What it took to free solo El Capitan
“SO STOKED. I just sent the proj!” Alex Honnold said in a voicemail from El Capitan on June 3. “Hiking down the East Ledges. Thanks for the support up here this season and, you know, just in general. I’m feeling pretty stoked out of my gourd.”
That day, Honnold, 31, made the first free solo of a VI on El Capitan. At 5:32 a.m., Honnold pulled on a pair of TC Pros and began up Free rider, a 2,900-foot 5.13a on the southwest face. Honnold navigated 10 pitches of slab on Free blast to Mammoth Terraces, where he down climbed 190 feet to Heart Ledges. From Heart, he deviated onto an unbolted 5.10 face to avoid a 5.11c slab move. Higher, he stepped away from the standard line and entered the 200-foot 5.10d Monster Off width lower than normal to avoid an exposed 5.11d down climb traverse. Honnold continued on Free rider, climbing the Huber Boulder Problem pitch, a delicate V7 slab at 1,700 feet. With nowhere to stop, Honnold linked the two 5.12b Enduro Corner pitches into the Free rider Traverse (5.12b), a 150-foot section usually broken up into three pitches with hanging belays. From Roundtable Ledge, at the end of the Free rider Traverse, Honnold climbed the last 600 feet of 5.11+ crack and off width in 20 minutes, topping out at 9:28 a.m. He’d been on the wall for 3:56.
Denne historien er fra Issue 155-utgaven av Climbing.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra Issue 155-utgaven av Climbing.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
"Cliff Camping": The Latest Bucket-List Tick
WHILE WE CLIMBERS only camp hanging on a wall when we have to, for many in the non-climbing public, portaledge camping ticks a box on their bucket list.
The Freerider
What it took to free solo El Capitan
Welcome To Sendhaus TM: America's Hippest New Climbing Gym
HELLO AND THANK YOU SO MUCH for visiting our newest Sendhaus™ Fitness, Lifestyle, and Climbing Center.
Climbing For Mental Health
WE OFTEN TALK ABOUT the mental side of climbing, like how to overcome fear, visualize success, and be a better overall climber.
Kodak Courage
Are climbers taking more chances for the camera?
It's Not A Free Solo, It's A Highball, DAD!
OH. MY. GOD. Stop worrying! You and mom are such babies. I’m not going to “kill myself climbing without a rope” because that doesn’t even make sense. I’m a boulderer. You can’t boulder with a rope because then it wouldn’t be bouldering. Roped climbing is for losers: Do I look like I’d hangdog for an hour wearing orange pants and doing jazz hands so I can climb five more feet to the next bolt and then do it again? I know you saw Alex Honnold on 60 Minutes and suddenly you think you know everything about climbing. But, uh, actually? You don’t know anything. What I do is called HIGHBALL BOULDERING, not FREE SOLOING, and it’s completely different.
Next-Gen Visualization
IMAGINE ADAM ONDRA lying on his back, eyes squeezed shut in concentration, while a physiotherapist holds his heel in space, helping him visualize and strengthen his body specifically for a move.
Pink Rain
Pink Rain
Southern Super Nova
Thirty-plus Years Ago, Driven First Ascensionist Rob Robinson Discovered the Tennessee Wall. In His Career, He’s Authored Hundreds of New Routes and Dramatically Expanded Chattanooga Climbing.
Green Ice
The Comprehensive Ice and Mixed Climbing of Vermont.
