Rock Climber Climbs Yosemite Park's El Capitan Without Any Ropes or Safety Gear

Rock climbing seems like a great recreational activity with all the proper safety precautions.

Rock climbing without any type of rope or safety gear seems to be extremely dumb and dangerous.

Unless you’re Alex Honnold, then it’s just routine.

 

Photo by @jimmy_chin | Renowned rock climber @alexhonnold climbs Yosemite’s El Capitan on Saturday making the first rope-free ascent of the iconic 3,000-foot granite wall. It is arguably the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport. He ascended the peak in three hours, fifty-six minutes, taking the final moderate pitch at a near run. Under a blue sky and few wisps of cloud, he pulled his body over the rocky lip of the summit at 9:28 a.m. PDT. A team of filmmakers, led by @jimmy_chin, one of Honnold’s longtime climbing partners, and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, captured the ascent for an upcoming National Geographic Documentary Films feature. You can read Mark Synnott’s exclusive account of the climb, which was more than a year in the making, on nationalgeographic.com or by swiping up on our Instagram Story. #history #elcapitan #yosemite

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Jun 3, 2017 at 12:18pm PDT