We often talk about wearable technology in the context of the best running watches or the best sleep trackers, but what are the gadgets that are helping rock climbers around the world?
The popularity of rock climbing and its sister sport, bouldering, has skyrocketed in recent years thanks to the success of National Geo's Oscar-winning climbing documentary. free solo. At the center of this heart-wrenching film is 38-year-old mountaineer Alex Honnold. He was the first person to successfully climb California's legendary El Capitan rock face without a rope in 2017.
Now, Honnold is returning to our screens. Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold – a three-part Disney Plus series in which he and a group of scientists attempt to conquer the 4,000-foot-tall Ingmi-Kortilak Sea Cliffs in Greenland. TechRadar had the opportunity to interview Honnold ahead of the show's February 4th premiere and ask the show star about the wearable technology he uses when embarking on life-threatening climbs.
“Personally, I wear Whoop,” Honnold said. “Because I'm sponsored by Whoop and have used it a little bit. I also use Coros watches to track certain activities and use GPS to navigate things. there is.
“I'm also currently using the Levels app, which is a continuous blood sugar monitor. I've been using it for about a month to try it out and see what it's all about. And actually… I also learned a little bit about diet. [from using Levels]. I've obviously tried to track my food in different ways and learn different things throughout my life, and using a blood sugar monitor is definitely another useful tool. It has been proven that there is.
“But now I feel like a weirdo,” Honnold laughs. The app will automatically import your activities. It's just a little too much and I'm sure I'll be going back in a different direction and dropping it all in a month or two. Use a timer to keep track of roughly how much activity you're doing each day. Do you mean the whole self quantified? I'm obsessed with this, I think it's a useful tool, and it's fun. But at some point you think, “Do I really care?” But it's definitely all helpful and has its place. ”
I hear you, Alex. It can be difficult to know where to start and where to stop when it comes to health monitoring apps and wearable technology in general, but Honnold's recommendations make up a powerful quartet of climbing gadgets.
In our Whoop 4 review, we described Whoop's latest fitness tracker as an “excellent tool” for anyone interested in seriously optimizing their training and sleep routines. The display-less device shows all sorts of health-related data, and the Whoop algorithm takes into account a variety of factors, including where you are in your menstrual cycle, how well you slept last night, and your heart rate. – Rate fluctuations, body temperature, etc.
However, as Honnold points out, tracking all of these metrics can feel like overkill, so we only recommend Whoop to serious fitness enthusiasts looking for peak performance.
With Coros watches, the story is a little different. The Coros watch can be considered a streamlined alternative to his more expensive Garmin and Apple Watch models. Honnold doesn't say specifically which Coros watch he's using, but his Coros Apex 2 review, Coros Apex 2 Pro review, and Coros Pace 3 review all three of Coros' latest models. We found it to have strong GPS accuracy and plenty of usable features. Great battery life and surprisingly lightweight design.
@techradar ♬Original song – TechRadar
When it comes to the Apple Health app, this often overlooked personal data library pulls useful information from almost everything you do on your iPhone. This includes screen time, activity, sleep data, and even heart rate data if your Apple Watch is connected. We've detailed why iOS Health apps are more important than you think elsewhere on TechRadar, but if they're good enough for record-breaking mountaineer Alex Honnold, we've got you covered. We'd like to bet that it's a very good app.
Arctic Ascent, starring Alex Honnold, will premiere on National Geographic on February 4th. All episodes will be available to stream on Hulu and Disney Plus starting February 5th.
