CRAZY. BADASS. BEAUTIFUL CLIMBS: ALEX HONNOLD

ALEX HONNOLD

Avid climbers tend to get obsessed with climbing ever higher, ever more challenging mountains. But Alex Honnold might just be the most obsessed of them all. He is the subject of Free Solo, the 2019 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary.

Honnold is obsessed with cheating death by free-soloing the most dangerous climbs in the world. He climbs the most treacherous mountains without any ropes or gear and without a partner. If he slips or falters in any way, he is quite simply, without a doubt, dead on impact.

Honnold climbs 1000’s of feet in the air, alone, with no harness, rope, or other safety equipment. Few professional climbers ever attempt free-soloing and many who have dared have died trying.

Honnold is suspended in air, at times hanging by the tip of a single finger, yet he experiences no fear, despite the fact that if he were to fall, he would last only 14 seconds before death on impact.

As if this weren’t impressive enough, Honnold climbs longer and more difficult routes than anyone else and climbs them in record time.

Crazy or badass? Or both? He generally doesn’t climb something if he is afraid of it. He likes to feel “no pressure” when he is free-soloing, which makes up only a small  % of Honnold’s total climbing. 

Honnold considers Yosemite to be the ultimate place to test a serious climber’s mettle. It has the most impressive and accessible granite big walls in the world. 

Honnold’s obsession has led him to achieve astonishing record breaking feats. He climbed the Nose on El Capitan in just 2 hrs. & 24 mins. He climbed the Yosemite Triple, 3 steep routes, in less than a day.

During another climb in Patagonia, Honnold and his climbing partner Colin Haley were forced by bad weather to descend, unexpectedly, onto the opposite side of the mountain in a 44-hour marathon push, without food.

In his new memoir, Alone on the Wall, Honnold shares his memories of 7 epic climbs, including  free-soloing Sendero Luminoso in Mexico and climbing the Fitz Traverse in Patagonia, with a full chapter devoted to each.

Co-written with veteran climber and award-winning author David Roberts, this book offers us lessons about risk, reward, and the ability to maintain focus even in the face of extreme danger.

Nicknamed Alex “No Big Deal” Honnold, by his friends and fans, his obsessions run deep. Despite his fame and related fortune, he still maintains a simple “dirt-bag climber” existence, living out of his van and traveling the world.

Honnold is supported by sponsorships—The North Face, La Sportiva, and Goal Zero.

While he obsessed with his sport, Honnold doesn’t obsess over the pressures and the fears most people associate with it. And that’s a good thing -- a climber who thinks too much may plunge to his death.

His ability to “non-think” and stay fearless is unparalleled. It is even more incredible considering that his free-solo hero, Dean Potter, recently fell to his death while jumping off a cliff in a wingsuit in Yosemite.

Honnold’s obsession has pushed him to take on unbelievable challenges, breaking numerous speed records, pioneering new routes and to manage astonishing feats of physical endurance.