INTERVIEW: Alex Honnold on writing his first book

Alex was awesome and took a few minutes to let me chat with him about writing Alone on the Wall, climbing while on a book tour and what he considers easy climbing.
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I'm sure others have clicked through even though no comments left in this thread - I had to laugh at the way he responded to your question about climbing while touring for the book.

Signed up for the tour dates list, but since I am in the barren wasteland of the east....not holding my breath.

Yeah. I was on board until that comment. That's a pretty dickish thing to say.

I told Alex he needed to come back next fall (assuming he could drag himself away from Yosemite) to try out some New England climbing. I'd think the place was a barren wasteland too, if all I saw was the New Hampshire coast in November and the stairwell of my hotel.

Good interview!

I can't blame him for his comments on the east. It's certainly not a barren waste land, but from his pov and preference, there isn't a ton this way to peak his interest. There's plenty of stuff out here for others, and if he was a hardcore sport climber he'd probably be more interested.

There's a lot I can't wait to do over here, but I also can't wait to go back west. I was in Tahoe for my honeymoon and I got one day of climbing. Just seeing what was around there (did a nice helicopter tour), you realize you can spend your whole life exploring out West and only do a fraction of it all.

Remember, it's not an afront to you because there's a ton more climbing out there than on the east coast, we didn't build the mountains. It doesn't mean I'm going to abandon the east, can't afford to, haha. But I will make it a mission to get back out there a few more times to hit some classics.

Honnold has climbed at the Gunks at least once. But yeah - compare to the solitude and grandeur of the west, and other places he has been, the *civilazation* back east could seem oppressive. Especially if your looking for a place to bivy in your van, I suppose.