Alone on the Wall: Alex Honnold and the Ultimate Limits of Adventure

So what are those challenges that might inspire me in the near future? For years now, everybody’s been talking about the first free solo of El Cap. I’ve thought about it for years myself. In my journals, as early as 2009, there are entries like “Check out Freerider,” or “Check out Golden Gate.” The problem with free soloing El Cap is that it’s so much bigger even than Half Dome, and there are no all-free routes easier than 5.12d. I’m not surprised that nobody has yet even attempted a free solo of El Cap. I think it’s possible, but you’d have to be really ready. You’d have to really want it. The hardest thing would be just getting off the ground. But it would be amazing.

What he said was, ‘You should do it, it’s a super-fun, easy route.’ What he should have said was, ‘It’s a lot of hard, overhanging climbing, and you could die.’

Everybody thinks free soloing is dangerous, but I think BASE jumping is way too dangerous.