Alex Honnold

A free soloist defying all odds.

BY MOLLY WILSON PHOTOS BY PROVIDED

Where many rock climbers enjoy a harness, rope, and protective equipment while scaling some of the most dangerous and challenging rock formations, Alex Honnold does not. The 37-year-old rock climber attempts climbs that many in the sport consider being reserved for the elite, climbing formations past safe heights without life-saving equipment. Honnold is a free soloist and widely considered one of the best. Free soloing is a form of rock climbing in which climbers forgo the equipment that many use when climbing: harnesses, ropes, belays, protective equipment, and, in many cases, company.

seams “I feel like anyone could conceivably die on any given day – [free] soloing makes it feel far more immediate and much more present,” said Honnold in a National Geographic film titled “Free Solo.” Free soloing requires a high level of focus, training, and skill, and if Honnold makes one mistake, he risks his life. In 2008, Honnold completed a ground-breaking 950-foot free solo of Moonlight Buttress in Zion, Utah. Following that climb, he free soloed Half Dome in Yosemite, California, which is a 2,000-foot climb, and the feat earned him a feature story on “60 Minutes” as he began to gain national attention. In 2017, not without fear and with years of training, Honnold attempted and “None of the previous climbs he had completed compared to that of El Cap.”

completed what nobody in the sport had previously done. He free soloed El Captian, or “El Cap,” a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park. None of the previous climbs he had completed compared to that of El Cap. The 3,200-foot climb was the focus of National Geographic’s film “Free Solo,” which documented Honnold’s process of free soloing El Cap. He completed the climb in three hours and 56 minutes. By free soloing El Cap, Honnold put the finishing touches on an 8-year dream and his greatest life goal. By the time he did so, Honnold had been living in his van for nearly a decade. The rock climber called a 2002 Ford

Econoline home for nine years, collecting around 200,000 miles on the vehicle by the time he moved into a Nevada home with his then long-term girlfriend and now wife, Sanni McCandless. The van, which served as his bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and gym, enabled him to travel frequently for different rock-climbing adventures. Climbing El Cap required Honnold to step outside his fear. Rather than working through the fear, he said in the National Geographic film, Honnold prefers to expand his comfort zone. Honnold remains humble in his endeavors, only letting a small smile form at the corners of his mouth after reaching the top of El Cap’s wall. That smile, which eventually radiated pure happiness and relief, is one Honnold let slip a few times during the climb only after making his way through some of the most difficult aspects of the route. In February, Honnold and McCandless welcomed their first child, June. Honnold continues to climb though only a few of his climbs are free solos.

PHOTO CREDIT: WADE VANDERVORT