The Impossible Climb
Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life
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"One of the most compelling accounts of a climb and the climbing ethos that I've ever read." --Sebastian Junger The Impossible Climb climaxes with Alex Honnold's unprecedented, almost unimaginable feat: a 3,000-foot vertical climb up El Capitan in Yosemite, without a rope. Mark Synnott tells the story in the context of a deeply reported account of his ten-year friendship with Honnold, multiple climbing expeditions, and the climbing ethos they share. The climbing community had long considered a "free solo" ascent of El Capitan an impossible feat so far beyond human limits that it was not worth thinking about. When Alex Honnold topped out at 9:28 am on June 3, 2017, having spent fewer than four hours on his historic ascent, the world gave a collective gasp. His friend Tommy Caldwell, who free climbed (with a rope) the nearby Dawn Wall in 2015, called Alex's ascent "the moon landing of free soloing." The New York Times described it as "one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever." It was "almost unbearable to watch," writes Synnott. This majestic work of personal history delves into a raggedy culture that emerged decades earlier during Yosemite's Golden Age, when pioneering climbers like Royal Robbins and Warren Harding invented the sport that Honnold would turn on its ear. Synnott paints an authentic, wry portrait of climbing history, profiling Yosemite heroes John Bachar, Peter Croft, Dean Potter, and the harlequin tribe of climbers known as the Stonemasters. A veteran of the North Face climbing team and contributor to National Geographic, Synnott weaves in his own amateur and professional experiences with poignant insight and wit. Tensions burst on the mile-high northwest face of Pakistan's Great Trango Tower; photographer/climber Jimmy Chin miraculously persuades an intransigent official in the Borneo jungle to allow Honnold's first foreign expedition, led by Synnott, to continue; armed bandits accost the same trio at the foot of a tower in the Chad desert . . . The Impossible Climb is an emotional drama driven by people exploring the limits of human potential and seeking a perfect, dialed-in dance with nature. They dare beyond the ordinary, but this story of the sublime is really about all of us. Who doesn't need to face down fear and make the most of the time we have?
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We live in a golden age of niche hobbyists getting very famous thanks to the internet. Before, people who were extraordinarily good at a thing the vast majority of people didn't know about would only be well-known within that circle. Nowadays though all it takes is one popular YouTube channel or influencer catching wind of a weird hobby and these people are known to millions of viewers. It is through these avenues that I first became aware of Alex Honnold, the best in the world at climbing massive mountains without any assistance. I remember being in awe at what he did but never looked more into his story. After seeing this book on the shelf of my local bookstore I had to pick it up based on my previous interest. Part of the fun of reading (at least for me) is learning about experiences that I will never have personally, and few things are as out of my theoretical wheelhouse as climbing up a massive wall in Yosemite National Park. I eagerly dove in, looking forward to finding out more about what it takes to do something so incredible. To the book's credit, it absolutely does what I wanted it to do. I now know a lot more about Alex Honnold, both as a climber and as a human being. Throughout the book Synnott does something that I really like, which is looking deep into who the climbers are as people rather than strictly what they do on the rock. As a veteran climber himself, Synnott understands what makes climbers like Honnold tick and does his absolute best to explain why they do the things they do. The book is at its best when Synnott tries to answer these questions. He's a pretty perfect author for this book as he has the necessary hands-on experience doing things like what Honnold did as well as the necessary writing experience to explain it in a way that makes sense to a non-climber. I honestly think this book is about as good as it can be, but I can't say that I totally love it. I was racking my brain for a while to figure out why until it hit me: climbing is just not an easy thing to write about. There's a reason that so many major climbs are filmed and why every prominent climber seems to have a film crew around them: it's really hard to convey what happens on the side of a mountain into words. Synnott doesn't go too deep on the technical jargon, but there were points where I had a tough time visualizing exactly what he was talking about despite his best efforts for that reason. The moves these climbers pull off as well as the features on the rock that they maneuver around are just so hard to picture if you haven't seen them for yourself. That's why the book is better when it doesn't talk too much about the climbing itself, rather the people doing the climbing. I'm glad I read this book. When it's good it's really good and there's a lot to like about it. I imagine that those who are deeper into climbing would get quite a bit more out of it. But for me personally, it just stands as quite good, rather than amazing.
