Alex Honnold: the freedom of the 'Free Solo'.
Accepting that death will come at any moment and taking the risk, hence the American Alex Honnold. In turn, this acceptance - and skill - has made him the world's foremost climber. He has climbed, without rope or harness, several of the highest walls in different parts of the world. His achievements have been reported in all the major media and have even an Oscar award to its history backs it up.
His most notable achievement occurred in 2017, when he became the the first to climb the 975 metres of the granite wall of El Capitan in a single-pitchlocated in the Yosemite National Park in California, USA.
The Free Solo trailer, National Geographic:
A feat not unrelated to fear
Seeing photos or videos of Honnold begs the question: is he someone with special powers, or how can he do it, both of which were questions he asked himself years ago while admiring fellow American climber Tommy Caldwell.
What is often overlooked in this admiration is the reality behind the feat. Honnold did not just wake up one day and decide to climb El Capitan without any object to reassure him that if he fell he would not die. In multiple interviews and in the documentary Free Solo (2019) - to be discussed later - mentions that he has never been free of fear.
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Honnold was born on 17 August 1895 in Sacramento, the capital of California. He climbed from the age of 11 and travelled with his father on multiple occasions to Yosemite. From his childhood the giant granite wall was present.
Since 2009, after some years practising this discipline and living in the same park, the climber began to see climbing the integral solo wall as a possibility. He started to climb it many times with all his equipment, exploring, but always fear won out and delayed the attempt.
He says that on many occasions he thought that doing this climb was only possible for people who had no reason to be alive.
"Many people say I don't feel fear, or that I don't fear death, but that's not true! I have the same healthy desire for survival as anyone else. I don't want to die, at least not now.said in an interview for National Geographic.
"This is the year," he repeated to himself, but he was aware that the concentration needed to climb without any equipment had to be much greater for this event. He had to prepare.
In the end, after a lot of exploration, he chose the route Freeriderwhich was first climbed 20 years ago by brothers Alex and Thomas Huber..
A climber recognised by Hollywood
After choosing the route and preparing himself, Honnold was able to climb victoriously. 3 June 2017. Preparation from day one was covered by film-makers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chinwho made a documentary that narrated the details of this event. All under the production of National Geographic.
This documentary was entitled Free Solo (integral only) and premiered on 31 August 2018 at the Telluride Film Festival. From there it toured multiple international festivals, eventually being nominated for and winner of the 91st Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature category.
It also shows his admiration for certain figures in the discipline, his relationship with his family, his childhood, his life in a van in Yosemite and love.
First the rock than love, but in the end there was love
Honnold says at the beginning of the documentary that his love life has been directly affected by his passion for climbing and the lifestyle he leads to follow his passion. A wall was more important to him than love.
But that reality changed and today he is married to someone who has the same passion for rock walls and the adrenaline of climbing them.
To talk about Honnold's relationship with the mountaineer Sanni McCandless, is also to mention her autobiography, entitled ‘Alone on The wall', 'Alone on the Wall' (here link to the book).
It is important to mention this because it was at his christening that he met the climber who became his wife, the same woman who in 2017 lived his magical feat with him.
McCandless and Honnold are not uncomfortable with heights and even less so this year when the whole world has come to a standstill as a result of Covid-19. That adventurous spirit, or just in love, made them decide to get married a month ago in an intimate ceremony officiated by Tommy Caldwell.
On Instagram, the climber wrote: "We got married! Small family ceremony at the lake, officiated by Tommy Caldwell.l, totally lovely all the way. Sanni was radiant as ever, the apocalyptic smoke cleared enough for some decent views and we had a lovely afternoon."
The climber in the apocalyptic smoke
On social media Honnold has referred to the whole global situation in the face of Covid-19 as "apocalyptic smoke" and the truth is that the year has been looking like the end of everything.
During these days of confinement and uncertainty he has not slowed down too much or put aside his preparation, mainly his training is being done from a conditioned space in the garage of his grandparents' house.
"I've been training mostly in my garage and just climbing outside a bit, but it sure feels good to eat some crunchy little granite edges," he wrote on his Instagram in late September.
Honnold also remains image of The North FaceThe brand published a campaign a few days ago announcing the restart of the brand within the new reality, which seeks to recognise "the power of exploration and adventure to drive positive change in our lives".
Alex Honnold in Yosemite. Cover photo: Et3115009 (CC BY-SA) via Wikimedia Commons
