Cleaning Up Redux: From Free Solo to Free Solar — Alex Honnold

This episode was originally broadcast in April
2022


Alex Honnold is one of the world’s best rock climbers, famous for
his free solo ascents of big walls, including his 2017 first free
solo of El Capitan in Yosemite.


Alex began studies in engineering at the University of
California-Berkeley but dropped out to pursue his passion for
climbing, living out of his van. He first attracted attention
within the climbing community in 2008 when he became the first
climber to free solo Half Dome in Yosemite. In 2012 he
established the speed record for the Yosemite Triple Crown,
climbing three big walls in under 19 hours. With Hans Florine,
Alex climbed the popular Nose of El Capitan, a nearly 3,000-foot
granite wall, in a record time of two hours 23 minutes and 51
seconds – a feat National Geographic described as perhaps " the
greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport."


Alex has been profiled by 60 minutes and the New York Times,
appeared on the cover of National Geographic and starred in
numerous adventure films. In 2015, together with professional
climbing writer David Roberts, he authored Alone on the Wall, the
story of seven of his greatest climbing feats up to that year.


In 2012 Alex founded the Honnold Foundation to provide solar
power to some of the disadvantaged communities he was coming
across in his climbing career. In 2021 the Foundation supported
44 communities across 17 countries with its brand of
community-centered innovation catalysed by solar energy.


Links and more:


Watch the video of this episode: https://youtu.be/MwmQf0mhHkE

Honnold Foundation: https://www.honnoldfoundation.org/

Free Solo Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urRVZ4SW7WU

Free Solo website:
https://films.nationalgeographic.com/free-solo

The Ascent of Alex Honnold – CBS special report with Lara
Logan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR1jwwagtaQ

Eduro Corner: The most exposed move of Alex’s Free Solo climb
of El Capitan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blfR33DUqsg

Project Bo: https://www.projectbo.org/

Project Bo, lessons learned:
https://www.liebreich.com/project-bo-saving-lives-in-sierra-leone-with-solar-batteries-and-twitter/