Pablo Durana / National Geographic
If you ’re fresh to climb up , your first introduction to Alex Honnold in all probability fare in 2018’sFree Solo , the Oscar - gain documentary from Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi andJimmy Chin . Free Solodepicts Honnold ’s pursuit to become the first climber to free solo El Captain ( El Cap ) in Yosemite National Park . Free soloing mean no rope , so Honnold scaled a 3,000 - foot wall with climbing horseshoe and chalk . Free Solois one of the most inspiring and anxiety - inducing documentary film about the human spirit . Honnold ’s groundbreaking ceremony accomplishment does pray the head of how he can top it .
Honnold is unsure how he ’ll ever topFree Solo . However , the 38 - twelvemonth - old has found a Modern purpose for climbing , or as he puts it , a way to do “ something useful in his life . ” In 2022 , Honnold trip to Eastern Greenland to climbIngmikortilaq , one of the world ’s tall unclimbed raw monolith . Before attempting the first ascent of a wall 1,000 animal foot higher than El Cap , Honnold and a squad of expert embark on a scientific expedition go around around mood variety inquiry . Honnold ’s team let in world - class climbers Hazel Findlay and Mikey Schaefer , glaciologist Dr. Heïdi Sevestre , Greenlandic guide Adam Kjeldsen , and renowned adventurer Aldo Kane .
Pablo Durana / National Geographic
The sashay was capture on flick and becameArctic Ascent with Alex Honnold , a three - part docuseries premiering February 4 on National Geographic . In conversation with Digital Trends , Honnold talks about find purpose after El Cap , tackling the Greenland expedition , and the challenges of scalingIngmikortilaq .
Note : This consultation has been edited for length andclarity .
Digital Trends : I want to start with something your married woman , Sanni , said in the serial publication . After solo El Cap , you found yourself in this place where you were downcast , lost , and looking for determination again . How did you snap out of that ?
Alex Honnold : Yeah . I mean , I think that ’s sort of on-going … I do n’t know . In a way , El Cap provide such a clear function and such a clear drive for so many age . I cogitate that having achieved that , probably for the balance of my life , I ’ll be left looking for things that are exciting in the right way . I mean , withArctic Ascentspecifically , it was overnice to see all the pieces , all the things that I care about , come together into one trip .
It ’s like , yeah , we get to do some cool mounting , but cool climb by itself , you ’re like , “ Is it deserving doing a TV matter [ about it ] ? Is it worth being out from family ? ” Cool climbing plus a nerveless glaciologist who can learn us about climate skill and then partake in it with a mainstream consultation in a totally remote and fragile ecosystem . Then I ’m like , OK , OK . All the patch are come together well enough that it starts to feel really worth it .
Climbing El Capwas more of a personal mission and a dreaming . This new mission , as you explained , is not just about you . It ’s about climate inquiry . When did that teddy happen in your climbing ?
You know , it ’s essentially an ongoing shift . I mean , I have a foundation . I started theHonnold Foundationin 2012 , which suffer solar projection around the world . Obviously , I ’ve always wish about that work , and I ’ve always wanted to do something useful with my life [ express joy ] because climb is fundamentally very self - focussed . It ’s like you ’re motivated by your own goals and your own task , especially with devoid soloing . Nobody ever even see it , necessarily . It ’s like stringently for you and your own experience , and that ’s really satisfying .
But , you ’re leave enquire if maybe you should do something a small bite well with your time [ laughs ] or more useful for the man . I think it ’s middling to say that I ’ve had a steady broadening consciousness around that kind of affair where it ’s like you feel like you should do something . Now , I have a family . I ’ve done a batch of thing I want to do climb - wise , and I ’m like , I should probably be doing something utilitarian with my time .
On this charge , I know everyone is snuff it to talk about the bulwark [ Ingmikortilaq ] , and rightfully so , but you submit the long route to do all of this research . The first checkpoint was go up the Pool Wall . I get laid that was a challenge because you had to take up people who do n’t necessarily climb for a living . What was that conversation like when you first approach Heidi like , “ Hey , we have to climb this bulwark . Are you plot ? ”
Heidi and Adam are n’t experienced climbers , but they are incredibly fit . They ’re experienced mountain people , and they ’re experience with rope oeuvre and thing . It ’s a little disingenuous to frame up them as entire novices because they are incredibly strong . You know , they ’ve already hiked all the way acrossEastern Greenland .
I was n’t in reality that worried about them getting up the wall . I know they could do it fine because they were just ascending ropes . They did n’t have to do technological climbing per se . They were just ascend and then camping . I knew it would be this freehanded risky venture for them . I was pretty psyched . I just knew that if they put the prison term in , they would eventually sort of moil it out . I intend , it was super play to have the whole team up there .
It ’s a signified of camaraderie that you ’re all doing it . It ’s bugger off to feel unlike than just doing something for yourself .
Yeah . The original estimate was they could ski around because you could conceivably ski around , but it would take a couple of days . It seemed involved with crevasses and navigating and things . We ’re like , it seems a deal more fun to stay together and all have an experience on the wall , specially because I recognise that it would be a stretch for them , but not too bragging a stretch . They ’d be capable to do it , but it would be awe-inspiring , which is the perfect sorting of experience .
And then you go right into that 42 - mile trek [ across Renland Ice Cap ] . You do n’t realize how mentally and physically fatigued it is . How do you recover mid - trip ?
Honestly , I think that this trip was in the sweet place . It was a six - week expedition , and we fundamentally just go intemperately for the whole six weeks . I think that had it been much farsighted than that , we would have give way down . Also , there was enough bad weather throughout the trip that we had eternal rest day built in here and there , just by nature of being stuck in a whiteout or being stuck in storms and raining nonstop .
I cogitate that the weather condition actually kept us from breaking down physically too much . Also , six weeks is enough that you may kind of try really hard and then go home exhausted . Had it been much longer , we would have gotten really sap . [ laughs ]
Was there any part of the slip where you opine you had to stop ?
No . They show the random day where we have to stop in a whiteout , and it ’s raining , and things like that . I intend there were more twenty-four hours than they show in the film , but apparently , they ’re just not go to show another “ bad conditions solar day . ” Our acclivity on the wall sort of get cut together into one climb , but they actually stand for six or seven days of going up and down , bushel rope , and descend back to camp .
A bunch of the days , it would rain down the whole morning , and then you ’d go up for , like , an hour or two in the good afternoon . Then , it would part to play false a small spot , and then you ’d retire back to inner circle . You ’d be like , “ Oh , at least we climbed a little bit today . Like , at least we kept pushing our high compass point . ” But you ’re like , “ Man , it sure is frigid here . ”
You finally get to Ingmikortilaq . Withsoloing El Cap , you practise that route hundreds of times . You acknowledge every move . But this is a first ascent . What ’s the planning for something like this , especially when you have n’t climb it before ?
In some ways , you ’re not ready for the climb instantly because you ca n’t . It ’s a first acclivity . Each of us [ Mikey and Hazel , the other professional climbers on the squad ] has done enough first ascents around the globe climb up other types of cliffs that you ’re just sort of prepared for anything . You just feel like you ’ll show up and compute it out as you go .
I think that the real way you prepare for a ascent like that is by assembling the right team and having the right tool with you , whether that ’s mass or actual computer hardware or actual equipment . In this case , we were there , we had what we require , and we were ready for anything .
One of the interesting scenes of this series is when you , Hazel , and Mikey talk after the first day of mounting [ Ingmikortilaq ] . Mikey decide it ’s not worth the risk anymore for him . You ’re clearly attempt to convince him . You say , “ Hey , this might be worth it . Like , I think the risk is deserving it . ” Was that tough to rationalize and accept [ when Mikey stopped climb ] ?
Yeah . I imply , my fully grown vexation was that Mikey would go home and then feel disappointed that he had n’t done something . He ’d pass six weeks in the middle of nowhere and not had his name on the thing that he was there to do . But something that is n’t really report in the show is what Mikey did alternatively , [ which was ] guide the camera crew up to the summit of the good deal via the other side , and then camp on top and sort of facilitate the logistics to get people filming with me and Hazel .
He ’s basically a professional mass guide , and he ’s very unspoilt at that form of affair . He chose to do something else that he ’s quite honorable at that ’s safer and more useful for the team and [ helped ] our own climb . It ’s not so much that he was just giving up . He was just choosing a different path where he could add in a unlike way , which was also a much safe agency . He was like , “ You know what ? I finger good about that . ” [ express mirth ]
With these huge climbs , you cite in the series that you’re able to really only roll the die so many times . I mean , how many more times can you stray the dice ?
Well , it look on how much you ’re really roll . I think that withArctic Ascentand Ingmikortilaq , I do n’t really see that as roam the die . I intend , obviously , there is some nonsubjective hazard like a slack rock [ that could be dangerous ] . But those , to me , are sort of background risks that are manageable . I think with big labor like El Cap , that did n’t feel like rolling the die either , but realistically it is . You bonk , it ’s just much secretive to the boundary .
Something likeArctic Ascent , I mean , I would do an military expedition like this every year if given the chance because it ’s so sweet . I learned a sight . I had a good time , great team , [ and a ] meaningful object . Everything about it just function for me . It does n’t feel that dangerous . I would do that each year if I could .
Do you have another hostile expedition line up for the future ?
Yeah , we did a trip to Alaska last summer also through National Geographic . That ’ll be a show sometime next class or something . Nothing lined up for this year just because , with two unlike projects in the pipeline , it ’s eldritch to schedule a third one when they have n’t even aired the first one . [ laughs ]
Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnoldpremieres at 8 p.m. ET / CT on February 4 onNational Geographic . Stream the next daylight onDisney+andHulu .
