Alone on the Wall Quotes

“I’ve never done drugs, and though I’ve tasted alcohol, I’ve never had a whole drink. I don’t even drink coffee. I had a small cup once—it was like drinking battery acid. I had to poop all morning. I once had a sniff of Scotch. I thought, I should be cleaning my sink with this stuff. It’s not some moral objection—drugs and booze and caffeine just have no appeal to me.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall: Alex Honnold and the Ultimate Limits of Adventure

“There is no adrenaline rush. If I get an adrenaline rush, it means that something has gone horribly wrong.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall: Alex Honnold and the Ultimate Limits of Adventure

“In a real sense, I performed the hard work of that free solo during the days leading up to it. Once I was on the climb, it was just a matter of executing. The”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“On the summit, part of me wished that someone, anyone, had noticed that I’d just done something noteworthy—though maybe it was better that I didn’t have to talk to anybody. How could I have expressed what my last few hours had been like? It was enough that I knew. I didn’t make a sound. I took off my shoes and started hiking down the Cable route. It was only then that someone noticed. “Oh, my God,” this dude blurted out. “You’re hiking barefoot! You’re so tough!”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall: Alex Honnold and the Ultimate Limits of Adventure

“When I protested that it seemed like too serious a situation to rely only on the sun and wind, Piero drew an analogy to climbing. Sometimes you find yourself in positions where falling would mean death. So you don’t fall. It helped me understand. The nomads just don’t make mistakes.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“From my adventures in the subculture of addiction recovery, I’d learned that the trajectory of one’s life often boils down to a few identifiable moments—decisions that change everything. I knew all too well that moments like these were not to be squandered. Rather, they were to be respected and seized at all costs, for they just didn’t come around that often, if ever. Even if you experienced only one powerful moment like this one, you were lucky.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“I think it’s important that you do your own research, take personal responsibility for your decisions, experiment, and find what works best for you.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“But no matter how hot the chick is, say if I was standing at the base of El Cap, and she urged me to free solo some route, my answer would be “No way.” For example, I can’t tell you how many people over the years have pressured me to drink alcohol. We’ll be at a party, and somebody will taunt me, “Alex, just try this beer, it’s not gonna hurt you to take a sip.” I’ve never given in. Booze doesn’t interest me.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall: Alex Honnold and the Ultimate Limits of Adventure

“The climbing and travel in this book wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my entire extended family. I’m grateful that everyone has always encouraged my adventures and not questioned my decision to take a different path.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“Doubt is the biggest danger in soloing. As soon as you hesitate, you’re screwed.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“Nobody wants me to solo, except me.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“I’m every bit as capable of feeling fear as the next person. Danger scares me. But as I've told countless folks who ask, if I have a certain gift, it’s the ability to keep myself together in places that allow no room for error. I somehow know, in such a fix—like the moves above Thank God Ledge on Half Dome where I stalled out in 2008—how to breathe deeply, calm myself down, and get on with it.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“I've tried to approach environmentalism the same way I do my climbing: by setting small, concrete goals that build on each other. That was the idea behind starting the Honnold Foundation. | also worked on smaller projects, such as setting up my mom’s house with solar panels and giving up meat in an effort to eat lower on the food chain. In some ways it might seem silly even to make the effort, since the environmental problems facing our world are so much bigger than any one person's actions. But some walls also seem so huge and impossible that it appears pointless to work toward them. The beauty of climbing has always been the reward of the process itself.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“To me, that is soloing at its finest: to be nearly disconnected from the wall with the air all around. There's a certain purity to that kind of movement that can’t be found with a rope and gear.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“One of my favorite aspects of soloing is the way that pain ceases to exist”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“Almost at once, however, I had my qualms about the project. Ever since my “epiphany” in Chad, I’d agonized over the environmental impact of my climbing. To fly the three of us down to Mexico—not to mention other crew members to operate automated drones to capture footage high on the wall—would be to leave a sizable carbon footprint. Could I really justify burning all that jet fuel and using pricey high-tech hardware just to capture my several hours of play on Portrero Chico?”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“It's just that Alex can't understand why anyone would have any trouble climbing anything.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“Where the side door opens into what used to be the back seats—is where I take my shoes off. It's also my bathroom, where I pee into a bottle.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall

“The water dripped through the floor of the portaledge onto my hammock and sleeping bag. I sort of sat in a puddle for a whole day and night. It was all right as long as I didn’t move and stir up the water. I was reading The Brothers Karamazov, which fit the dreary mood. I tore the paperback in half and gave Mark the first part to read. Pretty grim, but I guess it builds character.”
― Alex Honnold, Alone on the Wall