Top 25 Alex Honnold Quotes

In a general sense, I think it’s bad to bring too much money into climbing, since it takes away a little from the beauty of the mountains. But at the same time, I can’t blame the Nepali government – or the Indian, Pakistani or Chinese, depending on where you’re climbing – from wanting to capitalize on foreign climbers.

I feel that a lot of human spirituality stems from the belief that we are unique and special in the universe, but maybe we are just what happens when there is proper temperature and proper distance from the right type of star.

Anytime you finish a climb, there’s always the next thing you can try.

Anything called the Teflon Corner is not sweet for free-soloing.

So many people condemn me for risk taking, but I find it sort of hypocritical because everybody takes risks. Even the absence of activity could be viewed as a risk. If you sit on the sofa for your entire life, you’re running a higher risk of getting heart disease and cancer.

I think it’s great that so many people are enjoying climbing. I’ve always loved climbing; I don’t see why other people wouldn’t enjoy it just as much. As long as everyone does their best to respect the areas in which they’re climbing, I don’t see how the growth of the sport could be a bad thing.

When I was a teenager, I did a lot of pull-ups and push-ups. Every night before bed, I’d do 150 – in sets of 30 or so. Looking back on it now, I’m not totally sure that’s the best way to improve as a climber. But it did make me a lot better at doing pull-ups and push-ups.

How I’m portrayed in films has more to do with the filmmaking and what they need in the story than anything else. I’m the same person I’ve always been, I just get used in different ways according to the filmmakers’ needs – which is fine with me; it makes for great films.

No matter the risks we take, we always consider the end to be too soon, even though in life, more than anything else, quality should be more important than quantity.

Filming typically takes a bit away from the climbing experience, since you have to stop all the time and shoot.

I was 19 when my father died from a heart attack. He was a 55-year-old college professor and had led what was by all appearances a risk-free life. But he was overweight, and heart disease runs in our family.

My fantasy breakfast is just a really good egg scramble. Maybe I’ll add a little feta, so, uh, obviously not totally dairy-free. Definitely some vegetables, maybe some really nice tortillas; something to make it like a Mexican-style breakfast. I just really love breakfast.

The diet for climbing all the time isn’t really different from the diet for living. It’s not like cardio sports where you’re burning a bajillion calories every day.

I’ve walked away from more climbs than I can count, just because I sensed that things were not quite right.

My comfort zone is like a little bubble around me, and I’ve pushed it in different directions and made it bigger and bigger until these objectives that seemed totally crazy eventually fall within the realm of the possible.

I know that when I’m standing alone below a thousand-foot wall, looking up and considering a climb, my sponsors are the furthest thing from my mind. If I’m going to take risks, they are going to be for myself – not for any company.

I think part of what made the original ‘Sufferfest’ charming was the extremely low production value. It was all shaky handheld footage from Cedar.

I’m sponsored by the solar company Goal Zero, and they were gracious enough to install panels on my van and a nice battery system for the inside. I have lights and a fridge inside the van. And of course I had panels installed on my mom’s house.

I love my climbing shoes. Virtually all of my big solos have been in the TC Pros. They are the most important thing when I’m soloing.

For sure, Potrero Chico is a super nice winter vacation climbing area. It’s really convenient to fly into Monterrey, one of the nicer cities in Mex, and get a taxi to Potero. Then you can just live in the camping area and walk everywhere. It’s muy tranquilo, as they say there.

A hangboard is a little piece of wood with edges, holes, and slopes. There’s different strategies for different things – hanging, varying grips, adding weight. If I do a hard finger workout, I’m definitely sore.

I live out of my van, which gives me a first-hand appreciation for power and lighting. A few years ago, I rebuilt the interior of my van to include solar panels and a battery that powers LEDs for lighting and allows me to charge my phone and laptop.

Climbing is definitely very much strength-to-weight ratio. At the same time, I’ve never dieted or restricted calories. You’re just sort of mindful about not getting plump.

In the years after the expedition to Chad, I started the Honnold Foundation, a small nonprofit that was my attempt to do something positive in the world. I sought out projects that both helped the environment and improved peoples’ standards of living. The more I researched, the more I gravitated toward solar.

Much as Africa has leapfrogged straight to mobile phones, it has the opportunity to skip the dirty, grid-tied power plants that currently operate across the developed world and go straight to clean, distributed power.