Alone on the Wall

Alex Honnold is probably the most famous adventure athlete in the world. He’s a world class free solo climber, known for climbing without the help of ropes, equipment, or a partner. He’s been known to scale 2,000 feet with only shoes and a chalk bag for “equipment”. He doesn’t always solo, but when he does it’s truly breathtaking. This is a sport with a history, but Alex’s new generation has brought a new edge to it. He climbs up a vertical wall with his fingers finding tiny cracks and spots to hang onto, and just-barely toe holds. Weaving his way like a spider man, he’s setting not just solo climbing records, but also speed records.I don’t know anything about the skills or requirements for soloing, mountain climbing, bouldering, or alpining. I’m just a regular hiker. Yet this book is so well written I was fascinated throughout, and learned so much about the sport. The book’s design is well done, with the narrative decidedly split between Alex Honnold’s stream of conscious thought about the climbs he’s describing, and the narrative by the co-author David Roberts.A veteran mountaineer who's written 30 books himself, David Roberts was the one behind Alex's book project. Alex's primary interest in the book is that he hopes it will push readers in their own climbing ambitions. The included color photos of spectacular climbs are incredible, interspersed with photos of Alex’s van life and his growing up. The book recounts seven incredible climbing achievements, starting out immediately on page one with the climb that began his fame, free soloing Moonlight Buttress, which is a 1,200 foot high, nearly vertical sandstone cliff in Utah’s Zion National Park.I was one of the fortunate in the sold out crowd recently when Alex Honnold gave a talk in Seattle and a book signing. Alex said this was the biggest crowd he'd ever spoken in front of, and he said that's a tribute to Seattle's climbing community. And that didn’t even take into account the line of people outside that went all the way down the block hoping for a last minute spot in the sellout crowd.Before you judge him as crazy, Alex would remind you that there's 20 years of practice and dedication behind his climbing choices. "If I thought I was going to die I wouldn't do this." He chooses what he climbs and does a lot of both mental and physical preparation.His physical preparation includes lots of gym training. He also often does a climb roped first in order to see how hard it is, and also to determine how tired he will get. His mental preparation includes detailed thinking through the whole experience and visualizing. He also does heavy thinking on the ground about his approach.He insists that it's all well thought through in advance, and then on the wall it's an enjoyable experience. On specific tough “pitches” he'll be intensely focused. As an example of the proportion - for most climbs the easy, relaxed part of the solo, for Honnold, could be about 1,500 feet and the hard solo requiring 100% of his focus could be about 500 feet of it.As far as dying, Alex insists that what matters is what you do before you die - thought provoking, as is the book.He splits climbing into consequence and risk. The consequence - if fall, die. The risk - he can control some risk. He judges the risk by how confident he feels from the preparation he did. What’s optimal? Alex aims for high consequence, with managed risk.Alex formed the Honnold Foundation after his life altering experience on a climb in Chad in 2010. It's an environmental nonprofit that helps raise the standard of living around the world. Proceeds from his book go to his Foundation.Did you know that Alex's support was instrumental in saving our nearby Index for climbers? A world traveler, he’s a native Californian through and through. His very favorite climb and his original training ground are Yosemite and Half Dome. He also loves Rainbow Wall in California.Alex’s favorite thing is feeling like a tiny dot on a huge expansive rock all by himself. Soloing gives him a deep satisfaction, especially because it's such a slow, methodical process. He’s committed to continually improving himself and his performance.Despite his amazing accomplishments, Alex is a very humble person. His nickname is Alex No Big Deal Honnold, stemming from his nonchalant demeanor. His book will surface your appreciation for nature, and for people who passionately follow their dreams to wherever they lead, whether to the next granite wall, or to the next Honnold Foundation goal improving the lives of others. Don’t pass up this book and the chance for a glimpse into the mind of a great free solo climber.

On the surface, Alex Honnold would be the guy you would want your daughter to date. He is intelligent, lives cleanly, is conscientious about social issues and the environment, has youthful looks and sports a healthy lean physique. He cannot quite be considered wealthy, but he started a charitable foundation to support international environmental causes in 2012 when he was unknown outside of climbing circles. His personal carbon footprint is small. He lives in a custom van which he drives to national parks and hangs out next to the cliffs and mountains he loves to climb. No drugs, no alcohol, no junk food. He doesn’t even drink coffee which he likens to drinking “battery acid.”The man will live to a hundred; if only he had a different head. The problem is that Mr. Honnold has a passion for free solo climbing, which means climbing sheer wall faces without any ropes or protection gear. He is remarkably good at it. Legendary climber Conrad Anker said that Honnold has moved free solo climbing up to an insane level. But when do you stop? One climbing writer claimed that there are only nine others who approach Mr. Hannold’s sense of daring, and five of them have been killed on the job.“Alone on the Wall,” coauthored by Honnold and David Roberts attempts to tell the story of this unusual man, who takes living off the grid to such an extreme that after purchasing a house near Las Vegas, he found himself living in his van which he parked in the driveway of his new home. We are told that his father keeled over from a heart attack at an airport soon after divorcing his mother. The 18 year old Honnold was a straight A student but found college unfulfilling and used some of the proceeds from his father’s life insurance policy to begin his life in a van pursuing his passion for climbing. “My orbit was tiny, and really cheap,” said Honnold. We are then taken around the world as Honnold moves from cliff face to cliff face. He eventually secures sponsorships from companies selling climbing products, which funds some of his trips, but the climbing life doesn’t appear to be very lucrative. Films are made and after free soloing El Capitan in 2017, Mr Honnold has become a national celebrity.What a life so far! But why doesn’t this book grip us as it should? Coauthor David Roberts is an excellent writer, and his book on Annapurna is wonderful. Honnold’s trip to the middle of the Ennedi desert in Chad is fascinating, but that’s due to the efforts of trip leader Mark Synnott. Instead we encounter blow by blow technical details of climbing. “Alone on the Wall,” reads like a book of boxing where we trudge through descriptions equivalent to a left jab followed by a feint; then a clinch, and the opponent backs up against the ropes. It is a dull sports book.Where’s the inner life? Here we have a physically and mentally gifted man taking death defying risks. His achievements are astounding, and he’s been doing this for over a decade. His father died at the young age of 55. Is this related in some way to the dangers he takes on? He climbs in remote places alone and often in anonymity. We gasp at the daring and also at the accomplishments, but what’s behind the drive? There are no metaphysical or spiritual musings. He is supposedly an avid reader, and driving to places and climbing offers much downtime. While being delayed in the middle of an Alaskan climb, we are told that he began reading a paperback copy of Dostoyevsky’s “The Brother’s Karamazov.” After reading a chunk of it, he tore that piece off the book to hand to his climbing partner while he continued reading the remaining chunk of the book. But there’s no comment on what he might have thought about the book, one of the greatest novels in literature. It is just another book read, like a cliff climbed. It’s on to the next one.Then we realize that this seeming incapacity for self reflection would become just mental noise; that Honnold’s success with climbing comes from this ability to focus on executing one foot or hand hold after another. It is the shutting off of such thoughts extraneous to the climbing task at hand which makes him special. Mark Synnott added that he was “the boldest person I’ve ever met.” He is also an incredible athlete, but this book turns out to be a dull blow by blow of his sport. Perhaps the great inner revelations and adventures are to be told once he retires, and we hope he is able to retire. But for now reading this book is equivalent to drinking battery acid.

UN BEL LIBRO

This is a pure climbing diary, do not expect a deep understanding of what is behind Alex Honnold's desire of free soloing. I enjoy it a lot.

Excelente obra! ainda estou lendo e acompanhando cada passo dessa grande aventura.

In his own words (mostly) the experiences of the Hon. Read this before you read The Impossible Climb or watch Free Solo. It’ll put free soloing El Cap in the proper perspective. To Alex: is this burning an Eternal Flame? Stay safe.

Fue para un regalo.