{"id":11595,"date":"2017-06-05T16:47:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-05T16:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/06\/05\/alex-honnold-scales-el-capitan-without-ropes-and-the-climbing-world-reels\/"},"modified":"2017-06-05T16:47:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T16:47:00","slug":"alex-honnold-scales-el-capitan-without-ropes-and-the-climbing-world-reels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/alex-honnold-scales-el-capitan-without-ropes-and-the-climbing-world-reels\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Honnold Scales El Capitan Without Ropes, And The Climbing World Reels"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bill Chappell<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo)<\/a> on Jun 3, 2017 at 12:18pm PDT<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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Alex Honnold has shocked the sport of climbing by reaching the peak of El Capitan without using ropes, climbing one of the world’s largest monoliths in less than four hours with little gear other than a bag of chalk.<\/p>\n

“So stoked to realize a life dream today,” Honnold wrote on Facebook on Saturday. He shared a photo of himself on the Yosemite National Park landmark taken by Jimmy Chin of National Geographic<\/a>, which is basing a new documentary on Saturday’s climb.<\/p>\n

“Speechless,” wrote the American Alpine Journal<\/a> in its response to the news that Honnold had tackled the imposing 3,000-foot granite wall in a “free-solo,” ascent, climbing alone and without safety gear.<\/p>\n

Honnold raced up the wall in 3 hours and 56 minutes, prompting Alpinist <\/a>magazine to say, “This is indisputably the greatest free solo of all time. Congratulations, Alex!”<\/p>\n

“This man,” Honnold’s friend and fellow climbing star Conrad Anker<\/a> wrote on Facebook. “Respect. Life goal realized.”<\/p>\n

After his climb, Honnold told National Geographic<\/a> that the first challenge was simply to walk up to the California monolith, sit next to the base and put his climbing shoes on.<\/p>\n

“Because you look up and go, ‘that’s a f****** big wall,’ ” he said. “It’s like, pretty crazy.”<\/p>\n

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\n Alex Honnold smiles after scaling El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, in a photo provided by National Geographic<\/em>. Honnold became the first person to climb alone to the top of the massive granite wall without ropes or safety gear.<\/p>\n

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Jimmy Chin\/National Geographic via AP<\/p>\n

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Jimmy Chin\/National Geographic via AP<\/p>\n

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A lighter moment came later, Honnold said, when he passed some climbers who had spent the night on a ledge. He did his best not to wake them.<\/p>\n