Professional Rock Climber Alex Honnold Of ‘Explorer: The Last Tepui’ On What It Takes To Succeed As A Climber

Well, if you wanted to get started as a climber, the best way to get started nowadays is to go to the climbing gym, which is also how I learned. Literally every city in the country has some kind of a good climbing gym at this point and so it’s a safe and accessible way to try the sport.

But then beyond that if you really wanna get serious about climbing, then you just have to start having adventures outside. Like going hiking in the mountains, learning how to climb outside. That’s a whole long journey that, you know, there’s no real shortcut to, gaining that kind of experience.

As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Alex Honnold.

Alex Honnold is a professional rock climber whose audacious free-solo ascents of America’s biggest cliffs have made him one of the most recognized and followed climbers in the world. A gifted but hard-working athlete, Honnold is distinguished for his uncanny ability to control his fear while scaling cliffs of dizzying heights without a rope to protect him if he falls. His humble, self-effacing attitude toward such extreme risk has earned him the nickname Alex “No Big Deal” He has been profiled by “60 Minutes” and The New York Times, featured on the cover of National Geographic, appeared in international television commercials, and starred in numerous adventure films, including the Emmy-nominated “Alone on the Wall.” He is the founder of the Honnold Foundation, an environmental non-profit.

The Disney+ Earth Day special “Explorer: The Last Tepui,” from National Geographic, follows elite climber Alex Honnold (“Free Solo”) and a world-class climbing team led by National Geographic Explorer and climber Mark Synnott on a grueling mission deep in the Amazon jungle as they attempt a first-ascent climb up a 1000 foot sheer cliff. Their goal is to deliver legendary biologist and National Geographic Explorer Bruce Means to the top of a massive “island in the sky” known as a tepui. The team must first trek miles of treacherous jungle terrain to help Dr. Means complete his life’s work, searching the cliff wall for undiscovered animal species. The one-hour special is the newest installment of National Geographic’s long-running “Explorer” series. This Earth Day, learn why the tepuis — much like the Galapagos — are a treasure trove of biodiversity worth protecting.

The one-hour special streams on Earth Day, Friday, April 22nd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmPredMTXpg

Thanks so much for doing this. I just saw your documentary, The Last Tepui’ and I’m excited to get to know you a little bit better. So can you tell us the story of how you grew up and how you got into rock climbing?

I grew up in suburban California, grew up in Sacramento, started climbing when I was 10, just at a local climbing gym, and then I’ve basically been climbing full-time ever since. So that’s now 25 plus years of five or six days a week.

Awesome, and how did the film come about and lead to Dr. Bruce and you going on this journey and doing this?

I’ve been friends with Mark Senate for quite a long time and friends with Renan and basically I’ve been acquaintances or friends with most of the team for quite a long time. Mark, I think mentioned the idea of this trip and I’ve been on several other expeditions with Mark where he sort of brought me on as, as the rope gun, the term for the climber who’s not guaranteed but likely to be able to climb and get though any objectives that we find.

And so I think he kind of brought me onto the team just to make sure that we could successfully climb the wall.

Right. He knew you could actually do it right? You were the guy that made it happen. So trekking through the jungle with him…I know he’s 80 years old. I mean, was that harder than you had expected or anticipated to be?

Yeah. Well, so there were kind of two sides to it. One, I was like, oh God, how are we gonna trek through the jungle with an 80 year old man? But then once we were doing it, I was like, oh wow, Dr. Bruce is surprisingly resilient and, and tough for an 80 year old man. I was pretty close with my grandparents on one side and you know, I would go for walks with my grandma into her 90’s and stuff and I was like, Dr. Bruce is about a thousand times more fit and able than, you know, my grandmother was at that age. <Laughs> He was so well equipped to navigate the jungle.

Wow. Yeah. I think it’s just because he’s so passionate, you know, the passion really comes through in the film and it’s just so cool to see.

Yeah. He’s so passionate, but I actually think that the bigger thing is just that you can’t underestimate the role of experience. He spent 50 years trekking through the jungle and now he’s pretty good at it. You know?

He’s got it down.

Like I consider myself pretty fit, you know, and I spend my whole life hiking in the mountains, but it was my first time in the jungle whereas Bruce is decidedly less spitted at this point, but he’s had so much experience in the jungle. So I feel like it’s basically two approaches to the same thing. I was like, oh, we’re both just trekking through the jungle together. He’s just really experienced, but, but getting older and I’m, you know, really inexperienced, but…

The shots in this are incredible too. Just the rock formations. I mean, they’re just straight up. For someone like myself who doesn’t rock climb or anything, how much does mindset have to do with something like that. I know you’ve been doing it for a long time, but what goes through your mind?

It’s actually more than straight out. I mean, what’s so interesting about The Tepuis is that they overhang so that they’re like sticking out further from…

Oh my God.

And the top is further out. It’s like an overhanging mushroom or something.

Wow. Okay.

So, but that’s kind of what makes them climbable in that climate because it keeps the wall dry when it’s raining. So a lot of the time when we were climbing, it was actually raining, but it’s just that, because the wall overhangs, it shelters itself. Which is pretty cool.

Yeah. I could see that helping for sure.

Yeah. It’s like a sheet of water coming down behind you while you’re climbing.

Right… I bet it looks kind of cool.

Yeah, it’s really, really cool…The mindset though. I don’t know. I mean, I think that mindset is super important on an expedition like this, just because there’s so many question marks all the time, just around getting to the wall and whether or not the wall will be possible. So I think it’s really helpful to have a positive mindset around the whole experience. The approach took us quite a bit longer than anything I’ve ever done approach wise. You know, we spent something like 10 days getting to the wall.

Wow, and you sleep up there too, right? You guys slept on the side of the cliff. I’m like, oh my God, I’m terrified of heights. So for me to watch this, there were certain parts where I’m like, oh my gosh.

Man, sleeping on the wall, I thought was one of the best parts. Cause you actually finally get a view. The thing about trekking through the jungle, you’re just in a tunnel of trees the whole time. So you just can’t see anything for days. And then when you finally get to the wall, you’re like, thank God, you can actually see where you came from. You can see the horizon. I mean, for the 10 days that we trekked through the jungle, I don’t think we ever saw more than a hundred feet. You know? It’s crazy as there are no gaps in the vegetation. So when you finally get up onto the wall, you’re like, oh it’s all worth it.

Right. Very cool. How about for others that want to get started as a rock climber, but kind of seem daunted by it. What would be your advice to them?

Well, if you wanted to get started as a climber, the best way to get started nowadays is to go to the climbing gym, which is also how I learned. Literally every city in the country has some kind of a good climbing gym at this point and so it’s a safe and accessible way to try the sport.

But then beyond that if you really wanna get serious about climbing, then you just have to start having adventures outside. Like going hiking in the mountains, learning how to climb outside. That’s a whole long journey that, you know, there’s no real shortcut to, gaining that kind of experience.

You just gotta go do it, right?

Yeah. You just have to start doing things outside.

Yeah. What are the mistakes that beginner climbers make and how could they avoid it?

I think the number one mistake from beginner climbers is thinking that it’s all about pulling when in fact climbing should be all about pushing. You should be using your arm just for balance basically and then your legs to push you upward. So I think that a lot of people are turned off from climbing because they think that it’s too muscular. Like, “oh, it’s gonna be too hard. You have to pull too much. I’m not strong”. But really you should think of climbing as if you’re climbing a really steep staircase where the handrail is just to keep you balanced and the steps are what, you’re, what you’re using to go upward. And so climbing is much the same where it’s like, your legs are pushing you upward, but your hands are being used as a handrail.

Fascinating. It’s been years since I’ve been to one of those indoor rock climbing but now, I kinda wanna go. I wanna go to see if it works.

Where do you live?

I live close to Orlando. That’s where I’m based.

Okay.. I actually don’t know any good gyms in Orlando.

I don’t picture any here, but hey, you never know, right?

No, I’m sure there are. Every city in America has a good climbing gym zone.

Cool. Yeah. I’ll have to check that out. So what drives you to get up every day and do the work that you do? Also what do you see coming from this and what is the goal of the film?

I don’t know. Is there a goal? I mean, I’ve always been motivated more by the action. I like going climbing and that’s why I’m going climbing this afternoon. I’m working on this route that I really want to finish. You know, it’s not groundbreaking and there’s nothing significant about it, but I just really wanna finish this route. I just love going climbing.

Beyond that, I think that with this film, The Last Tepui, it’s a good example for me of the fact that my love of climbing can all also be used for something slightly more useful, in the big picture. In this case it was being able to help Bruce with his research and looking for new species along the way. It’s about being able to use that love of climbing to facilitate this kind of adventure that winds up contributing to the human understanding of the biodiversity of that region. It’s pretty cool .

Yeah. It’s amazing.

Yeah, it is. It’s just nice to be able to take your passion for something and wind up having it be helpful in the world, like be useful in a way.

Yeah. It’s incredible. Well, I really appreciate you doing this. I’m gonna tell everyone I know to go check this out because I loved it. I loved watching this film…

Well, I appreciate that. It was a real pleasure to be part of the project because the climbing was exciting. I mean, after meeting Bruce and his passion for the jungle it wound up being a pretty incredible expedition.

Awesome. All right. Well have fun on your next climb. I hope it’s awesome. I hope you finish it. <Laugh> .

Yeah. I know. I hope today is the day. I hope so. I’ll see. It’s nice and cool outside. You know, it could be a good day.

Of course. Take care..

Awesome. Good luck with your piece and, and thanks for being flexible with timing.