Climbing Without Ropes: Alex Honnold

What Honnold did on El Capitan

Free soloing means climbing without ropes, harnesses or any safety equipment. A fall means death. Most free solo climbs are done on short routes of moderate technical difficulty. The Honnold El Capitan climb was on a route considered one of the hardest big wall free climbs in the world.

The climber

Alex Honnold is an American climber born in 1985 in Sacramento, California. He had been free soloing major routes since his early twenties, including Half Dome in 2008 and Moonlight Buttress in 2008. By 2017 he was widely considered the leading free solo climber in the world. He had spent over a year preparing specifically for the El Capitan climb.

The route

Freerider on El Capitan is rated 5.13a in the Yosemite Decimal System, indicating extremely difficult technical climbing. The route is 914 metres or 3000 feet long. It includes multiple sections of small holds, smooth granite slabs and a famous boulder problem on the lower section. Most climbers complete it over multiple days using ropes and protection.

The climb

Honnold started the climb at approximately 5:32 AM on 3 June 2017. He topped out at approximately 9:28 AM, completing the route in 3 hours 56 minutes. He climbed alone without ropes, harnesses, safety equipment or external assistance. Filmmakers documented the climb from above and below with cameras positioned along the route.

Preparation

Honnold spent over a year preparing for the climb. He climbed Freerider with ropes multiple times to memorise the movement sequences. He rehearsed difficult sections individually. He worked with the film crew to plan camera positions. His preparation involved extensive visualisation and rehearsal of every move on the route.

What free soloing 5.13a requires

Climbing at 5.13a level requires elite technical skill, finger strength and movement precision. Doing it without ropes adds psychological demands that few climbers can manage even at lower technical grades.

Finger strength

Free soloing 5.13a requires the ability to hang from very small holds. Elite climbers develop finger strength capable of holding bodyweight on holds the size of a pencil edge. Honnold has reportedly achieved one armed pull ups and can hang on holds barely deep enough to fit a fingertip. This strength comes from years of progressive finger and grip training.

Movement efficiency

Free soloing demands movement that conserves energy across hours of climbing. Wasted motion accumulates fatigue. Elite climbers move with extreme efficiency, placing feet precisely and using arm strength minimally. The Honnold style is characterised by smooth, controlled movement without visible struggle even on the hardest sections.

Memory and visualisation

Honnold reportedly knew every move on Freerider before the free solo attempt. He had memorised the position of each hand and foot placement across 3000 feet of climbing. Visualisation rehearsal is well documented in performance psychology as a method of preparing for high pressure execution. Honnolds preparation took this to an extreme.

Mental control

Free soloing requires control of fear response under conditions where fear is rational. Cognitive function must remain accessible at heights where one mistake means death. Honnold has been studied by neuroscientists who reported unusual amygdala activation patterns. His fear response system appears to function differently from typical individuals.

What we know about extreme risk tolerance

Honnold has been the subject of neuroscience research investigating how he tolerates exposure that would incapacitate most people. The findings are not fully conclusive but they suggest his risk processing differs from typical individuals.

Amygdala activation

Neuroscientist Jane Joseph at the Medical University of South Carolina scanned Honnolds brain during exposure to threatening images. His amygdala showed lower activation than control participants. The amygdala is a key brain region for processing fear and threat. Reduced activation suggests his threat response is dampened compared to typical individuals.

Risk perception

Honnold has described his approach to risk in terms of careful preparation and process rather than absence of fear. He calculates what could go wrong and prepares specifically for each scenario. This deliberate approach reduces the unknown elements that produce most fear responses. His tolerance is partly trainable and partly a temperament trait.

Cognitive control

Performing complex motor sequences under threat requires unusual cognitive control. The brain normally diverts resources to threat processing in dangerous situations, reducing the resources available for precise motor execution. Honnolds capacity to maintain motor precision suggests an unusual ability to allocate cognitive resources under threat.

Trainable versus innate

The neuroscience research did not establish whether Honnolds unusual brain activation patterns are innate or trained. Repeated exposure to fear inducing situations is known to reduce fear response in most people. He has been free soloing serious routes for over a decade. Some of his tolerance is almost certainly trained. Some appears to be present at baseline.

Lessons from El Capitan

The Honnold climb illustrates extreme individual capacity combined with deliberate preparation. For most people the lessons are about preparation and process rather than imitation.

Preparation reduces risk

Honnold did not climb Freerider on impulse. He spent over a year preparing specifically. Visualisation, rehearsal of difficult sections and careful environmental analysis all reduced the unknown elements. For any high stakes performance the principle generalises. Preparation reduces the cognitive load required during execution.

Individual variation is real

Honnold appears to be a genuine outlier in fear response. Other climbers with similar technical skill have not attempted comparable free solos because the psychological demand is intolerable for them. Recognising individual variation rather than assuming everyone responds the same way matters in any high risk activity.

Risk is calculated, not eliminated

Free soloing carries irreducible risk. Even with preparation a hold can break, a foot can slip or an unforeseen event can occur. Honnold has lost friends to climbing accidents. The risk is real and acknowledged. The climb represents accepted risk rather than eliminated risk.

Not transferable

Unlike most physiological feats in this archive, the Honnold climb is not a model for ordinary climbers to aspire to. Free soloing at 5.13a is reserved for a tiny number of elite climbers with specific psychological and technical capabilities. The general lesson is preparation and process. The specific activity is for a small group of specialists.

More from the limits library

For the high altitude version of climbing limits, our Climbing Everest Without Oxygen guide covers Reinhold Messner. Mental Override in Ultra Endurance covers another psychological limit case. And Fourteen Eight Thousand Metre Peaks covers Nimsdai Purja and the mental side of high altitude climbing.