SSI benefits and collect unemployment for as long as you can. Milking family members always works in a pinch and for a pity cry. Don't be so uptight. There are many diabetics who are homeless. If that is what really makes you happy, go freaking do it. Don't care what people think. You have one life to live!

Jack Hereford · · Tucson, AZ · Joined Nov 2012 · Points: 125

Did anyone else think that Clif Bar dropped Alex (and 4 other athletes) more because they wanted to distance the company from the illegality of base jumping in national parks which Valley Uprising showed a couple of Clif's sponsored atheletes doing? Clif Bar might of just had to use the danger factor as the excuse for dropping Potter, Davis and others and by their own reasons had to drop Alex as well?

Anonymous · · Unknown Hometown · Joined unknown · Points: 0

Has anyone considered the fact that they dropped them because they think they can make more money without them?

Patrick McCarthy · · Asheville, NC · Joined Dec 2006 · Points: 0

A recent study shows that NFL players life expectancy is mid to late 50s. That arguably means playing football is more dangerous than climbing. Does anybody think Nike will stop sponsoring football?

Also it wouldn't bother me a bit if all sponsorship of climbers ended. Have you ever been to the RRG on a nice fall weekend? Or Frankenstein cliff when the ice is fat? Its turned into a zoo out there and it more crowded every day!

Dylan Colon · · Eugene, OR · Joined Jun 2009 · Points: 491

I kind of think it is fair, just different. Early death because of what you do is early death no matter how you slice it. The fact that the deaths that occur as a result of professional football occur many years after the players have retired means it is easier for people to look away and pretend it doesn't happen. Free soloing, extreme skiing, surfing, etc. are just way more in your face about the death thing because as the above poster noted, the consequences are public and immediate, and no lawyer can argue that anything else contributed.

Christian RodaoBack · · Tucson, AZ · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 1,486
Greg E wrote:The other thing to consider with Nike's sponsorship of the NFL and Clif Bar's sponsorship of Alex Honnold is the audience. Right or wrong, Nike, which is a $27 billion company, stands to lose a lot by pulling out of the NFL. On the other hand, Clif Bar, which is a $31 million company, stands to lose very little by pulling its sponsorship of Alex Honnold. My guess is the number of Alex Honnold fans out there would not even add up to the combined capacity of all the NFL stadiums. My point is the climbing community is very small and Alex Honnold is pretty much irrelevant when it comes to public awareness. This statement was confirmed by the reporting done by a California news station when they repeatedly referred to him as Alex Honnlove.
Nike has an $80B market cap.

Apparently, Clif already had (estimated) sales of $500 million in 2012.

Market cap is hard to estimate without a public market, but using roughly the same 2.8x price to sales ratio of Nike, that would give it a market cap of 1.4 billion. Realistically, they're probably growing faster than Nike, so FS ratio would probably be higher. You'd have to know the earnings structure, terminal growth rate estimates, etc to estimate what they might be bought for, but I wouldn't be surprised if they fetched $3 billion. $31 million isn't even in the ballpark (of sales or market cap).
Christian RodaoBack · · Tucson, AZ · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 1,486

If they had $500 million in sales in 2012 and a 13% growth rate, they could be in the 650-700 million range by now.

They can no longer behave like a small company because they aren't. They're a more attractive target for lawsuits, the owners and officers have more to lose, they have enough reach of distribution that the soccer mom market has probably become way more important than the climber market,etc, etc..

Christian RodaoBack · · Tucson, AZ · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 1,486

They'll do fine, and I could care less whether they sponsor Honnold or not, I have a sweet tooth and still eat them because they are packed with sugars lol

What changed in the past few years was probably the composition of their customer base and the amount of media exposure Honnold's soloing started getting; before that they couldn't give a damn about his soloing or soloing in general.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
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