Scaling a steep mountain is quite a feat in itself. Now imagine doing it without ropes as a “safety net.”
Experienced mountain climber Alex Honnold has accomplished such a daunting task after successfully ascending the “El Capitan” granite formation at the Yosemite National Park in northern California, USA, over the weekend. “El Capitan” is taller than the world’s highest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
The 31-year-old American, as per The National Geographic, conquered the 3,000-foot climb without any ropes or safety gear.
Honnold arrived at the peak after three hours and 56 minutes and shared his feat on Facebook, which he captioned: “So stoked to realize a life dream today.”
Aside from the seemingly insurmountable height, Honnold had to squeeze through narrow rock crevasses, tiptoe across ledges and dangle in the open air by his fingertips to reach the top.
“It’s like walking up glass,” Honnold was quoted as saying before the climb. “I’ve pushed my comfort zone and made it bigger and bigger until these objectives that seemed totally crazy eventually fell within the realm of the possible.”
Free solo climbing, meanwhile, has become more popular among climbing enthusiasts and professionals over the years.
The variation carries little to no margin of error, as a simple misplacement of footing can spell death for mountaineers.
Honnold clearly understood the risks, but learned to handle such situations through his years of climbing.
“With free-soloing, obviously I know that I’m in danger, but feeling fearful while I’m up there is not helping me in any way,” he said. “It’s only hindering my performance, so I just set it aside and leave it be.”
A video of Honnold’s record-setting climb, meanwhile, will be released by National Geographic in the coming days. Khristian Ibarrola /ra
RELATED STORY:
Solo climber arrested after scaling Mt. Everest without permit
