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'Free Solo' Alex Honnold: How I achieved the impossible – scaling El Capitan

Owen Ullmann
USA TODAY

"To dream the impossible dream ... no matter how hopeless" Man of La Mancha

Alex Honnold is a modern-day Don Quixote who is winning new plaudits from around the world and inspiring a generation of young dreamers for reaching his own impossible dream.

Honnold, 33, achieved a feat no other human has accomplished: the solo ascent of 3,000-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in 2017 using just his hands, feet and a bag of chalk (no ropes, pitons or other climbing equipment).

His feat is drawing renewed attention because the 2018 National Geographic documentary "Free Solo" on how he scaled the sheer rock face has been nominated for an Oscar and is being released in IMAX theaters nationwide this weekend. It also opened recently in Australia and has been the most popular documentary film in the United Kingdom over the past year.

Alex Honnold atop Lower Cathedral with El Capitan in the background at Yosemite National Park in California.

“Everyone derives inspiration from someplace. I first thought about free-soloing El Cap in 2009," the California native said in an interview. "It looks like such a crazy, extreme, daredevil-ly thing."

Honnold talks to groups about how he accomplished what everyone – including himself – considered an impossible feat. "I talk about how much preparation goes into it, and how you take something that starts out totally crazy and impossible and turn it into something that is not only possible and likely but inevitable.”

Alex Honnold free solo climbing on El Capitan's Freerider in Yosemite National Park.

Wyn Pottinger-Levy, a teacher at The Center School in Seattle, recently took five international exchange students to see the film, and all came away inspired. 

"As teachers, we spend a lot of time telling students to follow your passion, dream what you want, be in a position to dream the unthinkable, pursue lofty goals," Pottinger-Levy said. "This is someone who persevered and used such physical and psychological focus. Where does that personal motivation come from – to risk your life and do it in such a crazy way?"

She said she would like her high school to build a curriculum around Honnold's experience: "How do you focus on something you really want to do?"

Tyler Bauer, assistant principal at Denver Justice High School, said he took students to see the film as a class performance reward and sees a lesson in teaching kids to reach far and high: "We want our students to really stretch.”

James Little Wolf, 17, a student at Denver Justice who wants to be a criminal psychologist, said he was amazed at Honnold's mental focus "to climb that high and not have any slip-ups."

The message for Little Wolf: "Never stop your dreams in life. … It made me want to set a goal and persevere through life and its obstacles."

Another Denver Justice student, Ginna Kenly, 19, who wants to be a pediatrician, said: “I never saw someone be so determined in putting his mind into it. Every day was more treacherous ... and he made it to the top. It was very inspirational."

Was Honnold afraid as he contemplated the free solo? Absolutely, he said.

“In my case, the reason I spent so much time preparing is because it was so scary. I would think it was insane and it would fill with me with dread. With enough preparation, it wasn’t scary anymore. I knew I could do it.

“If I had to choose one lesson to take from it, I would choose preparation and putting in the work – not being stopped by something that seems impossible," he said. "The thing about El Cap is that I dreamed about it for many years but didn’t know if it was possible.”

As for his next dream, Honnold is stumped. “Honestly, I don’t know if there is anything in the world that is as inspiring. I’m not sure anything else will grab me the same way.”

Holding all his climbing gear, his shoes and bag of chalk, Alex Honnold stands atop El Capitan four hours after he began scaling it. "At the bottom, I was a little nervous," he said afterward. "I mean, it's a freaking-big wall above you." So what is next? "I still want to climb hard things. Someday. You don't just retire as soon as you get down."
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