What a Chill Adventure Looks Like to the ‘Free Solo’ Guy, with Alex Honnold

Paddy: [00:00:00] Okay, I am recording. So we're all recording now.

Alex: Bueno

Paddy: This is great. Look at us. you're, well, you're a professional at like a lot of things included

Alex: I do technically host two podcasts,

Paddy: I know you do. Which is like, I thought I'm supposed to be the podcast host and you're like, well, oh, you do one. That's cute.

Alex: or you could say I do zero because the whole team does each of 'em and I just get to chat with people.

Paddy: that's, that's pretty nice. You're the professional chit chatter. Uh, and don't work on Post Pro or anything like that,

Alex: no, I literally dunno how any of the things work. I just like send audio files to people.

Paddy: you still get to say you're a podcast host, so there you go.

You know what, maybe if I start climbing, I too can just be a podcast host.

Alex: Start trying to find out. I,

Paddy: Hey, if you've got climbing shoes and you believe in yourself, anything is possible.

Alex: I don't know if that's totally true, but, you know, I like, that'll be my new mantra.

Paddy: Yeah. Too

Alex: I shoes, I believe in myself. I

Paddy: totally. Yeah.

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PADDYO INTRO:

If you want to know how famous someone is, just ask my mom. She’s [00:01:00] a good barometer of whether or not a personality has broken Internet containment and become capital “F” famous in the sense that people who know nothing about said personality still know who they are. And, to be clear, my Mom doesn’t know a single outdoorsy athlete or personality unless that person has a) been on this podcast or b) is Alex Honnold.

It’s tough to overstate what the Oscar-winning film “Free Solo” did for Honnold’s visibility amongst mainstream folks, millions of whom now know him as that guy who climbs huge things without ropes—that guy who you’re terrified to watch but also can’t turn your eyes away from.

A lot of those people recently found themselves in that very position, when Alex’s latest ropeless climb—to the top of the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 skyscraper—streamed live on Netflix. I was among them, mouth agape, mesmerized by his bravery and athleticism and grace, [00:02:00] just in awe of his bonkers abilities.

So you might be surprised when I tell you that I actually saw him do something even more interesting recently. See, I got an advanced screener of a new series on Outside TV called “Get a Little Out There With Alex Honnold.” In it, I watched Alex do … totally normal, everyday things. And, I’m telling you, it blew my mind.

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The show premieres on Outside TV on February 26, and it follows Alex's travels all over his home state of Nevada. Of course, he climbs some spectacular, gigantic walls, which, to be honest, I didn’t even know they had in the Silver State. But the most entertaining stuff comes when Alex participates in entirely non-life-threatening adventures—stargazing, mining for turquoise, flowy mountain biking, getting ice cream with his kids, hanging out with a donkey in a bar … you know, normal everyday Nevada [00:03:00] stuff.

I found this so fascinating because, to just about everyone, Alex exists on a pedestal. His abilities and accomplishments put him in such rarified air that he hardly seems human sometimes. Heck, the guy’s met Taylor Swift! Twice! But what I glimpsed in “Get A Little Out There”, and what I learned in talking to him for this episode, is that—for all his record setting and jet setting—what Alex takes away from it all is surprisingly straightforward and down to earth.

For example, Alex has never been that comfortable with some of the trappings of his fame. But he’s come to appreciate that things he used to dismiss, like rubbing elbows with actual royalty, or being invited to Hollywood parties, can be really cool experiences if you open yourself up to them. This has led to an “always say yes” approach to life that played a huge part in [00:04:00] making the Taipei 101 climb happen.

Or take the decision to raise his family in Nevada. It was driven by a need for a homebase with world class outdoor access that allowed him to get home for dinner every night. Because, as laser focused as Honnold is on his next awe-inspiring climbing feat; that eyeball-popping attempt that you, me, and my mom will all gather round the boob tube to watch, he’s even more focused on making sure he’s home when one of his kids is sick. Superstar, God-like outdoor athletes—they’re just like us, amiright?!

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First things first, burnt toast. What's your last humbling and or hilarious moment outside?

Alex: A humbling outdoor experience?

Hmm. I don't even know. I mean, well for humbling, I

Paddy: Do you get humbled outside?

Alex: Yeah, well, literally right now it's like whipping wind and snowing and I live out in Vegas, so that's a little unusual. But, um, I was supposed to be climbing outside today and I was like hoping to, I was aspiring to go [00:05:00] send my project today and I was kinda like, well, you know, and I've been looking at the forecast a lot and I just did not see this whole storm system with like, raging wind and, and snow coming through.

And so I'm like, I don't think I'm climbing outside today. You know, that's not exactly getting humbled, but that is a constant reminder that no matter what your schedule says and what you wanna do climbing wise, you kinda always just have to do what nature tells you.

Paddy: Yeah. So your last humbling experiences today, just like lack of Gore-Tex, and also a warm, cozy home.

Alex: Yeah, like literally last night I was trying to decide whether or not I should try to basically move this timing. ' cause I was like, oh, I really wanna go to the crag. I really wanna send my project. And then I woke up this morning and was like, well, it's like 50 mile an hour winds and snowing.

I'm like, I don't think I can send my project. So I was kinda like, well, I guess it's a gym day either way, so

Paddy: yeah. Well, I guess, I guess I gotta thank Mama Nature for coming through, so you and I can have a nice little chitchat here.

Alex: Yeah, exactly.

Paddy: All right, let's get into it.

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So, you and I have only met once, very briefly at Outside Fest this past summer, uh, but we do have a [00:06:00] few pals in common.

One is the most handsome voice in all of podcastry, the pod father himself, Fitz So in prep for our chat today, I asked him for some behind the scenes honnold facts, and Fitz told

Alex: He, he must have a lot of 'em

Paddy: He does. He was like, how can I choose? I have all of the dirt, all of the skeletons in the closet. But Fitz told me somehting That is pretty damn.

Uh, interesting. He pointed out that you inhabit this upper orbit of celebrity. Like you've met royalty, you've hung out with Brad Pitt. your best friends with Taylor Swift. Yeah.

Alex: Yeah. Yeah. Actually I met her. I met her twice, I think.

Paddy: So there,

Alex: she'd remember

Paddy: that's two more times than I have met Taylor Swift. And one more time than I have seen Upsettingly handsome Brad Pitt.

But when you travel, you go to local climbing gyms, you open up your garage climbing wall to the community, you mentor climbers and you follow all the young crushers. The point is, what is surprising here is that despite your extreme celebrity and decades of climbing, you seem as obsessed with the sport as ever.

Is [00:07:00] that true?

Alex: yeah. Yeah, actually, I mean, particularly the last couple months I've been, uh, I've been climbing really well and I'm all fired up and I'm just like, oh, I'm all psyched.

Paddy: So how do you not let something like this celebrity stratosphere that you're inhabiting inflate your ego or sully or distract from climbing?

Alex: Celebrity stuff just doesn't, I mean, like, no matter how well known you are, it's still freaking raining today and I still don't get to send my project, you know what I mean? It's like, that's the thing with climbing is that like nobody cares. If you met Taylor Swift when you go to the crag, like you're gonna get fricking spanked on your project.

Like right now, the whole top of my project is seeping water. And so I just like can't really do it 'cause it's all wet and then, you know, it's raining. Like currently it's raining more and it's like freezing wind and you're just kinda like, I really wanna do this thing, but nature won't let me do it. It's too hard.

It, I don't know. I mean it's like hard to have too much ego in it when also, I mean, nowadays, you know, it's like I'm still climbing my best and, and doing what I can. But the next generation of climbers is so much better that you're kind of like, well, no matter how much I love it, no matter how hard I try, you know, I'm just like not that good anymore.

Paddy: Oh God,

Alex: [00:08:00] Well, I mean, I still have, I still have, there's still things that I'm, I'm good at, but compared, like, just in terms of physical performance, like everybody's better than me now, so I'm kinda like, all right. You know, like time's changed. Like that's, that's cool.

Paddy: Well, so that's like, the physical side of the sport, but when you're in a room with folks like Taylor Swift and Brad Pitt, are you like, oh, that's pretty cool. In the back of your head, are you still thinking about your next climb, your big project that you're working on?

Alex: Yeah.

Paddy: that stuff just not interest you, like at all?

Alex: yeah, I'm probably like, why am I in this room? I'm like, do I have to be here? Should I be at home in bed? Like, I mean, well, actually, I mean,

Paddy: d'oeuvres aren't that good.

Alex: So I saw Brad Pitt at, uh, at Formula One when it came to Vegas. 'cause uh, uh, I'm sponsored by Rolex. And, and Formula One at the time was sponsored by Rolex.

And so it was like an event. And I was like, oh, cool, I'm gonna Formula One, check it out. It's like a local home thing. That'll be cool. Anyway, and Brad Pitt was like sitting across the room but all that to say, I was basically at Formula One, I was like, this is very loud, it's very late at night and it's totally insane. And I was like, I just don't know if I need to be here.

You know what I mean? I was like, this is, this is not like, I don't [00:09:00] need to fly my private jet to fricking CF one around the world. Like, this is kind of dumb.

Paddy: So even with all this stuff that like you really like probably never signed up for, never really thought that was gonna happen when

Alex: not to say that I'm like, not to say I'm ungrateful for it because I, it is cool life experiences and it's like, you know, it's always cool. It makes a good story, you know, like. you know, it's fun. Like I'm, I'm into it. It's cool, but it's definitely not the point, you know what I mean? The point is sending your project or like doing things that you're proud of or?

Paddy: in that regard then, do you think that as your career has progressed, has climbing become more meaningful or more important?

Alex: No, I, I think it's always been, I mean, I'm probably actually less neurotic about my climbing now than I was when I was younger, because I think when I was younger it like really mattered. But now I have kids and, you know, I'm like, obviously my family, like, you know, taking care of my sick child is more important than sending my project.

You know, things like that. and then, you know, like the work I do through my foundation has, has blossomed over the years and like that's probably more meaningful in the, in the long term than, than any climbing thing. That said though, I mean, I still just like climbing [00:10:00] just as much. I mean, it's just as fun.

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Paddy: something that is kind of like climbing, but also kind of not like climbing in the traditional sense. Anyways, is your next big adventure as we speak. You're planning to scale a building in Taipei, the 1,667 foot Taipei 1 0 1 skyscraper, which is the tallest building in Taiwan and the 11th, tallest building in the world.

That is certainly different from Yosemite, big wall climbing. So what the hell drew you to this project?

Alex: know, it, it actually might be a little less different than you might think. I mean, so, okay, so well, so, so a different way to frame it is imagine an almost 1700 foot tall, freestanding vertical tower that's by itself dominates its landscape, is really hard to get access to, but somebody's allowed you to climb in.

You'd be like, I'm definitely gonna go climb that. You know what I mean? And so it's like, if you think of

Paddy: Yeah. But it's not [00:11:00] made of, of glass and steel though.

Alex: Well, in a way though, like, does that matter? You know what I mean? Because

Paddy: I, I mean, I don't, you tell me like,

Alex: well, I mean. Yeah, I mean, so, so I understand why you'd think like, oh, but that's totally different.

And I'm like, yeah, it is kind of different. But like, it's funny, people talk about Yosemite climbing as like, the slabs feel really glassy, you know, it's like, oh, they feel smooth and slick. But the thing is, like, I've intentionally traveled to a bunch of places in the world. Like I went to climb on the Slate quarries in North Wales, in the UK because they're famously incredibly smooth.

You know, if you imagine like a slate patio or something. But anyways, like these, uh, the slate quarries, like the rock is so smooth, and so it's like these tiny, tiny edges, super hard rock. so I went there specifically because it was like a unique style of climbing on this very smooth rock. It like forces you to do, do different things.

And so, I mean, in general, you know, I've been a, I've been climbing for 30 years and I travel widely to experience different things in climbing. And you're kinda like, well this is still climbing. You know, it's like you're still using your body to scale this like 1700 foot tower. It's just different materials.

And I'm kinda like, that's fine.

Paddy: Well, do you [00:12:00] expect the skyscraper to to the other big objectives that you've done outside? I I, is there something that will translate over or is this

Alex: Yeah. No, no, for sure. No, I've, uh, I've, I've, I've scouted on it and stuff. I've like practiced and, you know, played around on it. So, I mean, no, the climbing is just, it's climbing, you know, it's, it's cool. It's, uh, you know, it's, it's more, it's more repetitive than rock climbing. 'cause rock climbing is obviously incredibly varied.

'cause nature is so varied and the building is less varied. But the, the mechanics of it, the way you're moving your body and what you're grabbing and all that, I mean, it's still just climbing. It's like, I don't know. I mean, you know, I grew up playing on play structures and climbing buildings and climbing trees and, you know, basically climbing whatever's available.

It's like, it's not dissimilar to that. It's like you're basically just playing on this enormous thing. but it's so cool. Like, dude, the views from the top are insane. Like, it's so, it's so much bigger than anything else in the whole city. And so, you know, you're like, this is one of earth's mega cities laid out below you with like.

You know, whatever, like 10 million people living and it's like, it's like, where's Waldo? You can see so much stuff down there and you're like, this is [00:13:00] so cool.

Paddy: When I first heard about this, one of the things that kind of popped up for me is like, okay, like what's the difference between sport? Spectacle. Like when comes to incredible physical accomplishments, I think there's a spectrum between sport and spectacle, right?

Like free sailing El Cap might be the farthest end of the sport side of that spectrum, whereas like the other side is delineated by maybe like Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the twin towers, maybe evil Knieval's, snake River, canyon Jump attempt, or Travis Pastrana skydiving without a parachute.

Where does the Taipei climb fit within that spectrum?

Alex: I think, I think kind of in the middle. I mean, obviously it has an element of spectacle to it, but the thing about that is that it has to be because you just can't get permission to climb a building unless it's a spectacle. , Like, no building in the world will let you climb it for fun because they're kinda like, they don't really care about my experience.

And so, you know, for them, like the building only allows you to do it if there's something in it for them, which in their case is sort of, you know, [00:14:00] publicity or whatever. you know, 'cause Typo 1 0 1 was the tallest building in the world when it was built in 2004. And, you know, it's steadily getting lower and lower down the list as people build bigger and bigger buildings.

And so, you know, for them it's probably a cool opportunity just to like, highlight this incredible building, highlight the architecture, and just kinda like, put it on the global map again for a second. Just be like, check out this amazing building. Like, welcome to Taipei. you know, I mean, it's all, it's all good for them.

so there has to be a degree of spectacle in order to get the opportunity to do it. That said, you know, I think it's maybe different than like jumping a motorcycle across a canyon or something. Maybe though, I don't know how hard that is. You know, like, because it is, it is kind of hard, you know, uh, actually, I, I was talking to, uh, Fitz Cahall, you know, my, my favorite cohost, and I was trying to describe the difficulty, and I was like, it might be comparable to doing the rostrum in Yosemite twice in a row.

I mean, we'll see once I actually do it. But the Rostrum is a really classic, uh, eight pitch 11 C, it's like a, you know, 800 foot 11 C, which is kinda like a mid-range where it's like challenging, but not like elite necessarily, where it's like hard, but not, not crazy. But that said, you know, like a handful of people have solo'd the ROS over the years, but not [00:15:00] that many, you know, like probably, I dunno, six people or something.

And some have done it multiple times. I've done it multiple times. Peter Croft used to do it routinely, but so imagine doing that twice in a row. And you're kinda like, yeah, there are a handful of people who can do that and it's, it's hard, but it's not like the hardest thing that's ever been done, but it's pretty freaking cool.

You know? It's like, that's, that's kind of the thing with the, the building and, and that's why I was so psyched on, on Typo 1 0 1, is that it really hits this sweet spot where I'm like, it's challenging enough to be interesting and, demanding, you know, but it's not like elite performance that requires years of living there and working on it and, you know what I mean?

'cause it's still a, as you said, it's still a spec. It's like still a TV event. You have to be able to do it on command for the cameras.

Paddy: Is this the next chapter of climbing for you, taking your climbing to

Alex: No, I don't think so. What though? I think in general though, I think anytime somebody gives me the opportunity to climb something that I wouldn't be allowed to climb otherwise, I'll always say yes. You know what I mean? I think that's kind of like a general life principle, is that if somebody gives you the opportunity to do something cool that you don't normally get to do, you just always say yes.

You're like, oh, that's, that's interesting. That's fun. That's new. You know? I'm like,

Paddy: It's just that, what you think is [00:16:00] cool is maybe over here, and what I think is cool is like, oh man, somebody invited me to get a free donut. That's awesome.

Alex: but I'd say yes to that too. I'd be like a donut I'm in, you know? It's like, like, I mean in in general, I think saying yes to life is a pretty good principle that almost everybody can apply. It's like.

Paddy: That's great advice.

Alex: You know, so it's kinda like, this is me saying yes. I'm just like, cool. Like I get this opportunity, I will take it.

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The idea of this had actually come together like 10 years ago, and then a different network pulled the plug at the last minute and it just like never came together. But at the time, I had scouted it and I like, knew that I was capable of doing it and I thought about just poaching it, you know, sort of like going at night and just like doing it.

Well, yeah, because I'd already done the prep and I was like, ready and I was capable and I'm kinda like, well, okay, they don't wanna make, they don't wanna make a TV show about it, but I can still do this cool thing. Like, I'm here and I'm ready. but that seemed kind of disrespectful to the building because obviously, you know, it's like they'd been really courteous about extending.

the opportunity to practice on it or whatever. And so I was kinda like, oh, I don't wanna disrespect the building. And all the people who like helped. And so I just like let it go. But so now 10 years later, you're kinda like, [00:17:00] it is nice to go and finish your project. You know what I mean? It's like this thing that I wanted to do.

And, and that's what's funny. There's, there's a lot of commentary online and stuff being like, oh, you know, like you're just cashing out or whatever. And it's like, yeah, obviously I'm getting paid for this 'cause it's a TV thing, but I would do it for free. You know what I mean? Like, if there was no spectacle involved and the building just told me like, good news, we're gonna let you do this thing by yourself with no cameras.

I'd be like, sweet, I'm going. You know, like, I would definitely do it.

Paddy: The fact that it's a TV thing basically ensures the fact that you won't spend the evening in a Taipei prison,

Alex: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. To me though, like these questions are on like, are you selling out? Or that kind of thing. I'm like, to me that implies you're doing it just for money. And I'm kinda like, well, if you would do it for free anyway, that's not exactly selling out because if you're getting paid for something that you would do for free, that's just called winning.

You know, like, I don't know what you call that, but that's like great success.

I would do this either way and I love doing this, but somebody's willing to pay me to do it. That's even better.

Paddy: got kids to feed,

Alex: Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally.

Paddy: Well, I mean, with that being said, like, do you think that 20 something, Alex would be [00:18:00] interested in this climb?

Alex: Oh, 20 something Alex would've done, I mean, 20 something. Alex almost poached this, you know, like almost did this, like almost wound up in a Taiwanese prison. So yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Are you kidding?

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Paddy: Let's talk a little bit about the physicality and kind of the, the mentality that you are going to use for this. Like, do you think that you possess certain mental and emotional skills to go along with your obvious physical skills that make you so good at free soloing, big scary climbs in Yosemite, rock, all over the world, and things like a gigantic skyscraper.

Like it's gotta be more than just like, yes, I am courageous and very determined. Right.

Alex: Courageous. I would never call myself courageous, but um, uh, no, I don't know. I mean, I, you know, I think mostly it's that I have a ton of practice. You know, it's like basically I've just been doing this a lot, and so you get better at doing it, and I really like doing it. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, that's an interesting question because [00:19:00] like.

You know, all of my friends are professional climbers or like other elite climbers. It's like everyone I'm surrounded by, like, you know, after we chat today, I'm probably gonna do a gym sesh 'cause it's snowing outside. And in the gym I'll probably have several different friends with me who are basically all, you know, semi-pro climbers or like elite climbers and they're basically better than me at most of the things in the gym they're basically capable of like anything that I can do.

But for whatever reason, they just don't have the passion for soloing or they haven't put as much time into that type of stuff. And, and it's hard to say like, what separates, you know, because I, I think they probably could do that if they had to. You know, it's like most of my friends probably could solo something if they were required to, but for whatever reason they just don't necessarily want to and because they don't want to, they haven't practiced it.

And so that makes it really scary 'cause they've never really done it. I don't know. You know what I mean? It's like, it's a complicated question.

Paddy: I guess another way to frame it is, do you possess characteristics that make you so good at free soloing or climbing in general that show up elsewhere in your life? Like does it turn out that being good at free soloing also [00:20:00] makes you good at running a nonprofit or hosting a podcast, or what else?

Alex: No, that's probably probably gonna be bad at almost everything else. I, I would say, so I would say there, there are probably a few like inherent characteristics that contribute to success in free souling and that also help in other parts of life. Like, I think I generally have a very low degree of neuroticism.

Like I don't stress, I'm not very anxious. Uh, I sleep really well. I like, I never remember dreams. I'm like, basically every night I just like reboot and I wake up the next day and I'm like, new life. And, and it's just, you know, like, basically like I don't carry drama really, you know what I mean? Like, I don't like, like I'm never really upset with people and I don't carry that, you know, there isn't like a lot of negative emotional turmoil in my life.

I don't know. I mean, probably things like that I think contribute to free soloing. Um, and, and probably actually help with life in general a little bit.

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I probably know my wife better than, than anybody really. And I think that she's, you know, she's an amazing person and she's like remarkably emotionally stable, I think as, as far as [00:21:00] average.

But when I look at the amount of like, stuff going on in her world versus what I feel like is going on in mine, I'm just like, you know, I think we're having really different experiences a lot of the time. , like the other day at the crag,, I fell clipping, like I was climbing out a cave. I was like basically leaning straight backward and I was trying to clip a draw and I fell, my foot slipped, like while I was clipping.

And so there was a bunch of rope out and I basically fell in a fully horizontal position and stopped like a foot off the ground. And so I would've landed just like on my back on the ground from like 18 feet up or something. And I was kind of like, ah,

Paddy: Oh my God, that

Alex: so, or maybe from like 15 feet up, but yeah, exactly.

But the thing is I didn't hit the ground and I just kind of basically stood up and was like, whoa. I was close. And then I extended the draw and I made a difference so I could clip it a different way. And it was just kinda like, okay. And got back on and kept trying the thing you know, I could sort of imagine other climbers having an experience like that and being like, whoa, I'm done for the day.

That was so scary. Like, I could've gotten paralyzed. That was terrible. But I was just kinda like, yeah, I don't know. Like, it just didn't phase me like at all. I Mean, obviously I changed the things that happened. Like I adjusted where I had my [00:22:00] foot, I like extended the draw so I wouldn't have to clip it, so it'd make it easier, you know, I like changed all the variables that I could to make it, to prevent that from happening again.

And obviously my learned an important lesson where he's like, whoa, I'm gonna be extra heads up right there. Yeah, exactly. Like,

Paddy: conversely then, like are there things about being great at free soloing that wind up making other things in your life harder? Like does it make being a husband and a dad harder?

Alex: I don't know, I mean, in some ways I think it helps with being a dad. I think a general sense of calmness and, and unflappability helps with parenting and, and probably souling, you know, like not getting too riled up, not getting too like, uh, you know, stressed by outside conditions. I mean in general, I think that's a good life quality, but it's hard to say how much that's innate versus how much of that have I learned by Souling for 20 years,

Paddy: something interesting about you being a free soloist and, a parent as well, is I think the like public reaction when you and your wife announced that. You guys were [00:23:00] pregnant. I think a lot of people were like, oh, well he'll surely stop free soloing now that you know, kids are in his life, but you haven't actually, you've said that your relationship to risk really hasn't changed.

He's just decided to climb closer to home so that you can like make these like day trips and come back, to your family. Can you explain that decision at all?

Alex: Well, it's not really a decision. I mean, actually, so I would say that my risk profile overall probably is a lot lower now with the kids, just because I'm doing fewer adventure things and I'm like not in the mountains and I'm not free stalling as much. I think my capacity to take risk probably hasn't changed.

Maybe it's changed a little bit because I'm like slightly less in practice, but it's like basically the same. and you know, I've had a few like big climbs since having kids where I'm sort of like, oh, you know, I can, I can do this when, when I want to or when I need to. Like, this is fun. you know, I kind of think it's all still there.

I'm just like doing it a little bit less because of, you know, because I'm at home so much more.

Paddy: Did you always want kids?

Alex: Yeah. Yeah. I always wanted kids. I mean, I want to, I had a really good relationship with my grandparents when I was young, and I'm aspiring to die just like my grandparents. Like old age surrounded by grandkids, [00:24:00] you know, just like, I mean, it's like, it's pretty wholesome.

Paddy: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I've talked with a, a few professional athletes who are also parents about how one of the trickiest parts of their parenting, maybe all parenting, is helping their kids develop a healthy relationship to risk, you know, keeping them safe while also encouraging them to push themselves and try new things and, and get out there, kind of enjoy in, in a, in a safe way.

The same type of things that you yourself enjoy. How do you manage that with your own kids?

Alex: So far. That's come pretty naturally to me. I think. You know, it hasn't been hard, but also my kids are quite young, so they're not really getting to the, like, more complex decisions. Like, do I wanna do a back flip on my skis? Where you're kinda like, okay, well that's like a big, that's a, I'm like, that's a question for you to decide.

Like, can you do that? Like, I don't know. Um, so, you know, we haven't gotten any of the like, really hard things yet, but I think in general, I mean. You know, I sort of pride myself on evaluating risk relatively well. Like, I think, uh, like, I think I'm good at, at rationally evaluating like, is this dangerous? Or like, what will be the [00:25:00] consequences if you botch this?

And so with the kids, you know, they love like walking on the edge of things, you know, like walking on a fence or something. And I like, hold their hands. I mean, I feel like a big part of being a parent is just to, be there, like, to enable them to do whatever they want in that way and to make sure that they can take those risks but not have catastrophic injuries.

If, if anything happens, like I say, I'm quite good at spotting. I'm really like, like something that I, that I've, I almost wanna like patent this a little bit, but, um, like when kids wanna hold your hand to walk on a fence, I always let them hold one of my fingers, but then the rest of my hand basically like loops around and kinda like holds their wrist in a really loose way.

But basically it makes them feel that like they're holding your hand. But in reality, if they fall, you can basically just catch 'em. No problem. Like, 'cause I can hold, grab 'em with the rest of my hand. And so it allow, well, yeah, but that is, I do that quite a lot actually with my kids because it makes the kid feel like they're in charge.

But the reality is that you will catch them if they fall. And, and I've had that a bunch of times where they basically like fall off the thing and you catch 'em and you're like, whoa. Like, what are you doing? Like, you're not supposed to fall off, you know, but you're like, oh, it's, you know. In some ways that's kind of like a good, good metaphor, I think for, [00:26:00] for parenting in general, where it's like, you want the kid to feel like they're in control.

They're making all the decisions. Like they're making choices of consequence. Like they're, they're choosing what to do, but you've got their back, but they don't necessarily know that you have their back.

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Paddy: Athletes who perform at the very cutting edge of their sports, , often struggle dialing things back as they get older. Whether the thing is the drive to push themselves or the need for big goals to focus on, or the rush of accomplishing something new.

How are you managing this stage of your life and your career? Is it a struggle at all? Is it less difficult than you expected?

Alex: Yeah, I mean, it's, I'd say it's challenging. I, I work a lot more than I used to. And now with kids, obviously, I mean, like last night our, our younger daughter, uh, vomited several times during the night, and so then we're like running the laundry and like doing a bunch of stuff in the middle of the night.

Paddy: Yes. I, I know I'm a, I'm a, my daughter just turned one,

Alex: oh, wow.

Paddy: days ago and I swear I have never been around more, [00:27:00] uh, puke pee and poo my entire life.

Alex: Yeah, that's

Paddy: just one year of all of that.

Alex: Yeah. No, I woke up at like one 30 and was like, why am I doing the wash at one 30 in the morning? I was like, oh, sucks. You know? You're kinda like, okay. And you know, and, and I was aspiring to go out and send my project today, and you're kind of like, is this gonna help me send my prod tomorrow when I'm getting up at one to like, do laundry and, and like, you know, but obviously that's just part of parenting and that's, that's fine.

But and when you talk about goal setting, I mean, I've definitely had this thought a few times. Like, I don't know if, uh, a couple years ago I did a thing that I called the hurt, like this Red Rock Traverse, whereas, uh, ho's Ultimate Red Rock Traverse, it was like the entire Red Rock mountain range in like a single day of Souling.

And when I was working on that, I was a little bit like, I was like, what have I come to that I have to traverse the whole range to do something that I care about, you know, because like, I remember my first trips to Red Rock, like when I was in my van and I came to Red Rock the first times, and just soloing a cool route would be like, what a day?

I free soloed this sick route? And then over the years you're like, oh, I free soloed several routes, or I like summited these two mountains [00:28:00] in a day. Or I summited these three mountains. then by the end you're like, I'm gonna summit the entire mountain range from north to south with every technical route.

It was like 14,000 feet of rock climbing and like 25,000 feet of vert total or something. And, and I'm kinda like, I, I was like, do I need to do that? You know, I was like, is, I was like, is this what it takes to do something

Paddy: I mean, are you kind of kicking yourself? You're like, ah, you know, it's like you, Dr. Frankenstein, you're like, I've created a monster. Oh no. The monster is me.

Alex: Yeah, totally. I mean, well, that's the thing is that I think it is just a reminder that like, you just don't wanna get sucked into the newness trap too much. Where like, I have to do something new, I have to do something harder. Because at a certain point, I mean, you know, I'm 40 right now and, and I actually have been sort of like pring physically a little bit, but certainly within the next decade I'll start declining in that way and just like, not really be able to push, especially because it's not like I was lazy in my younger years, you know?

And so it's not like, it's not like I

Paddy: describe you as a couch potato. My

Alex: yeah, it's like, well, because I think that all the time I'm like, you know, if I just train a little harder than I should be able to surpass what I did in the past. But I'm like, you know, in the past I was also training as hard as I possibly could, and I, and, and I might not have [00:29:00] been quite as smart about it, and I didn't know quite as much and whatever, but at the same time I'm like, it's not like I was lazy, you know?

Like I was climbing like 25 days a month, like for years on end, I'm sort of like, you know, I didn't leave like a ton of room for improvement.

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PADDYO VO:

More from Alex Honnold after the break.

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Paddy: a lot of your life, maybe most of your life has been laser focused on climbing, and where you were was mostly a function of what you were climbing. You lived outta your van, climbing anything and everything for what, more than a decade.

Alex: Yeah, like 10 or 12 years?

Paddy: Right before ultimately settling down in Las Vegas. So what made you choose Nevada of all places and Vegas?

I think, if people were reading your resume on paper, they would not think that like, oh, this dude, this dude is definitely gonna be strolling along the strip.

Alex: No, no. They'd be like, this guy gambles with his life. He should go to a gambling mecca.

Paddy: Touche,[00:30:00]

Alex: No, it's, people always ask if I gamble and I always joke, I only gamble with my life, but, because I don't gamble. But, um, no, uh, no. Vegas is the best. Va, I mean, Vegas is the best four season climbing in the country. It's freaking incredible access. I mean, no, everybody just thinks of the strip, but the outdoor access is insane.

Not just for climbing, but you know, running mountain biking. I mean, there's even good skiing. I mean, right now it's snowing, yeah, the mountain access, the terrain, the, but the four season rock climbing and also like the after work rock climbing potential. Basically like the casual rock climbing.

'cause there are a lot of like mountain cities, you know, a place like Denver, people think of as like a mountain city. But realistically to get to the climbing is like an hour drive each

Paddy: You're actually quite far away

Alex: Yeah, you're really

Paddy: front range.

Alex: yeah, exactly. I mean, Denver, you like, you see big mountains in the distance, but to get there it's kind of heinous.

And then everybody else is trying to get there too. So there's tons of traffic. It's kind of a pain. Whereas Vegas is the opposite. It's like. A lot of the climbing is like literally within city limits. It's like 15 minute drives right on the edge of town, you know? So it's like you can work a half day or like work a full job and then still go climbing in the evening and have a full session outside and be [00:31:00] like, what a great day.

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Paddy: I know that you've lived there for quite some time now, but has putting down roots has changing from a, you know, a four wheeled home to a home with a foundation, has it changed the way that you get outside

Alex: I don't know. I mean, you know, maybe a little, I mean, having a house, it's just more comfortable. Though actually, I mean, it's hard to say though because the thing about the van is that when it's like grim outside, you basically hunker down in your van and you just like, don't leave bed.

You know? It's like you wear your jacket and you just read your book in bed all day. 'cause you're like, oh, it's too gnarly. Like I can't really do anything. , I think it's like less of an obvious trade off than you might think. You know what I mean? Like, like counterintuitively, people staying in a house. like if you're, if you're coordinating to like meet somebody at a parking lot at like 4:30 AM for like an alpine start, the person staying in a house is more likely to be there on time and like ready than the person staying in a car.

Paddy: Really? Why do you

Alex: in general because basically just because it's heated and it's like you hop out of bed, you use the toilet, you like, you grab your breakfast, which you've made the night before. Basically everything's just easier and faster. You have running [00:32:00] water, you have whatever. Whereas like when you're in the van, it's a little bit like expedition life.

And you wake up and you're like, oh my God, it's so cold. It's so cold. And then you're like, ah, it's like hard to make breakfast 'cause my hands are so cold. And then you're like, And then you're kinda like,

Paddy: the bathroom? There's no bathroom. I gotta drive to the bathroom.

Alex: yeah, that totally, that's, that's totally it.

oh, I was driving to the trailhead, but then I was like, oh my God, there's no pit toilet at the trailhead. So I had to stop somewhere. 'cause I was like, oh my God, I gotta take a dump on the way. You know, it's like basically there are, there are some things about having a house where you just show up better prepared and like more ready and then you have your adventure.

Paddy: Is there something about Nevada specifically that maybe softened the landing of, moving from van to home?

Alex: Yeah. Well, I mean, Nevada Is something like 85% public lands, so it's vast majority of the state is,

Paddy: yeah,

Alex: is, is just open nature. And so in a lot of ways that is the, that's like quintessential van life where you're kinda like, oh, I'm just out in the middle of nowhere doing what I wanna do.

There's nobody around. It's chill. It's all public land, it's open, you're, you know, able to explore however you want. I mean, that definitely feels like Van Life. You were like, oh, I just go do [00:33:00] whatever I wanna do and have an adventure.

Paddy: One of the fun facts of watching your new show get a little out there that I did not know was. That that Nevada's 85% public land. I had absolutely no idea.

And that that, and, and the mountain biking in Ely looks like so fun. So fun. I had no idea.

Alex: Totally. Yeah. It's funny because Ely, uh, you know, I was kinda like, why is this not Aspen? You know, or like Carbondale or like all these cool towns that people love

Paddy: I live.

Alex: Oh, yeah, there you go. There you go.

Paddy: where I live. I do love those towns 'cause I live in those towns.

Alex: Yeah.

No, that's, and those are all towns that are like famous outdoor recreation. They have whatever. And then you go to some of these rural towns in Nevada and you're like, wait, this has all the same assets in terms of like vertical relief right. Outta town? Like, just

Paddy: And like

Alex: has the same

Paddy: main street charm as

Alex: Yeah, yeah, totally.

It's

Paddy: like insane trails and river systems.

Alex: and like

Paddy: right

Alex: snow in the winter, like, yeah, basically everything that these towns in, you know, some of the towns in California or Colorado or like these famous mountain towns have, but then for whatever reason, the towns in [00:34:00] Nevada are just so out there

it just hasn't quite taken off yet. It probably will at some point.

Paddy: Well, and yeah. 'cause when you were mountain biking in Ely, you know, I was like, oh my god, this town looks adorable.

Alex: Yeah. It's so cool.

Paddy: the trails aren't like, super sketchy or anything. They just look like flowy, super duper fun. You can get right into, uh, main Street. And then you were like, is there good skiing here?

And the guy you were with was like, oh yeah, I've skied this and this and that's great skiing and this is great skiing and that's awesome. Ski. I was like, oh my God, I really wanna go to Ely. I had no idea.

Alex: totally. You should go. I mean, and the funny thing about it is that, you know, it feels like it's in the middle of nowhere, but it's like a couple hour drive from Vegas and you know, if you think of somewhere like Carbondale or some of those towns, it's like a couple hour drive from the nearest airport too.

Really, if you think about Denver.

Paddy: Oh,

Alex: Except that driving the I 70 in the winter is like heinous, you know, like, like

Paddy: it's just, it's just like icy bumper to bumper. It's just like, so,

Alex: Yeah. Whereas like commuting across Nevada is like super chill. There's no cars. It is like totally quiet and beautiful and you're just like, all right, like this is actually pretty cool.

Paddy: Yeah. Come to Nevada where [00:35:00] traffic goes to die.

Alex: no, totally, totally. Well, I've actually, I've said that about Vegas, 'cause in the summertime, a couple of the sport crags you're up on Mount Charleston, which is like a 45 minute drive, let's say. But the thing with like a 45 minute commute in Vegas is that it's like you point your cart in a straight line, it, you do nothing for 40 minutes.

You basically just chill. As opposed to lots of other places in the country like if you live in San Francisco and you wanna climb at like Mickey's Beach or like some of these areas that are technically only like eight miles from the city, but it's like, you know, an hour in gnarly traffic and like kind of full on.

And I'm kinda like, I'd much rather have these commutes in Vegas 'cause they're just chill. They're like, it's just easy living.

Paddy: And there's something about like the, the bumper to bumper traffic that makes you kind of not feel like what you're doing is like outside time. It's a weird, it's, you know what I mean? It's, it kind of feels like you're like, I'm in some weird conveyor belt right now and I just want to be in the middle of nowhere in the woods, like

Alex: That, that's why the, the Nevada thing, the get a little out there, like everywhere we went, you're like, oh, we're a little out there. You know, you're like, it just feels like, well, there's nobody else doing this. And so it makes it [00:36:00] feel pretty adventurous and pretty remote

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Paddy: , The show is great, you know, as outside's fun uncle, the fine folks, my pals over at outside TV sent me, uh, a few of the rough cuts of the episodes and they're really, really wonderful.

Alex: Yeah, I, I also was actually pleasantly surprised how they turned out. I was like, you know, this is actually pretty good. I was like,

Paddy: very entertaining. It is really entertaining, and that's a compliment to you. You do a great job in front of the camera. so while making the show though, like what's a place that you discovered that you hadn't been to before that you're like, oh, I am coming back here.

Alex: I don't know. I mean, there were a bunch of things that I did that, uh, that I kind of put on my radar as things to do again with my kids now. ' particularly the stuff on the western side of the state, uh, like on the 95 quarter, it's like the highway that you would drive if you're going between Vegas and Tahoe, which we often do in the summers.

some of the little towns like to pot and goldfield and like these, these little sort of abandoned mining towns in a way. I mean, not quite abandoned, but, but you know, like Goldfield, uh, dude, they're like funny random anecdote. I don't know if this made it in the episode, but Goldfield at one [00:37:00] point was the biggest town in Nevada, uh, because it had goldfield obviously.

But, uh, it said that, At one point, Vegas was only a train depot that just had a sign outside it saying, welcome to Vegas, the gateway to Goldfield. You know, it was basically like where you get off the

Paddy: I didn't see

Alex: in a wagon to go to Goldfield,

Paddy: That's

Alex: uh, that, that might not have made it in the show, but basically it was like, you know, Vegas used to be nothing and Goldfield was like the main attraction.

And now Goldfield I think has a population of two 50, like 250 people. It's very small, but it has a couple like cute little things in town. Like we went to the, car for basically this like outdoor art installation and various things like that. Basically there were a bunch of things where I was like, oh, I could see bringing the kids to some and, and I went like turquoise mining.

I found a bunch of turquoise where you just kind of wander around this like mine and like look for pieces of turquoise. And I was like, man, my kids would love doing this at some point. So there are a lot of things like that where I was like, it's good to know that these opportunities exist so that if I'm driving around Nevada with the family, you can stop and like do something cool.

I.

Paddy: What was the weirdest or most unexpected thing you learned about Nevada while making the show?

Alex: One of the things I was really struck by were the [00:38:00] people. So like,

Paddy: do you mean?

Alex: well just, everybody had a story. Everybody was kind of a character. And I've experienced this before when traveling around in Alaska. Like when you go to Alaska, you're kinda like, people are here for a reason.

You

Paddy: right? Yeah, yeah.

Alex: got some kind of unusual story. like one of the guys that, that, it's a character in one of the episodes, uh, that I did the turquoise mining with, called himself a farm to table miner. He was like, I can do the whole mining experience from like finding the ore, basically from like Virgin Earth, like wandering around being like, I bet there's turquoise here, let's say.

and then like dynamite it basically. And then using heavy equipment and servicing the heavy equipment and then finding the actual gems and then polishing them, you know, extracting them, polishing 'em, and then selling them at like farmer's markety type things, but he said that he had just come home from, from something and he'd sold, you know, like $60,000 worth of turquoise and like, you know, nuggets. But he's been collecting over months and obviously that's not like, either way though, you're kinda like, oh wow, this is a guy who's like come to Nevada specifically because he likes farm to table mining and he's just out like mining and like finding cool stuff and selling it.

I was like, wow, that's so interesting. 'cause you just don't think of [00:39:00] that existing in the modern world really.

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Paddy: I think the series in general is surprising in that when most folks think of Nevada, they think of like super remote desert, obviously Vegas and probably even Reno. But y'all found some like epic outdoor spots

Alex: Yeah, actually. So when you, when you say, uh, people think of desert, I think that's true. Everybody thinks that Nevada's desert and Nevada is mostly high desert, but the thing that people don't like, so Nevada is the most mountainous state in the US uh, in the con continental us.

Paddy: Another thing that I was like, that can't be real, and I

Alex: Yeah. And then when you look it up you're like, oh,

Paddy: I was like, wait a second.

Alex: Yeah, I think the way to think about Nevada is to imagine, the bottom of an ocean where it's like ripples of waves. Like basically the whole state of Nevada is like waves of mountain ranges all the way across the state. So it's like ripples or like, you know, cat scratches, like across, you know,

Paddy: yeah, yeah,

Alex: or something.

But so like, basically it's Valley Mountain, valley Mountain all the way across the state. And so it's like basically every 10 or 15 miles there's a set different mountain range all the way across the state. You know, it's like you cross one valley and [00:40:00] then there's another mountain range, then you cross the next valley.

It's another mountain

Paddy: Which I kind of felt like a dope, you know, I feel like, I feel like a very plugged in, outdoor human and I felt like such a dope, learning these

Alex: Well, I kind of did too, because I live in Nevada and I've driven across Nevada a lot of times, you know, and when you drive I 80 and when you drive Highway 50. For whatever reason, I'd always kind of imagined it more as like, I'm driving across a desert and there just happened to be mountains here and there and I, I grew up in California, so I'm used to the Sierra Nevada where it's kind of like one big range where it's like the coast range and the Sierra Nevada.

And then for whatever reason, I hadn't really realized that Nevada is like literally hundreds of different ranges spread across the whole state. And I was like, wow, this is a completely different vibe.

Paddy: well there are these like huge pullback shots in the series where like, if you would've asked me, Hey, where is this? I would've been like, somewhere in South America or, or

Alex: Yeah, in the Middle East or something. Yeah. You'd be like, yeah, it's epic.

Paddy: yeah, because you're, you're climbing these like shockingly technical gigantic walls,

Alex: Yeah. The, you're talking about the, uh, are you talking about [00:41:00] the wild granites, the like giant

Paddy: Yes, yes.

That

Alex: Yeah. That thing, that thing is called the, uh,

Paddy: Nevada at all. Like, I don't believe this,

Alex: yeah, it's called the, the Fitzroy of Nevada. It's like named after the formation in South America in

Paddy: yes, there. Exactly. You're

Alex: yeah.

And, and it does feel like it.

Paddy: yeah. So like, just how many under the radar climbing destinations does Nevada hold or

Alex: I mean, probably

Paddy: can you not totally say?.

Alex: No. Well, I'm hoping that, uh, I'm hoping that I'll get to make a season two or something, and I would like, if, if we get to do more of this travel Nevada series, like, uh, exploring Nevada and getting out there and everything, I hope that for a second season we would do it. Trying to do first ascents all around the state because there're basically so many opportunities with incredible rock.

' cause I could kind of do the same thing where you do like cultural travel combined with doing cool first ascents And that would be nice because then you'd be kinda leaving like a legacy a little bit in these different places where you're like, oh, we've contributed to the climbing in like, all these spots around the state.

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You know what's crazy with the wild granites is that, uh, when you're driving on the highway, you can see those walls from 40 miles away, like literally 40 miles.

You can see 'em in the [00:42:00] distance and you're like, that's a huge granite wall. And then as you drive closer, you're like, it's getting bigger and bigger. You're like, oh my goodness. What a crazy wall. And yet, like, nobody climbs there, you know? 'cause it's just so off the beaten path. It's just the middle of nowhere in Nevada. It is comparable to some of the domes in qual Almi, let's say, or something like the high country Yosemite. Like the rock was very good and there was a lot of rock and there was a lot of potential.

it's probably comp, actually, like, I dunno if you've ever heard of the needles, but they're like a climbing area in, in California, in the Sierra,

you know, it's probably like better than the needles in a way. I mean, the needles is incredibly high quality rock. But the, this was quite good too. yeah,

Paddy: it has the potential to blow up to be just. As popular as those places, or is that one of the appeals of it, is that like it's, it's high quality rock, it's great aesthetic climbing, you know, huge views, like very beautiful, but kind of what is awesome about, it's like you can camp down low and like nobody's around.

Alex: well, I think, yeah, I think that's one of the real appeals to most of these destinations in Nevada is that it's just more adventurous. I mean, so when you go climbing somewhere where, where nobody goes, it means that it's a little bit [00:43:00] harder to follow the trail. You know, it's like the trail's a little more overgrown and then there's like no chalk on the root.

And it's like a little bit harder to follow the route, let's say, because there are just fewer signs of human passage. you know, you're basically signing up for more of an adventurous experience. And so if you're into that, if you, if you want to have an adventure that's freaking amazing, but you know, if you want like like a white glove climbing experience where it's all like easy and, and you know bougie, then that's not exactly what you want.

You know what I mean? Then you wanna go to Yosemite and climb one of the trade routes where it's like 50 other people have climbed it in the last week, and so it's covered in chalk and you know exactly where to go.

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Paddy: Another kind of fun thing about the series that surprised me because I really kind of walked into watching it, not knowing anything about it. Like it of course shows you doing your thing. climbing. It also shows you're like off the wall adventuring, like your very endearing river time with your family.

A hiking date with your wife, another hiking date with your pal cedar. Right. Some mountain

Alex: was actually like kind of [00:44:00] extreme hiking. That was like, it was like hiking in like 50 mile an hour winds and like snow. Yeah. We were sort of like, oh, it's kind of rugged actually.

Paddy: Yeah. So you do some like mountain biking as well. You go to a UFO museum, you have a run in with a donkey. Like what are some of your favorite non climbing Nevada based adventures that you did for the show?

Alex: Well, yeah, I was kinda saying before, it's not even so much the adventures, it's the people. It's like meeting all these interesting characters. So I was really struck by how many artisans I met. Like people or like tradespeople. Like craftspeople, like people who, who've devoted their whole life to a particular skill.

Like a silversmith, this guy doing like really intricate jewelry, like silver work. And, um, uh, where were we? This was, uh, Elco, I think like more northern and Nevada,

It's just like ba basically watching somebody who's really good at what they do, who, anyone who's devoted their life to doing a thing and they do it really well, you're like, ah, it's so cool to see.

And particularly some of these, these crafts and trades like, you know, polishing gems and like working silver, like these are things that I personally have zero contact with and I don't know anything about, you know? And so seeing somebody do it, I'm kinda [00:45:00] like, oh my God, like you're really good at this.

And like, I didn't even know, like I didn't even know people could do this. Like, I didn't know this was a thing. And I think going into the series, that's definitely not what I would've, uh, you know, I would've said that the whole point of the series was to go on the adventures. And then the other stuff I just do on rest days.

'cause you know, we're making a TV show and that's just like part of it. You gotta like do the cultural stuff. But then my takeaway, I think, was that the cultural stuff in a lot of ways is actually more memorable, you know, because the adventures that we did are basically like normal days for me, where I'm kinda like, oh, I'm going out for like a mountain climbing thing with my friends.

But I'm kinda like, I do that like three days a week at home, you know what I mean? Like that's pretty normal for me. Whereas like meeting all these artisanal silversmiths and stuff, I'm like, I've literally never seen somebody do that before. And they're so good at it. And I'm like, oh, that's so cool. So like that's kind of what stayed with me more after the series

Paddy: I thought a cool thing in terms of the art that was shown in, the series was the, where the cars were, like tombstoned into the, the sand. I, I mean, if you were

Alex: International Car Forest, I think it was called.

Paddy: Like if you were passing that on the highway, you would've looked over and just seen these, [00:46:00] you know, gigantic cars, buses, and things like

Alex: Well yeah. So I have passed that on the highway a bunch of times. 'cause you passed that on the way to Tahoe and I'm always like, that's weird. Like I don't totally get it. And then actually touring it, I was like, this is pretty cool. And now that I

Paddy: you're like, oh, it's a giant art exhibit, and it allows anybody to just come in

Alex: and do whatever they want.

Paddy: and make art,

Alex: I'm definitely gonna stop there with the family next time because it's right by the road. It's, it's free, it's convenient, it's like easy.

But like for breaking up a drive and like giving an experience to your kids that they're never gonna have elsewhere, you're kinda like, okay, like here's a cool thing that you're never gonna get to do anywhere else.

Like, let's, let's do it.

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Paddy: You have arguably one of the most impressive resumes in the history of any and all outdoor athletics, and you've said before that your definition of success has changed as you've gotten older.

In your twenties, it was about achieving these incredibly difficult and extremely lofty climbing goals, which by and large you have done. Now, in your forties, you've said success is more about living an all around meaningful [00:47:00] life. What makes up a meaningful life for you?

Alex: I dunno, I mean, living with intention, like using your time. Well, you know, fricking having good relationships with the people around you. Being a good dad. Like, I mean, it still means climbing things that I care about, but, you know, sort of like letting that happen. Actually, I mean, the last couple months I've been at home, uh, partially for the holidays, partially because I'm like training for this Taipei thing.

I mean, you know, quote unquote training, but basically just at home climbing all the time. It's, uh, you know, it's like, it's totally amazing, but. But it's been, uh, it's been really nice though because in a way it's a reminder of how much having big goals like that are valuable to me because I've really been, like, on the program for the last two months, I've been like eating well and going to bed on time and like reading more and basically just like living my best life, which I think translates over into like being a better dad and like, and certainly better being a better example for my kids, I'm never just like veg out and like wasting time and like surfing on my phone and stuff because I'm like depressed.

I'm sort of like, oh, I'm living my best life. Like I'm fired up. I'm doing stuff that I think is great. I'm, I'm trying my hardest. I think that's the benefit of having, climbing goals or having something, having some kind of project [00:48:00] because it just like helps you go to bed on time, get up early and then like eat well and try your hardest.

and the thing is when you do that, you just feel so much better about your life. You're like, oh, you know, I feel healthy and happy and it's all good. like a virtuous cycle. You know, we're kinda like, oh, you find good goals and then you live your best life.

Paddy: Well, in order for you to live your best life, do you think the climbing goals have to be a part of that? Like can we expect to see you doing the Fred Becky thing and climbing into your nineties?

Alex: Oh, I'll probably climb my whole life. I don't know if I'll be setting like big hard goals for myself and whatever. I mean, I, you know, I'd like to think that I could lead a good life without having a big project that I'm like working on. but it's just so much easier when you have a goal,

I wouldn't be surprised if at some point it's like goals with the kids, you know, where it's like, this summer, you know, my kids wanna do X, y, and Z outdoors or something.

Like, we're gonna go for a, like, I think, uh, last summer we went for a family backpacking trip where we did one in one night with the two kids. And I, I think this summer we're gonna try to do two nights with the kids. And I'm sort of like, you know, that'll be a fun thing as they get older where you just do like bigger backpacking trips in the Sierra together.

I'm like, that's pretty wholesome. You know, it's like, that'll be fun. So We'll, we'll see.

Paddy: Just, you know, [00:49:00] Alex Honnold entering his wholesome era. This is gonna

Alex: Yeah, exactly.

Paddy: can't wait to watch

Alex: Middle age. It's all about being wholesome.

MUSIC IN THE CLEAR FOR A BEAT

Paddy: It is now time for the final ramble. One piece of gear you can't live without.

Alex: For climbing, you know, the key piece of gear is a chalk bag, and then beyond that is climbing shoes. But the chalk bag is actually more important to me because I do so much climbing in my tennies.

Paddy: Best outdoor snack.

Alex: This is not a short answer, but in, in the spirit of this whole like, revamped living my best life over the last couple months, I've sort of like redone all my outdoor snacks recently and I've switched from like eating bars and stuff like that and like eating, you know, peanut butter sandwiches to eating basically just like straight nuts and like dates and, you know, some dried mango.

And so now my crag snacks have been like some macadamia nuts and some dates and I'm sort of like, it's so wholesome. It's like, it's, it is crazy. it's like my, my mother-in-law eats like that, like kinda like a squirrel, like little

Paddy: I was gonna say like, you know,

Alex: And I'm sort of like, I'm eating like my mother-in-law, but,

Paddy: oh, like Alex is bringing like, uh, squirrel food to the crag.

Alex: Yeah. Yeah. But hopefully it allows me to climb like a squirrel, [00:50:00] you know?

Paddy: Good call. Good call. What is your hottest outdoor hot take?

Alex: How about pets of the crag? Like, I'm, I'm really not into pets and I know that everybody has pets and everybody loves pets. I'm not into pets like the other day somebody's pet freaking ate my sandwich at the crag and they're like, oh, by the way, my dog ate your sandwich.

And I was kinda like,

Paddy: Go get me another sandwich,

Alex: Yeah, basically. Yeah. I was kinda like, so are you gonna like, gimme your sandwich then or something, or what? But, you know, 'cause there was no real, they're just kinda like, oh, like this is a thing that happened, like the weather. And I'm like, this isn't a thing that happens.

This is like, your dog ate my sandwich. Like, that's, that's messed up,

Paddy: You better go get me a cold cut, bro.

Alex: Exactly. I was like, that's not cool. I don't

Paddy: That is wild. To be so nonchalant about that.

Alex: Well, yeah. I mean, a lot of people do that with like, oh, you know, my dog never does this, but he just took a dump on your backpack and you're kinda like, you're like, okay, well that sucks. Like, what are you gonna do

Paddy: yeah. you can't just tell me of the terrible thing. You need to tell me that you have thought of what you're gonna do to solve the terrible

Alex: totally, Like you're gonna gimme all your dessert as a, as a trade, and I'll be like, you know

Paddy: sorry, [00:51:00] my dog pooped on your stuff. Here's my brownies.

Alex: yeah, exactly. Exactly. Then you'd be like, you know what? He can poop on my stuff

Paddy: Yeah, totally. Oh, thank you so much for your GORP. Tell your dog to barf on my shoes.

Alex: yeah. Exactly.

Paddy: Fricking climbers, man. Come

Alex: Yeah. They're the worst. Yeah. Get it together climbers.

Paddy: that's the headline. That's the big takeaway. Alex Honnold says, climbers are the worst.

Alex: Yeah. Myself included, I.

MUSIC IN THE CLEAR FOR A BEAT

PADDYO VO:

Alex Honnold is one of the greatest climbers of all time. He is also very entertaining to watch. But don't take my word for it, check it out yourself. Alex's brand new show "Get A Little Out There," follows him traveling all over his home state of Nevada, checking out stellar climbing and, more interestingly, everyday adventures. From stargazing in Great Basin National Park to mining for turquoise in central Nevada, the new [00:52:00] series follows Alex—in his van—as he checks off bucket-list adventures and fun and funky roadside attractions. The show premieres on Thursday February 26th. You should absolutely watch it. It is very good.

Also, if you haven't heard, we are on the ole Youtubes. That's right, you can enjoy these daggone episodes with your eyeballs now, in addition to your earholes. Check out the video version of the podcast at Outside Podcast 1 on YouTube.

And, remember that we want to hear from you. Sooo, email your pod reactions, guest nominations, what non-natural thing you'd like to watch Alex Honnold climb next -- my vote is a jungle gym with a buncha kids hopped up on pixie sticks -- , and whatever else you want to tell and/or ask us to Outside Podcast At Outside Inc Dot Com.

The Outside Podcast is hosted and produced by me, Paddy O'Connell. But you can call me [00:53:00] PaddyO. The show is also produced by the storytelling wizard, Micah "climbing harnesses are nice cause they're like a hug for your bathing suit area" Abrams. Music and Sound Design by Robbie Carver. Booking and research by Jeanette Courts, with additional production support by Maren Larsen.

The Outside Podcast is made possible by our Outside Plus members. Learn about all the extra rad benefits and become a member yourself at Outside Online Dot Com Slash Pod Plus.