Alexander Honnold was born on August 17,1985 and is an American rock climber best known for his free solo ascents of big walls.
19 Facts About Alex Honnold
2.
Alex Honnold is the author of the memoir Alone on the Wall and the subject of the 2018 biographical documentary Free Solo, which won a BAFTA and an Academy Award.
3.
Alex Honnold 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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Alex Honnold participated in many national and international youth climbing championships as a teenager.
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Alex Honnold dropped out of Berkeley and spent time living at home and driving around California to go climbing.
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In 2007 he free soloed Yosemite's Astroman and the Rostrum in a day, matching Peter Croft's legendary 1987 feat, and suddenly Alex Honnold was pretty well-known.
7.
Five months afterward, Alex Honnold took the unprecedented step of free soloing the 2,000-foot, glacially bulldozed Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome.
8.
Alex Honnold gained mainstream recognition after his 2008 solo of the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome was featured in the film Alone on the Wall and a subsequent 60 Minutes interview.
9.
On June 6,2018, Alex Honnold teamed up with Tommy Caldwell to break the Nose on El Capitan speed record in Yosemite.
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Also in 2021, Alex Honnold started a podcast about climbing called Climbing Gold.
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In 2017, Alex Honnold bought a home in the Las Vegas area.
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Alex Honnold is a vegetarian, and he does not drink alcohol or use drugs.
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Alex Honnold is an avid reader with interests in classic literature, environmentalism, and economics, and he describes himself as an anti-religion atheist and a feminist.
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Alex Honnold met Sanni McCandless at a book signing in 2015; they became a couple soon after.
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On December 25,2019, Alex Honnold announced, via social media, that he and McCandless were engaged.
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On September 13,2020, Alex Honnold announced via Instagram that he and McCandless had married.
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Alex Honnold's and McCandless daughter was born on February 17,2022.
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Dierdre Wolownick, Alex Honnold's mother, started climbing at age 60 and is the oldest woman to climb El Capitan.
19.
In 2012, Alex Honnold began giving away one-third of his income to solar projects that increased energy access worldwide.