EP 167: Alex Honnold — Epic Solos That Nobody Heard About, Near Misses, and Sh*tting His Pants While Free Soloing

Alex Honnold is on the podcast! Who? The guy that free handed Yellowstone? Close enough. Seriously though, this was such a great interview. We talked about his two most epic solos that nobody heard about, near misses, lessons from other climbing legends like Tommy Caldwell, Jonathan Siegrist, and Peter Croft, pooping while free soloing stories, how the film Free Solo exceeded his hopes and dreams, the commitment to excellence, and much more!

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Show Notes:

thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/alex-honnold

Nuggets:

(00:00:00) – Intro

(00:04:21) – Interviews and TED Talks

(00:07:25) – Finding new terrain for this interview

(00:08:05) – Epic solo linkup in Zion

(00:11:16) – Soloing ‘Moonlight Buttress’… again

(00:12:08) – Why do these big solo linkups?

(00:12:56) – Epic solo linkup in Red Rock

(00:14:54) – Foot pain on big walls and vitamin I

(00:17:41) – Onsight free soloing ‘Shune’s Buttress’ and ‘Resolution Arete’

(00:20:34) – The hardest thing Alex has downclimbed

(00:21:29) – Solos that fly under the radar

(00:22:47) – Free soloing ‘Sendero Luminoso’ in Mexico

(00:25:17) – The limits of free soloing

(00:28:31) – Quantum leaps

(00:30:16) – Yosemite soloing, and Alex vs. top sport climbers

(00:32:22) – Chris Sharma's FA of ‘Necessary Evil’ 5.14c (8c+), and the role of talent

(00:35:40) – Will Alex climb 5.15a (9a+)?

(00:38:33) – Dad strength

(00:39:46) – Vegas gyms and homewall dreams

(00:49:34) – Near misses

(00:55:34) – Soloing ‘Fiesta De Los Biceps’ in Riglos Spain

(00:57:46) – Competing with Ethan Pringle, soloing ‘Shune’s Butress’ in the snow, and the tree story

(01:03:16) – Soloing ‘Monkey Finger’, Big Horn tracks, and spirit animals

(01:04:22) – The physiological limits of ‘The Nose’ speed record

(01:08:06) – Breaking ‘The Nose’ speed record

(01:10:47) – Biggest lessons from Tommy Caldwell, Jonathan Siegrist, and Peter Croft

(01:14:26) – Inspiration, and soloing with Shawn Raboutou

(01:18:15) – Following the climbing news

(01:19:01) – Who Alex is most impressed by, and interviewing the Mellow crew (Daniel Woods, Shawn Raboutou, Jimmy Webb, and Giuliano Cameroni)

(01:20:35) – New season of Climbing Gold

(01:22:13) – Favorite interviews on Climbing Gold

(01:23:28) – Corporate speaking and interviewing Stone Masters

(01:26:24) – Climbing Gold uncut interviews

(01:28:37) – Pooping while free soloing stories

(01:34:56) – Shit-puting, and pooping while soloing El Cap

(01:36:29) – Filming Free Solo and the Warrior Spirit

(01:38:54) – The commitment to excellence

(01:41:05) – Plans for the PNW

(01:43:57) – “More intention never hurt.”

(01:44:47) – “The guy that free-handed Yellowstone?”