WATCH: Alex Honnold’s Bizarre Interview About Climbing El Capitan with a Baby
It’s probably safe to say that becoming the world’s greatest rock climber takes a rare mind. Alex Honnold has proven over and over again that his brain works at a different pace than everyone else, especially during his dangerous and groundbreaking rock climbs.
In a bizarre interview with ABC, Honnold’s rare mind is in full display as he discusses his friend Tommy Caldwell’s upcoming ascent of El Capitan. With Honnold helping out his friend in the feat, he offered to guide Caldwell’s family, including his wife and child, up to the top to meet the climber after his groundbreaking climb. Around the 5-minute mark of the interview, the conversation devolves into Honnold explaining how he could climb parts of El Capitan with Caldwell’s baby.
“We joked about me climbing the east ledges with his baby,” said Honnold. “And it looks like we might actually do that.”
Stunned by Honnold’s admission, the interviewer presses on the logistics of rock climbing with a baby.
“How do you get a baby up the mountain,” she asked.
“The baby would be in the backpack but he would also be wearing a little harness attached to the ropes separate from where I’m attached,” said Honnold. “I would just be climbing the ropes like normal, which isn’t very hard. And then the baby would just be backed up.”
It’s a joy to watch the casual nature in which Honnold discusses rock climbing, shrugging off the challenge of climbing while carrying a 25-pound baby. That’s the sort of confidence that later allowed him to climb El Capitan with no ropes, as highlighted in the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo.
Watch the above interview for the bizarre encounter with the world’s best rock climber.
