Editors
Editors

Alex Honnold goes free soloing even on wet rock

climbing

Alex Honnold is back with the free solo ascents of the East Buttress at Middle Cathedral (333m, 6b) and the East Buttress at El Capitan (364m, 6a+) in Yosemite Valley.

“A fun free solo day.” That sums it up Alex Honnold his most recent adventure in California's Yosemite Valley: the rope-free ascent of the East Buttress on Middle Cathedral (333m, 6b) and the East Buttress on El Capitan (364m, 6a+).

Once again Alex Honnold is free soloing on El Capitan - albeit in easy terrain for his standards. Image: Alex Honnold
Once again Alex Honnold is free soloing on El Capitan - albeit on easy terrain for his standards. Image: Alex Honnold

The only real challenge was the wet rock on the East Buttress of El Cap. It turns out that Horsetail Waterfall is absolutely raging.

Alex Honnold

Alex Honnold connected the two walls opposite each other in the valley with his bike and took just one and a half hours to get back to his bike for the first route (Middle Cathedral). The second free solo of the day (El Cap) took less than two and a half hours bike to bike.

Wet rock – No big deal

In his eyes, Honnold said, this linkup was the perfect reintroduction to the Yosemite granite. Alex Honnold took the fact that water was running down the route on the East Buttress of El Cap with his usual sporting spirit. The world-famous soloist saw this as simply the “only real challenge of the day”.

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Credits: Cover picture Alex Honnold

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