Alex Honnold

Alex Honnold
	Honnold in 2023
Personal information
Born	August 17, 1985; Sacramento, California, U.S.
Occupation	Rock climber
Spouse	Sanni McCandless (m. 2020)
Children	2
Climbing career
Type of climber	Free solo climbing; Big wall climbing; Bouldering; Sport climbing; Traditional climbing; Alpine climbing; Buildering;
Highest grade	Redpoint: 5.14d (9a); ; Bouldering: V12 (8A+);
Known for	First-ever to free solo a 5.13a (7c+) grade big wall route; The first person to free solo a full route (from base to summit) on El Capitan via Freerider (5.13a); Speed record holder on The Nose route of El Capitan; First person to free solo Taipei 101 building;

Alexander J Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his free solo ascents of big wall climbing routes. Honnold rose to worldwide fame in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo a full route on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park via the 880-metre (2,900 ft) route Freerider at grade 5.13a, the first-ever big-wall free-solo ascent at that grade, a climb described in The New York Times as "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever".

In 2015, he won a Piolet d'Or in alpine climbing with Tommy Caldwell for their completion of the enchainment (known as the Fitz Traverse) of the Cerro Chaltén Group (or Fitzroy Group) in Patagonia over five days. On January 25, 2026, he free soloed the Taipei 101 tower in Taipei, Taiwan, the tallest buildering free solo climb in history and graded at circa. 5.11.

Honnold is the author (with David Roberts) of the memoir Alone on the Wall (2015) and the subject of the 2018 biographical documentary Free Solo, which won an Academy Award and a BAFTA.