Alex Honnold

In a matter of just a couple of years, Alex Honnold has risen from relative obscurity as a dirtbag climber roaming Yosemite Valley to one of the most widely recognized professional climbers in the world. His hook: audacious free solo ascents of some of America’s biggest walls with a mix of tremendous strength, steely focus and incredible mental control. Honnold has climbed everything from Moonlight Buttress to Half Dome and the Yosemite Triple without a rope, but he’s known as much for his humbleness and no-big-deal attitude as his huge achievements. He has been profiled by “60 Minutes,” featured on the cover of National Geographic and is the subject of the films Honnold 3.0 (Mountainfilm 2013) and Alone on the Wall (Mountainfilm 2010).