Alex Honnold
American professional mountaineer and extreme climber
Alexander J Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his free solo ascents of big wall climbing routes. Honnold rose to worldwide fame in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo a full climbing route on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park via the 880-metre (2,900 ft) big-wall route known as Freerider at the technical grade of 5.13a, which was 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".
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 five days. On January 25, 2026, he free soloed the Taipei 101 tower in Taipei, Taiwan, the tallest buildering free solo climb in history and graded at circa 5.11.
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 an Academy Award and a BAFTA.
Early life and education
Honnold was born on August 17, 1985, in Sacramento, California. His mother, Dierdre Wolownick (b. 1951), is a community college professor. His father was Charles Honnold (1949–2004). His paternal roots are German, and his maternal roots are Polish. He started climbing in a climbing gym at the age of 5 and was climbing "many times a week" by age 10.
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