Alexander Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

best known for his

free solo Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual ...

ascents of big walls. Honnold rose to prominence in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo

El Capitan El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is about from base to summit along its tal ...

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ...

, a feat that one commentator described as "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever." Honnold also holds the record for the fastest ascent of the Yosemite triple crown, an 18-hour, 50-minute link-up of Mount Watkins, '' The Nose'', and the '' Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome''. In 2015, he won a

Piolet d'Or An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow, ice, or frozen conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its simplest role it is used like a walking ...

for the ''Moonwalk Traverse'' in

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

with

Tommy Caldwell Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978) is an American rock climber who has set records in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and in big-wall climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several major routes on El Capitan in Yosemite Natio ...

. Honnold is the author (with David Roberts) of the memoir ''Alone on the Wall'' (2017) and the subject of the 2018 biographical documentary ''

Free Solo Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual ...

'', which won a BAFTA and an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Life and work

Honnold was born in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, the son of community college professors Dierdre Wolownick (b. 1953) and Charles Honnold (1949–2004). His paternal roots are German and his maternal roots are Polish. He started climbing in a climbing gym at the age of 5 and was climbing "many times a week" by age 10. He participated in many national and international youth climbing championships as a teenager. "I was never, like, a bad climber

s a kid S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''. History ...

but I had never been a great climber, either," he says. "There were a lot of other climbers who were much, much stronger than me, who started as kids and were, like, instantly freakishly strong like they just have a natural gift. And that was never me. I just loved climbing, and I've been climbing all the time ever since, so I've naturally gotten better at it, but I've never been gifted." After graduating from

Mira Loma High School Mira Loma High School is a public high school located in Arden-Arcade, California, United States. It is located south of Interstate 80, and east of Watt Avenue. It is a part of the San Juan Unified School District with a student body of approxi ...

as part of the

International Baccalaureate Programme The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry int ...

in 2003, he enrolled at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

, to study civil engineering. His maternal grandfather died and his parents got divorced during his first year of college, and Honnold skipped many of his classes to boulder by himself at

Indian Rock Indian rock is a music genre in India that may incorporate elements of Indian music with rock music, and is often topically India-centric. While India is more often known for its (northern and southern) classical music, filmi, Bollywood ...

. He dropped out of Berkeley and spent time living at home and driving around California to go climbing. "I'd wound up with my mom's old minivan, and that was my base," he said. "I'd use it to drive to Joshua Tree to climb or I'd drive to LA to see my girlfriend. I destroyed that van fairly quickly; it died on me one day, and for the next year I lived just on my bicycle and in a tent." In 2007, he bought a 2002 Ford Econoline E150

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

, which allowed him to focus on climbing and follow the weather. According to a 2011 '' Alpinist'' profile: He gained mainstream recognition after his 2008 solo of the '' Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome'' was featured in the film ''

Alone on the Wall Alexander Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his free solo ascents of big walls. Honnold rose to prominence in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, ...

'' and a subsequent ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique st ...

'' interview. In November 2011, Honnold and Hans Florine missed setting the record time on the Nose route on Yosemite's

by 45 seconds. At the time the record stood at 2:36:45, as set by Dean Potter & Sean Leary in November 2010. On June 17, 2012, Honnold and Florine set a new record of 2:23:46 (or 2:23:51) on that same route. In November 2014,

Clif Bar Clif Bar & Company is an American company that produces energy foods and drinks. The company's flagship product, CLIF Bar, was created by Gary Erickson and Lisa Thomas. The company is based in Emeryville, California and was privately held unti ...

announced that they would no longer sponsor Honnold, along with Dean Potter,

Steph Davis Stephanie "Steph" Davis (born November 4, 1973) is an American rock climber, BASE jumper, and wingsuit flyer. She is one of the world's leading climbers, having completed some of the hardest routes in the world. She has free soloed up to , a ...

Timmy O'Neill Timmy O'Neill (born 1969) is an American professional rock climber, guide, and comedian.Abbey SmithTimmy O'Neill. Climbing Magazine. He is nicknamed the "Urban Ape". O'Neill is originally from East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, one of seven children. A ...

and Cedar Wright. "We concluded that these forms of the sport are pushing boundaries and taking the element of risk to a place where we as a company are no longer willing to go," the company wrote in an open letter. In 2016, he was subjected to

functional magnetic resonance imaging Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled. When an area o ...

scans that revealed that, unlike other high sensation seekers, his

amygdala The amygdala (; plural: amygdalae or amygdalas; also '; Latin from Greek, , ', 'almond', 'tonsil') is one of two almond-shaped clusters of nuclei located deep and medially within the temporal lobes of the brain's cerebrum in complex ver ...

barely activates when watching disturbing images. He however confesses feeling fear occasionally. Through imagination and practice, he has desensitized himself to most fearful situations. On June 3, 2017, he made the first free solo ascent of

, completing the 2,900-foot (884m) Freerider route (5.12d VI) in 3 hours and 56 minutes. The feat, described as "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever", was documented by climber and photographer

Jimmy Chin Jimmy Chin (born ) is an American professional mountain athlete, photographer, film director, and author. Chin has been a professional climber and skier on The North Face Athlete team for over 20 years. In 2006, Chin achieved the first succes ...

and documentary filmmaker E. Chai Vasarhelyi, as the subject of the documentary ''

''. Among other awards, the film won the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosoph ...

(2018). On June 6, 2018, Honnold teamed up with

to break the speed record for the Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite. They completed the approximately 3,000-foot (914m) route in 1:58:07, becoming the first climbers to complete the route in under two hours. In 2021,

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

signed Honnold for an original docuseries about his quest to climb across the peaks of Greenland. Also in 2021, Honnold started a podcast about climbing.

Personal life

Honnold lived in a van for over a decade. "I don't think ' van life' is particularly appealing," he says. "It's not like I love living in a car, but I love living in all these places. I love being in Yosemite; I love being basically wherever the weather is good; I love being able to follow good conditions all over. And be relatively comfortable as I do it. And so that pretty much necessitates living in a car ... If I could, like, miraculously teleport a house from place to place, I'd prefer to live in a nice comfortable house. Though, honestly, the van is kind of nice. I like having everything within arm's reach. When I stay in a hotel room – like, sometimes you get put up in a really classy hotel room, and it's really big, and you have to walk quite a ways to the bathroom, and you're like, 'Man, I wish I had my eebottle.' Who wants to walk all the ways to the bathroom in the middle of the night when you could just lean over and grab your bottle and go?" The van he lived in was custom-outfitted with a kitchenette and cabinets. In 2017, Honnold bought a home in the Las Vegas area. "I didn't have any furniture at first, so I lived in the van in the driveway for the first couple weeks. It felt more like home than an empty house did." Around the same time, he replaced the

Ford Econoline The Ford E-Series (also known as the Ford Econoline or Ford Club Wagon) is a range of full-size vans manufactured and marketed by the Ford Motor Company. Introduced for model year 1961 as the replacement for the Ford F-Series panel van, the E-S ...

van he had lived in since 2007 and put 200,000 miles on with a new 2016 Ram ProMaster, which he still lives and travels in for most of the year. Honnold is a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

, and he does not drink

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

or use drugs. Between climbs, he runs or hikes to maintain fitness. He is an avid reader with interests in classic literature, environmentalism, and economics, and he describes himself as an anti-religion

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and a feminist. Honnold met Sanni McCandless at a book signing in 2015; they became a couple soon after. Sanni and her relationship with Honnold feature prominently in ''

''. On December 25, 2019, Honnold announced, via social media, that he and McCandless were engaged. On September 13, 2020, Honnold announced via Instagram that he and McCandless had married. Honnold's and McCandless daughter was born on February 17, 2022. Dierdre Wolownick, Alex Honnold's mother, started climbing at age 60 and is the oldest woman to climb

(first at the age of 66 and then, breaking her own record, again at age 70).

Philanthropy

In 2012, Honnold began giving away one-third of his income to solar projects that increased energy access world-wide. Soon, this idea expanded to form the Honnold Foundation. The Honnold Foundation's mission is "promoting solar energy for a more equitable world".

Books

* ''Alone on the Wall: Alex Honnold and the Ultimate Limits of Adventure.'' London: Pan, 2017. Co-authored with David Roberts. .

Filmography

While Honnold is best known for his starring role in the Oscar-winning documentary ''

'', he has also appeared in a number of other films. *''The Sharp End'' (2007) *''Alone on the Wall'' (2008) *''Progression'' (2009) *''Honnold 3.0'' (2012) *''Valley Uprising'' (2014) *''A Line Across the Sky'' (2015) *''Showdown at Horseshoe Hell'' (2015) *''Africa Fusion'' (2016) *''Queen Maud Land'' (2018) *''

'' (2018) *''The Nose Speed Record (reel rock 14)'' (2019) *''Fine Lines'' (2019) *'' Duncanville'' (2020) (TV) * ''The Alpinist'' (2021) * ''Explorer: The Last Tepui'' (2022) * ''Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin'' (2022)

Awards

* 2010: Golden Piton award from ''

Climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done ...

'' magazine, for endurance climbing * 2015: Honnold together with Tommy Caldwell was awarded the Piolets d'Or, for the first full traverse of the Fitz Roy Range in Patagonia, Argentina. * 2018: Robert and Miriam Underhill Award from

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 24,000 members. Its vision is to create "a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes." The Club is housed in the American Mountaineerin ...

, for excellence in various fields of climbing * 2018: Special mention of Piolets d'Or for his outstanding contribution to climbing during 2017

Selected climbs

Big walls

*2007, ''Freerider'' (VI 5.13a, 37 pitches),

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

– One day free ascent with Brian Kimball *2007, ''Astroman'' (5.11c, 10 pitches) and ''The Rostrum'' (5.11c, 8 pitches), Yosemite, California – Second person after Peter Croft (1987) to free solo both in a day *2007, ''Salathe Wall'' (VI 5.13b/c), Yosemite, California – Eleventh free ascent *2008, ''Bushido'' (5.13+) and ''Hong Kong Phooey'' (5.13b–5.14),

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

*2008, ''Moonlight Buttress'' (V 5.12d, 1200 ft),

Zion Zion ( he, צִיּוֹן ''Ṣīyyōn'', LXX , also variously Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated ''Sion'', ''Tzion'', ''Tsion'', ''Tsiyyon'') is a placename in the Hebrew Bible used as a synonym for Jerusalem as well as for the Land of Isra ...

, Utah – First Free solo *2008, ''The Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome'', Yosemite, California – First free solo *2012, ''The Nose'' (VI 5.8 A2), Yosemite, California,

, – Former speed record of 2:23:46 with Hans Florine *2012, ''The Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome'', Yosemite, California – Speed solo in 1:22 *2012, Yosemite Triple Crown – Mt. Watkins, El Capitan, and Half Dome, Yosemite, California – Solo in 18:50 *2014, ''Muir Wall – Shaft Variation'' (V 5.13b/c) – Speed record of 12 hours *2014, ''El Corazon'' (V 5.13b) – Speed record of 15:30 *2014, ''

El Sendero Luminoso El Sendero Luminoso is the name of a rock climb at El Potrero Chico, Nuevo León, Mexico. A big wall sport-route, El Sendero Luminoso rises over 1500 ft (~450 m) up the front side of El Toro. It is one of the harder long routes in ...

'' (V 5.12d, 1,750 ft, 15 pitch),

El Potrero Chico El Potrero Chico is an internationally renowned rock climbing area in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, outside the town of Hidalgo, within Sierra del Fraile protected area. El Potrero Chico is a unique geological formation of limestone cli ...

, Mexico – First free solo ascent, ~ 3 hours *2014, ''University Wall'' (5.12a C2, 8 pitch),

Squamish, British Columbia Squamish (; Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, ; 2016 census population 19,512) is a community and a district municipality in the Canadian province of British Columbia, located at the north end of Howe Sound on the Sea to Sky Highway. ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

– First free solo *2016, '' Complete Scream'' (E8 6b),

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

, United Kingdom – Free solo *2017, ''Freerider'' (5.13a VI), Yosemite, California,

, – First Free solo *2018, ''The Nose'' (VI 5.8 A2), Yosemite, California,

, – Speed record of 1:58:07 with

*2019, ''El Niño '' (VI 5.13c), Yosemite, California,

, – Second entirely free ascent via Pineapple Express variation with

Brad Gobright Brad Gobright (June 16, 1988 November 27, 2019) was an American rock climber known for free solo climbing. Early life Gobright was born in Orange County, California, and began climbing when he was six. (This article was published in ''Rock and ...

*2019, ''Passage to Freedom'' (VI 5.13d), Yosemite, California,

, – First free ascent with

Bouldering

*2011, '' The Mandala'' ,

Bishop, California Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is a city in California, United States. It is the largest populated place and only incorporated city in Inyo County. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of . The city was ...

*2010, ''Ambrosia'' ,

– second ascent *2012, ''Too Big to Flail'' or 8b (5.13d),

– first ascent

Single pitch

*2008, ''Parthian Shot'', ''New Statesman'', '' Meshuga'' (solo), flash of ''

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthen ...

'' (subsequently repeated it solo), ''London Wall'', on-sight solo *2010, ''The Green Mile'' 8c+(5.14c), Jailhouse crag, San Francisco *2010, ''Rainbow Arch'' (5.12+, top-roped), Ennedi Desert, Chad – First ascent *2011, ''Heaven'' (5.12d) and ''Cosmic Debris'' (5.13b),

– Free solo *2011, ''The Phoenix'' (5.13a),

– Free solo. ''The Phoenix'' was the first 5.13a of the United States. *2011, ''Cobra Crack'' (5.14b), Squamish, British Columbia ascent is etched in a board between that of Will Stanhope and Pete Whittaker *2019, ''Arrested Development'' 9a (5.14d) Mount Charleston, Nevada, second ascent after Jonathan Siegrist.

Mountain

*2009, Unnamed (VI 5.12 A2) Low's Gully,

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

– Attempted first free ascent *2014, ''The Fitz Roy Traverse'' (5.11d C1 65 degrees, 5000m), Fitz Roy massif,

– Completed over five days with

*2016, ''Torre Traverse'', Patagonia – Second ascent. A north-to-south traverse of Cerro Standhardt, Punta Herron, Torre Egger, and Cerro Torre. Completed in under 21 hours with

Colin Haley Colin Haley (born 2 September 1984) is an American alpinist known for fast ascents of technical routes on mountains around the world. Haley is perhaps best known for his traverse of The Torres (Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, Punta Herron, and Aguja ...

References

External links

* * * (video) {{DEFAULTSORT:Honnold, Alex 1985 births American atheists American feminists American people of Polish descent American rock climbers Atheist feminists Free soloists Living people Male feminists Sportspeople from Sacramento, California University of California, Berkeley alumni