Climber sets records at Yosemite
By Miranda Simon, Sacramento Bee
When Alex Honnold made it to the top of Yosemite’s imperious Half Dome two years ago – rope-less but serene up to the last slab – tourists gathered to ask him if he was crazy.
Even the most hard-core climbers wonder how the 24-year-old Sacramento native can make it to the top without the protection of ropes and still manage to keep calm.
But June 24, the news was not about Honnold’s insane gearless solo climbs but rather that he broke speed-climbing records on two notorious Yosemite rock formations. He climbed Half Dome in two hours and nine minutes, shaving 41 minutes off the old record, and then finished the day off with a six-hour climb of the majestic El Capitan with Swiss climber Ueli Steck.
