Free solo climbing
Form of climbing without protection
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We include updates on Alex Honnold, Reinhold Messner, Marc-André Leclerc, Alain Robert, Ueli Steck, Brette Harrington, Dean Potter, Steph Davis, Chris Sharma, Dani Arnold, Wolfgang Güllich, Dan Osman, John Bachar, Catherine Destivelle, Jyoti Raj, Brad Gobright ... and more.
| 2024 | Completed the first free ascent of Triple Rainbow (5.13d) on Rainbow Wall, a link-up of Dreefee, Desert Solitare, and Rainbow Country. |
| 2024 | Climbed Manphibian (9a/5.14d) at Mount Charleston, Nevada. |
| 2024 | Appeared in two documentaries: 'Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold' and 'The Devil's Climb' |
| February 6 2024 | Welcomed his second daughter, Alice, with Sanni McCandless. |
| 2023 | The documentary film 'Race to the Summit' was released, highlighting speed-climbing records in alpine climbing routes through free soloing. |
| 2023 | Completed the second traverse of the Devils Thumb range in Alaska (Diablo Traverse, 5.10 A2) in under 24 hours with Tommy Caldwell. |
| 2023 | Achieved the third free ascent of The Heart Route (VI 5.13b, V10) in Yosemite's El Capitan. |
| 2022 | Jeff Smoot published 'All and Nothing: Inside Free Soloing', a book exploring motivations behind free soloing through interviews and personal reflection. |
| 2022 | Climbing magazine published a feature on free soloing, explicitly stating the article was not an endorsement and highlighting that the practice is only performed by a very small minority of climbers. |
| 2022 | Featured in two documentaries: 'Explorer: The Last Tepui' and 'Edge of the Unknown with Jimmy Chin' |
| 2022 | Completed the first free ascent of Ingmikortilaq, a 3,750-foot sea cliff in eastern Greenland, with Hazel Findlay. |
| October 12 2022 | Completed the 'Honnold Ultimate Red Rock Traverse' (HURT) in Red Rock Canyon, a 32-hour and 6-minute endeavor covering 35 miles, climbing 18 out of 23 peaks, and completing 126 pitches with about 13,000' of technical climbing. |
| February 17 2022 | Welcomed his first daughter, June, with Sanni McCandless. |
| 2021 | Messner was featured with commentary in the documentary film 'The Alpinist'. |
| 2021 | Messner provided commentary in the Netflix documentary '14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible' about Nirmal Purja's mountaineering team, which was praised by The New York Times. |
| 2021 | Signed with National Geographic for an original docuseries about climbing peaks in Greenland and started the Climbing Gold podcast, focusing on stories of extraordinary climbers. |
| 2021 | Appeared in the climbing documentary 'The Alpinist' |
| May 2021 | Messner married Diane Schumacher, a 41-year-old Luxembourgish woman, at the town hall in Kastelbell-Tschars near his home in South Tyrol. |
| 2020 | Made a television appearance in the animated series 'Duncanville' |
| September 13 2020 | Announced his marriage to Sanni McCandless via Instagram. |
| 2019 | Messner divorced Sabine Stehle. |
| 2019 | Alfredo Webber, a 52-year-old Italian climber, free soloed Panem et Circenses in Arco, Italy, performing the first-ever free solo at a specific grade. |
| 2019 | Featured in 'The Nose Speed Record' (Reel Rock 14) and 'Fine Lines' |
| 2019 | Completed the second entirely free ascent of El Niño (VI 5.13c) in Yosemite's El Capitan via the Pineapple Express variation with Brad Gobright. |
| 2019 | Achieved the first free ascent of Passage to Freedom (VI 5.13d) in Yosemite's El Capitan with Tommy Caldwell. |
| 2019 | Completed the second ascent of the sport climbing route Arrested Development (9a/5.14d) at Mount Charleston, Nevada, following Jonathan Siegrist. |
| December 25 2019 | Announced his engagement to Sanni McCandless via social media. |
| September 2019 | Merriam-Webster officially added the term 'free solo' to their English dictionary, reflecting the growing recognition of this climbing discipline. |
| 2018 | The documentary film 'Free Solo' won an Oscar, significantly increasing public awareness of free solo climbing and bringing the term into mainstream consciousness. |
| 2018 | Received a special mention at the Piolets d'Or for his outstanding contribution to climbing during 2017 |
| 2018 | Became the subject of the biographical documentary 'Free Solo', which won a BAFTA and an Academy Award. |
| 2018 | Received the Robert and Miriam Underhill Award from the American Alpine Club for excellence in various fields of climbing |
| June 6 2018 | Teamed up with Tommy Caldwell to break the Nose on El Capitan speed record, completing the approximately 3,000-foot route in under two hours (1:58:07). |
| January 2018 | Jointly receives the Princess of Asturias Award in the Sports category with Krzysztof Wielicki. |
| 2017 | Purchased a home in the Las Vegas area, initially continuing to live in his van in the driveway. Replaced his old Ford Econoline van with a new 2016 Ram ProMaster. |
| June 3 2017 | Completed the first-ever free solo ascent of El Capitan, climbing the Freerider route in 3 hours and 56 minutes, which was documented in the award-winning documentary Free Solo. |
| 2016 | Underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans that revealed his unique neurological response to high-risk situations. |
| 2016 | Achieved the second north-to-south traverse of the Cerro Torre Group in Patagonia, completed in under 21 hours alongside Colin Haley. |
| 2015 | Published the memoir 'Alone on the Wall' co-authored with David Roberts. |
| 2015 | Honnold won a Piolet d'Or in alpine climbing with Tommy Caldwell for completing the Fitz Traverse of the Cerro Chaltén Group in Patagonia over 5 days. |
| 2015 | Appeared in two climbing documentaries: 'A Line Across the Sky' and 'Showdown at Horseshoe Hell' |
| November 2015 | Met Sanni McCandless at a book signing, which marked the beginning of their romantic relationship. |
| 2014 | Featured in the climbing documentary 'Valley Uprising' |
| 2014 | First free solo of University Wall (5.12a C2, 8 pitches) in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. |
| 2014 | First free solo of El Sendero Luminoso (V 5.12d, 1,750 ft, 15 pitch) in El Potrero Chico, Mexico, taking approximately 3 hours. |
| 2014 | Completed the challenging Fitz Roy Traverse (5.11d C1 65 degrees, 5000m) in the Fitz Roy massif, Patagonia, over five days with climbing partner Tommy Caldwell. |
| November 2014 | Lost sponsorship from Clif Bar due to the company's concerns about the extreme risk of his climbing style. |
| 2012 | Made the first ascent of Too Big to Flail, a difficult 8b (5.13d) boulder problem in Bishop, California. |
| 2012 | Completed the Yosemite Triple Crown solo, climbing Mt. Watkins, El Capitan, and Half Dome in 18:50. |
| 2012 | Completed a speed solo of the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome in Yosemite in 1:22. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Free solo climbing, Reinhold Messner & Alex Honnold, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.