The edge of reason

My husband, usually a cool customer, watched Free Solo from behind his fingers, sometimes jumping up from the sofa and backing away from the TV. Audiences at Imax showings have behaved the same way, rising to their feet, clenching their sweaty fists as they watch Alex Honnold, a 33-year-old rock climber from Sacramento, make his way up El Capitan, 2,700 vertical feet of granite in Yosemite National Park.

Free Solo is a documentary, the story of Honnold’s record-breaking climb, and the reason for the excitement is that he does it ‘free solo’, without ropes or aid of any kind. It’s just Alex, his shorts, his shoes, a bag of chalk, and the cliff. The film’s been nominated for both a Bafta and Oscar (best documentary) but whether it wins or loses, there won’t be a performance in any category to match Alex Honnold’s. There just can’t be. He’s the greatest free soloist of all time.

So it’s weird to hear him say, on a sunny morning in Soho, that he’s not actually talented as a climber. ‘I’ve just seen you walk up a vertical rockface,’ I say. ‘What on earth do you mean?’

‘OK,’ he says, ‘let me try to explain. So there’s this guy Chris Sharma who is basically the most famous climber in the world for the last 20 years, and he was one of my childhood heroes. When Chris was 15 or 16 he put up the hardest route in America, this route called Necessary Evil. I’ve tried that route several different times over the years and I’ve never actually done it, so I basically have been climbing for 20 years and I’ve fricking tried pretty hard, you know. I’ve trained and I still haven’t climbed that route. I’m not physically gifted enough. Chris Sharma has freakishly strong fingers and he’s physically gifted — he is very, very strong.’