I’m very far from doing something like this, but I do have quite a bit of experience hiking/climbing in exposed terrain, so I can do my best: People usually start off enjoying relatively light hikes in the mountains, because it feels good to be hiking in cool terrain with awesome views. As you get more experience, what seemed scary a couple years ago doesn’t look scary anymore. You like hiking, so you go for the hike, without thinking much about the fact that you thought it looked scary and dangerous a couple years ago.

Keep repeating this cycle, and you might suddenly find yourself tied into a rope, with crampons, an ice pick, and skis on your back, on the top of some frozen mountain that looked insurmountable some years ago. It doesn’t even feel scary, just really awesome.

Add some brain damage (slight joke, but Alex Honnold does have a smaller “fear center” than most people), and you end up in situations like the one in the photo.

My point is that it isn’t really about adrenaline seeing like a lot of people think. It’s about going for awesome hikes, and your limits for what you feel safe doing shifting over time as you gain experience.