Alex Honnold
Alex Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber renowned for his free solo ascents—climbing without ropes—of some of the world’s most challenging walls. His 2017 ropeless ascent of El Capitan’s 900-meter Freerider route in Yosemite made history and became the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo.
- Early Life – Born in Sacramento, California; started climbing at age 5.
- Notable Free Solos – El Capitan Freerider (2017), Half Dome’s Regular Northwest Face.
- Awards – National Geographic Adventurer of the Year (2015), Oscar for Free Solo (2019).
- Philanthropy – Co-founded the Honnold Foundation to promote solar energy access.
- Publications – Memoir Alone on the Wall (2016).
Learn More
• Documentary: Free Solo
• Foundation: Honnold Foundation
• Glossary: /glossary/alex-honnold/
Alex Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his free solo ascents of big walls. Honnold rose to worldwide fame in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo a full route on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park (via the 2,900-foot route Freerider at 5.13a, the first-ever big wall free solo ascent at that grade), a climb described in The New York Times 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 in alpine climbing with Tommy Caldwell for their completion of the enchainment (known as the Fitz Traverse) of the Cerro Chaltén Group (or Fitzroy Group) in Patagonia over 5 days.
.jpg) Honnold in 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 17, 1985 Sacramento, California, U.S. |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupation | Rock climber |
| Spouse |
Sanni McCandless (m. 2020) |
| Children | 2 |
| Climbing career | |
| Type of climber | |
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Honnold is the author (with David Roberts) of the memoir Alone on the Wall (2015) and the subject of the 2018 biographical documentary Free Solo, which won a BAFTA and an Academy Award.