Alex Honnold is the most recognized free solo climber alive. From his ropeless ascent of El Capitan's 3,000-foot Freerider route in 2017 to his live free solo of Taipei 101 on Netflix in January 2026, Honnold has repeatedly redefined what climbers thought was possible. He climbs massive rock faces and now skyscrapers with no ropes, no harness, and no safety equipment, relying entirely on physical strength, technique, and an almost inhuman ability to manage fear.
Alex Honnold Taipei 101
On January 25, 2026, Alex Honnold free soloed Taipei 101, Taiwan's 1,667-foot (508-meter) skyscraper, without ropes and live on Netflix. The broadcast, titled "Skyscraper Live," drew 6.2 million viewers and became the #3 English-language TV title on Netflix that week.
Honnold completed the climb in 1 hour, 31 minutes, and 43 seconds, ascending the building's exterior through three distinct sections. "The Slabs" covered 372 vertical feet of angled steel and glass. "The Bamboo Boxes," eight stacked pagoda-like modules spanning 64 floors, made up the longest stretch, with balconies every eight floors that Honnold compared to individual climbing pitches. "The Tower" at the top featured dragon-shaped formations and irregular protrusions that presented the most technical challenges.
The climb was originally scheduled for January 23 but was postponed by one day due to rain. Honnold used only his hands, feet, climbing shoes, and chalk. He wore no harness or ropes at any point during the ascent. After reaching the spire, he clipped into ropes to rappel down to the 88th floor and exited via elevator.
Honnold had first applied to climb Taipei 101 thirteen years earlier and was denied. Permission finally came after he wrote a letter to the building's management mentioning his twin daughters and his commitment to safety. He practiced on the building with ropes two or three times before the live attempt.
The event generated massive cultural buzz. SNL parodied it the week before, thousands of spectators gathered at the building's base, and Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te congratulated Honnold on Facebook. The climbing community debated whether the ascent qualified as the tallest urban free solo ever, with veteran climber "Spider Dan" Goodwin contesting the claim based on technicalities near the spire.
Alex Honnold Free Solo
The term "free solo" is essentially synonymous with Alex Honnold at this point. He climbs rock faces, and now buildings, alone with no ropes, harness, or protection of any kind. A fall means death. That combination of skill and risk tolerance has captivated audiences far beyond the climbing world.
Does Alex Honnold Still Free Solo?
Yes. The Taipei 101 climb in January 2026 is the most definitive answer to this question. Honnold free soloed a 1,667-foot skyscraper on live television at age 40.
Beyond that headline-grabbing event, Honnold has stayed active at an elite level on real rock. In December 2025, he and Tommy Caldwell spent six days climbing the Platinum Wall on El Capitan, a 39-pitch route graded 5.13+ with 29 pitches of 5.12 or harder. In April 2025, the pair completed a team free ascent of El Cap's Heart Route (5.13b, 31 pitches). Caldwell, recovering from ACL surgery, said Honnold "pretty much hiked everything while I struggled to keep up."
Fatherhood has shifted how Honnold spends his time. With two young daughters, he's more selective about the free solos he takes on and tends to choose challenges closer to home that fit around family life. But the Taipei 101 event made it clear: he hasn't slowed down. He's just choosing his moments differently.
What Route Did Alex Honnold Free Solo?
Alex Honnold has free soloed dozens of significant routes. His most notable:
- Taipei 101, Taiwan (2026) - 1,667 feet, free soloed live on Netflix in 1 hour 31 minutes. The tallest structure he's ever climbed without ropes.
- Freerider on El Capitan, Yosemite (2017) - The 3,000-foot granite wall that made him a household name, completed in 3 hours 56 minutes. Documented in the Oscar-winning film "Free Solo."
- Half Dome's Regular Northwest Face, Yosemite (2008) - A 2,000-foot wall and one of his earliest major free solo achievements.
- Moonlight Buttress, Zion National Park (2008) - A 1,200-foot sandstone crack climb and one of the most technically demanding free solos at the time.
- The Rostrum, Yosemite - A demanding multi-pitch route he soloed before his El Capitan ascent.
Alex Honnold Weight
Alex Honnold weighs approximately 160 to 165 pounds (73 to 75 kg). He maintains this weight deliberately because in climbing, every extra pound works against you, especially on sustained multi-pitch routes where grip strength fades over hours.
At 5'11" and roughly 162 lbs, Honnold's BMI sits around 22.6, which is solidly in the normal range. But BMI doesn't capture what matters for climbing: his strength-to-weight ratio. Honnold carries very little body fat (estimated 6-8%) and avoids traditional weight training entirely to keep his weight down. He's said that gaining even 5 pounds of muscle in the wrong places like his shoulders, chest, or legs would actively hurt his climbing.
His weight has stayed remarkably consistent over his career. Climbing at this level demands enough muscle to hang from fingertips for hours while staying light enough that gravity isn't fighting you on every move.
How Tall is Alex Honnold?
Alex Honnold is 5 feet 11 inches tall, which is about 180 cm or 1.80 meters. That puts him slightly above average height for American men.
His height is a legitimate advantage in climbing. Being 5'11" means he can reach holds that shorter climbers might need a dynamic move or a skip to grab. Combined with his positive ape index of +3.1 inches, meaning his wingspan exceeds his height, Honnold has an effective reach that's closer to what you'd expect from someone 6'1" or 6'2". On a 3,000-foot wall like El Capitan where every inch of reach matters over thousands of moves, that adds up.
Alex Honnold Wingspan
Alex Honnold's wingspan (arm span) measures approximately 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm), giving him an ape index of +3.1 inches. This means his arms are 3.1 inches longer than his height, a measurably positive ape index that gives him a real reach advantage on the wall.
For context, the average person has an ape index close to zero, meaning wingspan roughly equals height. Honnold's +3.1 inches puts him well above average but isn't extreme by pro climbing standards. Some elite climbers have ape indices of +4 or more. What makes Honnold's effective is the combination with his 5'11" frame: he gets the reach of a taller climber without the extra weight that comes with a bigger body.
Alex Honnold Physique
Honnold's build is what you'd expect from someone who's spent two decades climbing full-time. He's lean with pronounced forearms, developed back and shoulder muscles, and minimal bulk everywhere else. He looks more like a distance runner than a bodybuilder.
His physique is entirely functional. The overdeveloped forearms come from years of gripping rock edges. His core is exceptionally strong (he trains front levers, leg lifts, and planks) because body tension is what keeps your feet on the wall on steep terrain. But he deliberately avoids building mass in his chest, quads, or biceps because that's dead weight when you're climbing.
At around 8-12% body fat, Honnold is as lean as most competitive endurance athletes. For the Taipei 101 climb, he trained for 2.5 months doing hundreds of reps per day of pull-ups, push-ups, and core work specifically to prepare for the repetitive movements of climbing this specific building, all 101 floors of it.
How Strong is Alex Honnold?
Honnold's strength is specialized. He's not going to win a bench press competition, but his fingers, forearms, and core are at an elite level that most people can't comprehend.
He can do one-arm pull-ups and regularly trains fingertip pull-ups on edges as small as 10-15mm, roughly the width of half your pinky. For the Taipei 101 climb, he practiced pulling himself up by gripping the narrow sides of a squat rack with just his finger tips. His dead hang time and grip endurance are extreme, built from decades of hanging on rock faces for hours at a time.
His training philosophy is straightforward: "If you want to improve, focus on your weaknesses; if you want to perform, focus on your strengths." He doesn't lift traditional weights. Everything is bodyweight, hangboard work, and climbing.
Alex Honnold Hands
Alex Honnold's hands are a subject of fascination. They're thick-skinned, heavily calloused, with fingers that are visibly thicker than average from years of gripping rock edges. They're tools built by decades of climbing, not genetics.
The kind of grip strength and callus development you see in Honnold's hands comes from consistent, progressive loading on small edges over years. While few of us will ever free solo anything, building the finger strength that makes hard climbing possible is achievable through structured hangboard training. Honnold himself uses a hangboard (the Beastmaker 2000, famously mounted in his van for years) as a core part of his training, and has said finger strength maintenance becomes increasingly important as climbers age.
If you're looking to develop similar finger strength for your own climbing goals, The Hangboard offers edge depths from 40mm down to 10mm, letting you start where you're comfortable and progressively train toward smaller holds as you get stronger.
Alex Honnold Age
Alex Honnold was born on August 17, 1985, making him 40 years old as of 2026. He started climbing at age 10 at a local climbing gym in Sacramento and began free soloing in his late teens.
At 40, Honnold is climbing at a level that would be impressive for someone half his age. The Taipei 101 free solo and his 2025 El Capitan routes with Tommy Caldwell both demonstrate that he hasn't lost a step. His focus on finger strength maintenance, flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness has allowed him to extend his career well beyond the point where most climbers start declining.
Alex Honnold Training
Honnold's training is methodical and climbing-specific. He climbs outdoors 3-4 days per week, does one indoor session on a Moon Board for limit bouldering, and trains at home with hangboard sessions, one-arm pull-ups, core exercises, and flexibility work.
His hangboard routine focuses on maintaining the finger strength required for long multi-pitch routes. He uses a Beastmaker 2000 and emphasizes repeaters and max hangs on progressively smaller edges. He's said in interviews that finger strength maintenance becomes the most important training variable as climbers age, because your tendons and pulleys need consistent stimulus to stay strong.
For the Taipei 101 climb specifically, Honnold trained for about 2.5 months with a high-volume conditioning approach: hundreds of reps per day of pull-ups, push-ups, core work, and stretching. He also practiced unique fingertip-only pull-ups by gripping the sides of a squat rack to simulate the building's features. The goal was to experience deep fatigue in training so the repetitive movements of climbing 101 floors felt manageable.
He runs and does cardiovascular training regularly, especially before big multi-hour objectives. He does not lift traditional weights, prioritizing strength-to-weight ratio above all else.
If you want to train finger strength like Honnold, a hangboard is the single most effective tool. The Hangboard is designed with progressive edge depths from 40mm down to 10mm, so you can follow a structured protocol that builds real finger strength over time. That's the same kind of training that keeps elite climbers performing into their 40s.
Alex Honnold Van
Before settling down with his family in Las Vegas, Honnold spent over a decade living full-time out of a van. He became almost as famous for his minimalist van life as for his climbing. His setup was simple: a converted Ford Econoline (and later a Ram ProMaster) with a small kitchen, a sleeping platform, and a Beastmaker 2000 hangboard mounted inside so he could train finger strength anywhere he parked.
The van let Honnold follow the seasons and live at the base of whatever wall he was working on. He'd park at Yosemite for months, drive to Red Rock in the winter, and hit Smith Rock or Indian Creek when conditions were right. Living expenses were almost nothing, which let him focus entirely on climbing at a time when he wasn't earning much from sponsorships.
Honnold eventually moved into a house after meeting Sanni McCandless and starting a family, but the van era is what defined his image as climbing's ultimate dirtbag. The "Free Solo" documentary captured this lifestyle in detail, showing Honnold cooking simple meals and training on his van-mounted hangboard in the Yosemite parking lot. Even now, he's talked about missing the simplicity of van life, though he's clearly not going back anytime soon with two kids and a garage climbing gym.
Alex Honnold Movies and TV Shows
Honnold has been the subject of several major films and TV productions:
- Free Solo (2018) - The Oscar-winning documentary that made Honnold a household name. It follows his preparation for and completion of the first free solo ascent of El Capitan's Freerider route. The film grossed $29 million at the box office and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
- Skyscraper Live (2026) - The Netflix live broadcast of his free solo of Taipei 101 in Taiwan. Drew 6.2 million viewers and debuted at #3 on Netflix's English TV rankings.
- Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold (2024) - A three-part National Geographic series documenting Honnold's expeditions to remote Arctic peaks in Greenland, where he combined rock climbing with glacier travel and environmental research.
- The Devil's Climb (2023) - A documentary following Honnold and Conrad Anker's expedition to the Shark's Fin route on Mount Meru in the Indian Himalayas.
- Get a Little Out There with Alex Honnold (2026) - A five-part travel series in partnership with Travel Nevada and Outside Network, following Honnold exploring outdoor adventures and roadside attractions across Nevada.
Honnold also hosts two podcasts: "Climbing Gold," focused on the climbing world, and "Planet Visionaries," a Rolex-sponsored show about environmental conservation featuring guests like Mark Ruffalo and ocean conservationist Dr. Sylvia Earle.
Alex Honnold Wife
Alex Honnold is married to Sanni McCandless. They met at one of his book signings in 2015, started dating, and got married on September 13, 2020, with fellow climber Tommy Caldwell officiating the ceremony.
The couple has two daughters. Their first, June, was born on February 17, 2022. Their second daughter, Alice (who goes by the nickname "Summer" to avoid confusion with "Alex"), was born on February 4, 2024. The family lives in Las Vegas near Red Rock Canyon, in a home that includes a climbing gym in the garage with an adjustable-pitch wall and hangboards.
Sanni is a life coach and entrepreneur who has signed with Transatlantic Agency for a forthcoming book. She was featured prominently in the "Free Solo" documentary, where the tension between Honnold's risk-taking and their relationship became one of the film's central storylines.
Is Alex Honnold Still Alive?
Yes. Alex Honnold is alive and very active as of 2026. He free soloed Taipei 101 live on Netflix on January 25, 2026, completed multiple El Capitan routes with Tommy Caldwell throughout 2025, and continues to run the Honnold Foundation promoting solar energy access worldwide.
Alex Honnold Nationality
Alex Honnold is American. He was born and raised in Sacramento, California, and currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada near Red Rock Canyon. He is of mixed European descent. His mother, Dierdre Wolownick, is of Polish heritage and notably became the oldest woman to climb El Capitan.
Where is Alex Honnold From?
Alex Honnold is from Sacramento, California. Growing up near Yosemite National Park, one of the world's premier climbing destinations, shaped his career from a young age. He started climbing at age 10 at a local gym and was making trips to Yosemite by his teens. He now lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, near the Red Rock Canyon climbing area.
Has Alex Honnold Climbed Everest?
No. Alex Honnold has not climbed Mount Everest and has shown little interest in doing so. His focus has always been technical rock climbing and free soloing rather than high-altitude mountaineering. These are fundamentally different disciplines. Everest is primarily an endurance and altitude challenge, while Honnold specializes in technical difficulty and the mental game of climbing without protection.
That said, Honnold is no stranger to big mountains. His "Arctic Ascent" NatGeo series (2024) documented expeditions to remote Arctic peaks, and he's completed climbs in Patagonia, Morocco, and other mountain environments. He just doesn't pursue the 8,000-meter peak circuit.
Alex Honnold Net Worth
Alex Honnold's net worth is commonly reported at around $2 million, though the real number is likely higher given recent earnings. The Netflix Taipei 101 broadcast alone reportedly paid approximately $500,000. He earns $45,000 to $125,000 per speaking engagement, receives an estimated $100,000 to $150,000 annually from sponsors including The North Face, Black Diamond, and La Sportiva, and continues to earn royalties from the "Free Solo" documentary which grossed $29 million at the box office.
His Las Vegas property, purchased in 2020 for $1.7 million, is now estimated at around $3 million. So why does the "$2 million" figure persist? Largely because Honnold donates about a third of his income to the Honnold Foundation, his solar energy nonprofit, and personally covers all the foundation's operating costs. He's not accumulating wealth the way most celebrities do. A significant chunk of what he earns goes directly to funding solar energy projects in 27 countries.
Honnold Foundation
The Honnold Foundation is Alex Honnold's nonprofit organization focused on promoting solar energy access for communities worldwide. Honnold founded it in 2012 and it has since funded solar energy projects in 27 countries, providing clean electricity to communities that previously had none.
What makes the foundation unusual is how Honnold funds it. He donates roughly a third of his personal income to the organization and covers all of its operating costs out of pocket. That means every outside donation goes directly to solar projects rather than administrative overhead.
Honnold has said that the foundation gives his climbing career a sense of purpose beyond personal achievement. It's also become a significant part of his public identity, alongside climbing. He frequently speaks about solar energy access at corporate events and conferences, and his "Planet Visionaries" podcast with Rolex covers environmental conservation topics. The foundation's work was one of the reasons Honnold was named a National Geographic Explorer.
Alex Honnold Ape Index
Alex Honnold's ape index is +3.1 inches (8.5 cm), meaning his arm span extends about 3 inches beyond his height. This positive ape index gives him a meaningful reach advantage on the wall, allowing him to span between holds that might require a dynamic move for a shorter-armed climber.
Curious about your own ape index and how it compares to Honnold's? Measure it here with our ape index calculator.
Is Alex Honnold Vegan?
Not strictly. Honnold describes himself as "mostly vegetarian, semi-vegan," a flexitarian approach driven mainly by environmental concerns. He doesn't buy meat and won't seek it out at restaurants, but he'll eat it at work events or on expeditions rather than let it go to waste. He drinks only water with no coffee, tea, alcohol, or carbonated beverages.
His daily diet typically includes Athletic Greens in the morning, eggs or muesli with berries for breakfast, smoothies in the afternoon, and complex salads or grain bowls for dinner. He snacks on bell peppers, nuts, fruit, and avocado toast. He also has a partnership with Momentous for their AbsoluteZero Plant vegan protein line and has invested in Beyond Meat.
