Alex Honnold still climbing but afraid to make a phone call

Alex Honnold is climbing into the podcast world with Climbing Gold, which will tell stories from some of the all-time greats.

Finding your passion early in life is a rarity. Turning a childlike passion into a once-in-a-million career like Alex Honnold has — that is the life lottery jackpot. It started an early age.

“I loved getting on top of things more than the average person,” Honnold told FanSided. “I love getting to the top of the tree, or the top of a play structure, even just running up to the top of the pile of dirt.”

Honnold turned that love into an unprecedented career as the first and still only free soloist to scale El Capitan — the 3,000 foot mammoth rock formation in Yosemite National Park. Gaining the confidence and knowledge did not happen magically.

“For something like El Cap I wanted to climb it for 10 years, but for the first nine of those I’d look at it and I would feel sick to my stomach and I’d feel a lot of anxiety. By the end, it stated to transition to this is going to be incredible, this is going to be fun,” Honnold explained.

Honnold trained six days a week going up the mountain countless times to get himself ready. His strategy of relentless preparation continues today as he pushes his career forward at age 35. He recently set a personal record for “hang time” building strength.

Honnold works on the mental side less these days, having become an expert at managing fear on the mountain. That does not mean, however, there are certain things that Honnold does not fear.

“I really don’t like cold calling people,” Honnold said. “No matter how well-practiced you are in one thing it doesn’t necessarily transfer to everything else. I’m very good at putting myself in uncomfortable physical situations and feeling comfortable, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to cold calling and chatting about things you need.”

Honnold is married now and living in Las Vegas, He and his wife are considering having a family, a dramatically different life than the 10-year period Honnold spent living by himself in a van chasing his dream. But even with the life changes, Honnold is not considering ending his career anytime soon.

“The specifics of what I’m doing may change,” Honnold said. “If I have a family maybe I’ll free solo a little less more likely I’ll focus on sport climbing than mountain climbing, ’cause sport climbing is closer to home and more casual. I wouldn’t be surprised if the types of climbing I do shift a little bit, but it’s hard to imagine not going climbing. I love going climbing — it’s all I do.”

There is risk living a full life, sometimes extreme risk, especially when your occupation of choice is a free soloist. A little good fortune along the way helps along with the requisite preparation and skill.

“I’ve had a couple of near misses and sort of lucky moments,” Honnold acknowledged. “Most of the near misses aren’t on anything dramatic and extreme, they are on easier terrain where you break a hand hold. Something in Yosemite where I pulled a really big rock off and basically started to teeter backward and then managed to shove the rock back and sort of catch my balance and not fall off, basically.”

Basically, Honnold is an inspiration for challenging limits and preparing relentlessly to do whatever it is you want with your life.

Alex Honnold has started a podcast called Climbing Gold where he and co-host Fitz Cahall share stories from the people who define the sport of climbing. Climbing Gold is a 10-episode serialized show with episodes released weekly.