Alex Honnold

So basically there was this long progression on El Cap specifically where it's like you go from just trying to get up it to trying to get up it faster to trying to get up it with just your hands and feet, still using protection.

But basically there's like all these steps you can take.

And so over a bunch of seasons, you know, I climbed El Cap like 60 times, different routes, all these different things.

And then eventually you're sort of like, oh, maybe I can start thinking about free soloing it, which is where the film Free Solo comes in.

And then eventually you do this thing.

But then people are like, well, aren't you scared?

And you're kind of like, well, I've spent 10 years building up on this thing.

Yeah.

I mean, the documentary Free Soul, I think, does a pretty good job of showing the direct preparation, like the training involved in doing that specific climb.

But it just doesn't show the...

like eight years before that, I guess, because the documentary was filmed over two years.

And I guess I've been going since 2006.

So it was nine years before that, that I've been going to Yosemite and I've been spending maybe three months a year climbing walls.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, people watch some of those programs, and they're like, he just walked up and did it.

And you're like, well, yeah, after 30 years of practice, that guy just walked up and did it.

But no, it's not like just walking up and doing it.

I mean, like, I've literally been climbing five days a week for 30 years.

Like, that's so much climbing.

Like, I freaking love climbing, and I climb a lot.