My Favorite Rock Climber - Alex Honnold

What's the farthest distance you've ever fallen?

I don't know, like sixty or eighty feet or something like wrapped up? Is that a swing or climbuto ropeso dynamics that they stretch so you basically it's like a bungee jumping. Just any distance you follow is totally safe.

Have you ever bungee jumped?

I haven't I have. Oh yeah, you're so brave.

Pasha Tosh Shows Show Mahalo. Welcome to another episode of Tash Show. Should we do a roll call?

Sure? All right?

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie, he's not here? Where is he? Uh?

He just had surgery.

Eddie's not here today because he had surgery yesterday. Now why did he have surgery? Well, he was doing a little dry wall here in the studio because as you know, he's a diy man and he's like, oh man, you guys don't need to pay for this. I can do this drywall. And he's on a step stool, just a mere one and a half to two feet off the ground. He falls, tears his rotator cuff, has to have surgery.

The phrase that pays is hydro codone?

Ah.

How is your How is your surgery?

Eddie?

Oh? Man, it's quick, it's good. I think I think everything went well. Just talk to the doctor.

He called to check in and he said there's a there's a big mess in there, but everything wasn't more than he expected. It's all sewn up, and I gotta be in a sling for four weeks.

A sling for four weeks.

Yeah, it's like.

The sling that's got the big box between you and your body. So it doesn't even it looks just it looks extra stupid.

You know, you should have done You should asked doctor if it's too late to a transition during the.

Surgery, ask him that right before we go in.

And and this this is a typical procedure that anyone has to go through if they do any drywall.

Oh you know, I don't. I didn't ask him that, but I guess. You know, if you fall off a ladder, anything can happen.

How high do you reckon you fell?

I probably was maybe three rungs up on the ladder, about three.

Feet three feet.

I was coming down the ladder kind of kicked out to the side, and I just remember my head thinking, oh, no.

What'd your arm? Did you just land on your arm.

Landed on the shoulder and the arm screeping on the legs.

I must have kicked on the ladder. And then I rang the doors, me knock at the door, and I'm still on the ground, kind of like what happened. If I get up, I didn't really use the left sides and it's still so like just fresh. And I go to the door. It's the property manager. She's like, do something fallings fresh?

And I was like, yeah, yeah, that was me a ladder eddie.

I'm gonna have to tighten this up. Okay, Well, I'm glad the Surgeria went, well, this is your fault, Like, you shouldn't have volunteered that you can do this work. That's the problem. You got to just be like, no, guys, we have to pay a professional to do this.

I have a problem with that saying no.

Say I know I could do a lot of things, but I don't have to, and sometimes I don't do them well when I do them anyway.

So yeah, I just I mean, there's just no world where you would have said, hey, I can't do this dry wall, And I'm like, you have to do it right. Is it your right arm or your left arm?

Left arm? Which is good?

Good?

Do you have any shows coming up that you're gonna have to wear a sling?

I'll be in Boise, Idaho.

Do you say Boise like that or you don't say Boise? He boys, Yeah, are you supposed to say boys versus.

In my head, I think I am you.

Don't just say boise boisy.

Now I don't know. Now I'm confused. That could be the pain killers.

Well, we'll get to the bottom of that. All right. Well, I guess I'll see you next week and here with a sling. Yeah, being with a sling, all right, ed, have a good recovery, See you soon. Okay, Well, that's nice. That's nice. If you think falling off ladder is dangerous. Oh my goodness, waiting to hear what today's guest has been up to enjoy, Pasha, I move today's guest to the top of the list because every day we wait to interview him, the chances of him dying in a

Thanks, thanks, thanks for having me.

How are you man?

Yeah, I'm good.

If you would have told me six years ago after I watched your Academy Award winning documentary that you'd still be alive, I would I would have taken the under No.

But if anything if you watched that film, you see me train for two years to do something. I don't care one climb, don't care. Still preparations okay.

No, not when no one's done something.

Yeah, but there a plenty of things that nobody's I mean, is there. Yeah, that's the nature of sport. But you're always trying to do something to other people can't do. Not me. I just copy people. That's the nature of comedy. Somebody that does.

Something great and I'm like, oh, I should try that.

Yeah.

Let me start with my first question. Do you believe in ghosts?

No?

How about Bigfoot? You spend a lot of time in national parks. I've looked extensively. I haven't found him.

You grew up in Sacramento. Ye, how'd you get into climbing?

Climbing gym? Uh huh, just like straight suburbia. I went to the gym and took to it.

Well, I have to give you a little background of my climbing. None, that's not true. That's not true. One time, one time I was in Orlando, Florida.

Yeah, I known for his climbing. Yet he's with my.

Girlfriend and she says we should go climbing. There's a rock climbing gym, and I'm like, oh, I've never done that. This would be a fun date. Let's go to this rock climbing gym. Then we're at the rock climbing gym, all of a sudden, this like instructor guy comes over and like, hey, Laura, it's great to see it. Gives her big hug and he's an instructor. There that's her ex boyfriend, and I'm like, what in the fuck did

Howd to go?

I didn't enjoy myself the whole time.

I was angry at it, And that's why it's an next girlfriend.

Yeah, it didn't work out. There are a lot of reasons it didn't work out, but that one really stuck out. Were you a maniac as a kid on the monkey bars and stuff?

Yeah? I did break my arm three times as a kid falling off things.

Did you say arm?

No?

I think two right, one left?

They healed fine.

Yeah, it was like, you know, h five and six does make any difference?

Do you ever just train to see how long you can actually hang?

No, I've never drained that.

What is there a Guinness Book of World Record for that?

Sure there must be. Are you in the Guinness Book a World Record for anything? I don't know. Are you in the get as?

No, of course I'm not, but I would probably. I don't know because I've never done anything remarkable, but I certainly if I did, I would.

Actually pull it out.

Look at paid two thirty four.

He was in the Guinness Book World Records twice. I was do you know what for.

The free solo and the fastest l CAP climb?

Oh?

Yeah, as fast as an el Cap climb and free SOULO.

That's pretty good.

You're in the Guinness Book of World Record twice next to those two big fat guys on the motorcycles. Yeah, exactly, that's I mean, the fact that you don't know that just speaks volumes about how different you and I are. No one's ever done the climb you've done, and then the fifteen training runs that you did for l CAP, no one's ever done those.

Free If you just counted up things that have been done in climbing that other people haven't done, then I have, you know, like dozens.

I had a pastor. This stuck with me as a kid.

Don't really strike me as a religious fellow.

Oh my father was a pastor. Okay, but then I lived in Saint Louis for a spell and we had a pastor at our church and he went rock climbing. This is a horrible story, headliver.

Yeah, okay, it love it.

Let's see he was climbing with I believe his son. This is the church. We went to, a Presbyterian church. He was climbing with this. He fell a bit, he was roped in hit his head was concussed, unhooked, and just stepped off the cliff and died.

That's a weird story. Yeah, I feel like it might be missing some pieces.

You definitely are because you're you're hearing it from a kid that heard it when it was eight years old.

Thirty years later with a little bit of a weird uh.

That was really my first introduction to people that climbed. Wreck rage.

This is why you're not into climbing. Yeah, yeah, like traumatic experiences. It really was. Yeah, No, it's terrible.

There's something about climbing, Like when I was a kid, you climb and you like, you get up in it. But now if I'm climb just uh, it doesn't set well with me at all.

You think it's scary, you know.

Oh yeah, what, I don't know, maybe just you sall be more out of practice.

Mm hmm.

Also, I have always had that thing, and I'm curious if you have where you just stand on the edge and.

Then you want to falling off.

You know, you just start saying jump, just do it, just like the inner voice is telling you, just do it.

Well, okay, as somebody who has done probably twenty hours of photo shoots on the edge of cliffs, like you know, the sun is setting and you just stand there and the photographers like lean over and like stand and like turn and you know, I've literally done hours of like peering right over the edge of cliffs for various things. And yeah, you definitely spend you know, half that time being like, what would it be like if I just

Do you think that the producers wanted you to die in free solo?

Yep, no, obviously, I mean one Jimmy Chin with a co director, is a good friend of mine who have spent months with different expeditions, and he definitely didn't want me to die. But more so, what would they do with a film? I mean, it would be this horrendous film.

Really, or it might be the single greatest piece.

No, people would be so bummed if everybody left the theater slightly shell shocked and like tears in their eyes. Yes, just it just would not have been that it was.

I don't know, I don't care.

Why have you seen the film in the Alpinist? So it's another climbing film, also really well done, really well made. The guy dies in the end, and noticed that it didn't have quite the same success as Free Solo.

That might have been your charisma.

I don't think there is any of that. Did you get an oscar No, because it's a director and producer.

I understand that, but they couldn't be like, listen, no, clearly your work.

The Yeah, nobody cared and even the director Jimmy and Jimmy and Chai, who are married, uh you know, so they each got one, but there was no offer to share.

It seems like you're a little bit bitter, but that's fair. How often do you have to continue to climb to feel like, oh, I've still got it.

A lot, a lot more than a lot of sports. Sadly, it's a it's it's a hard You can't take three months off. No, you can't even take like four days off. Really, I climb like four or five days a week.

People say it about comedy like stand up, like you have to get up every night to do stand up, And I'm like, oh, I'll take I'll take a couple of months off.

But you probably have a good base.

Yeah, I got a great base.

And there's no uh, there's no fitness requirement. It's like it's skill I mean, because like I'm always slightly envious of a lot of sports, like a professional skier. It's like so much of its skill based. I mean, obviously there's some fitness requirement, but it's not like the main thing. Climbing is just not like that climbing it's like if you're not doing it all the time, you kind of suck.

What about as you're aging, where's the cutoff?

I think in general, climbing has more longevity than most sports because it's it's relatively low impact, you know, barring some kind of actual accident.

Have you ever free soloed anything that you hadn't previously climbed with ropes.

I've solded a bunch of things, so that's called on site soling or onsiding in climbing, and you have done that a bit. I mean generally you do that more within your grade range. Like in Morocco, i onsite sold a fifteen hundred foot relatively hard wall. It was like a total experience. In general, with stuff like that, you're just much more likely to downclimb or bail if you're not feeling it.

Downclimb is that a cool word to say, totally totally normal, just downclimb downclimbing. That's really hard, huh.

You know, depending on the style of climbing, it can be easier because it's grappy assisted, you know, it's like it's i mean, it's easier to go down than up. Really you don't have to be a strong yeah, exactly. That said, it is kind of more challenging because you're leading with your feet. You can't see your feet as well, so it's slightly harder. And then also you just don't practice it as much and it feels weird. Do you work out, yeah, like all the time. Yeah, I'm a professional author.

Do you have a trainer for all of it or no in general.

Note, but I've used a couple sort of climbing coaching services of the years. I mean, it's not like I love working out, but I love doing things that I want to do, and so that requires working out.

Have any other climbers even come close to replicating your free solo accomplishments?

There are other climbers who have free soloed other very hard things, but nobody has done nobody's even tried any of the things that that I've that, yeah, that I've done.

Do you really want to promote the sport to everyone out there? Is it give an agenda for that like you because you love it so much? Or is it just like no, this is just what I'm good at and I love it.

I don't feel like I need to promote it, but I do. I do just love climbing and and I'm happy to share my enthusiasm.

How long could you actually hold somebody what do you mean holds? You know, the whole if you were holding onto something.

Like cliffhang yourself, I was just hanging while trying to hold somebody, a human like two seconds? I mean you just get ripped off the wall. That stuff is totally unrealistic.

Would you instinctively kick them off your hand?

Yeah, kick them in the face so they can survive better. Better one goes than two, you know, Yeah, fair enough? Okay, so there's no no, It depends on the situation. I mean, if someone is like hanging on your back, and you know you were carrying like a backpack, you might be able to hold on to somebody for quite a while.

You recently rode a bicycle from Colorado to Alaska to climb a series of mountains no one has ever climbed before.

No, it's not true that no ones climbing. We did all. Yeah, we did some new things, but but people had climbed the various summits.

Do you prefer climbing in the cold versus the warm or the hot?

In general, you're better off being slightly cold than warm, just because if you're sweaty, your grip is worse.

The bike ride. Have you always been into that.

I've I've done two other sort of month long bike tours in the past, and then for a time I didn't know in a car, so I biked a lot. So I have like a bit of a base of biking. But but no, I haven't ridden a bicycle since that drip.

How was your ass after that bike ride?

Terrible? And that's the thing with biking. I was like, you think that after two thousand miles you get used to it and it'd be fine. It's like, no, it still sucks.

I don't know why you can't have a more comfortable saddle.

Yeah, I think it just chased more. I mean, I think if it's company when you sit on it for a minute, after one hundred miles, it's like too bouncy and chafey. And I don't know how many miles a day were you doing, like a hundred or so every day every day? And then we climbed in two different sort of renowned climbing areas along the way.

You have no idea what like a good time? Is Jesus Rice. The mountain you climb in Alaska is called Devil's Thumb, which I thought meant something completely different. What makes it so difficult?

Oh, it's just like it was like, imagine the Devil's Thumb. Just it's like a giant spire of granite sticking out a glaciers as remote in the middle of nowhere in Alaska, it's historically has terrible weather, though we were very lucky with a great weather window, so our experience was actually pretty chill weatherse do you study the weather? No, I just show up and I pray for the best.

Okay. But you're not like like, oh, I can see that there's a front demelo.

People are like, oh, I see high lenticulars. It means I'm like, no, you don't fucking know.

So I surf and and and surfers always know everything about the weather and in swells, and I'm always like, just tell me when it's good.

Yeah. No, I'm exactly the same. I'm typically climbing somebody who's better than me of those kinds of things, and so I just let other people. You always climb with a buddy, No, But for stuff like that, if you're coming on glacier, you're pretty much always with partners, because when you're crossing glaciers you need to be roped to somebody because you fall into holes like crevasses.

Do you ever have to take a huge shit on the side of the mountain all the time, You just do it. It's stick to your stomach and just like like that type of Yeah.

No, I've had. I've had a bunch of full on, one handed dumps off the side of mountains when you're like literally hanging on the side of a cliff and you just hang on and you're like, oh my god, I got boop.

You carry some continent wet wipes with.

You generally have some TP in the bag just in case.

I'm good. Oh oh, you're like, by the way, you still have that van?

No? I, well, so the one that you saw in the film Free Solo. I wrecked that van sadly, but then I found out that my wife's pregnant right after, and so we're kind of like, well that van.

Also, you're hanging from your fingers all the time.

Minute I save the HangBoard. I have that same HangBoard in my new van. Do yeah. Yeah.

What about you have a toilet now in your bath and your van?

No?

I think that's weird. It's like, who wants to like poop in their living room? No, you have a bathroom separate, but it's not separate because the van is just one space. So even if you put a little partition, you're still basically pooping right now.

I have to show you some better layouts of sprinters.

I know, a lot of sprinter layouts. I've been in a van for like fifteen years of a lot.

Of what percentage of your year is in a van?

Well? Now what in the last two years since we've had kids much less? But before that, you know, I mean I fully lived lived in the van for eleven or twelve years, just straight.

You still sleep with the with the bottle next to you, the pea bottle. Yeah, oh yeah, of course. Even in the house.

No, no, not that and the house I use the toilet. It is better.

You got a care beener for your keys?

No, I think that's also stupid, all right, though nowadays I don't even have keys because I'm driving to just walk up and my phone works and I drive away, And that's that's crazy. What are you driving? Ribban me too, dude, it's so nice song. Do you have the t or the s I have the truck. Actually we just bought the suv.

You have a place in Tahoe?

Yeah, my grandma but built a place in nineteen forty nine, I think.

And do you go to Tahoe a lot?

Still? I spent my summers there as a kid in the family place, like with my grandparents.

Want the whole summer. Whereabouts I'm from. I live in Tahoe a part time. Yeah, South Lake, Okay, I'm up North Lake. I'm in Tahoe City.

Oh lame. That's the wrong side of the lake.

No, it's not the west side, the best side, I.

Don't think so. It rhymes well what rhymes is south, but actually they just call it the dirty South. It's kind of less cool.

Is there good climbing in Tahoe?

It's so so in the summer, it's not great because it's too hot. I think of Tahoe more as a vacation. He plays, you go hiking, you hang out with the kids, you play at the beach. It's all lovely. I live in Vegas, Las Vegas full time, and that's the best climbing in the country.

Las Vegas is the best climbing in the country.

No Vegas has great climbing. That's the thing. Is the reason we live there is the local climbing.

Is what is local climbing in Vegas? Where is it? Mountains?

Yeah?

I know Vegas. I was there this past weekend. Have you ever been't think of walking outside?

Yeah? Yeah, exactly. That's it just looked to the distance like look to the west, and we'll see these giant walls everywhere. Red Rock is this famous sandstone climbing area that's really well known up to like two thousand foot walls, and then behind that are these bigger limestone mountains that are covered in support climbing areas.

Do immediately get recognized by I know, periodically you would get recognized just in everyday life, but when you're on a mountain, is it just like on a mountain, it's like every single person are they trying to impress in front of you? Do you ever notice that?

Yeah?

What depends? I mean that home crags much less so like around Vegas, anyone I run into probably lives there too, and I've probably seen him at some point, or at least they know I live there, you know. But if I show up at random other parts of the country to go climbing, then people are a lot more like whoa what are you doing here? You know, like let's chat?

You listen to podcasts while you're climbing?

Ever fairly and frequently I listen to anything. I listen music. Yeah, I like early two thousands of rock, do you yeah? Stained not quite saying, but yeah, that genre. Yeah, let's say that genre. Know why is that my first poll? Maybe maybe more like tool tool?

Oh?

Okay, have you ever been to the Sphere?

Yeah? I have? I saw you two there. Did you enjoy it? I don't totally love the music, with all respect to you too, but I was kind of like, you know, did you climb it? No? Because I don't want to get arrested. But this other guy climbed it and got arrested and now he's like facing probation or something for this, like climber and town.

Are you allowed to climb any buildings on the strip, dude?

Just just a couple of weeks or last month, GQ random we reached out to do some urban photo shoot thing with me, so we like prawled around and sold the sides of things, and then as we were leaving, you could hear guys on radios being like can you go check out the guys on top of the parking structure and like, jeez, but but no, I haven't sold anything meaningful there because I don't want to get arrested and it's not worth the headache.

Do you watch those videos of like those Russian kids that like do.

The I've seen photos that stuff yeah, it's I.

Mean, they're fearless, the things that they would do just for shits and giggles. I'm like, remember that one video that that swing that they had off like an a and in high rise. Yes, holy cow, just kind of that seems safe. Oh yeah, it was real, real regulated.

Well, if you rig it yourself, you're making as safe as you want.

How do you deal with it?

The heat in Vegas for climbing, Uh, there's climbing it eight thousand feet, it's north facing, it's full shade all the time, there's no humidity. It's like it feels fine.

Your north face. Is that your main sponsor?

Yeah?

Yeah, So wh how does that work with a spontor? They cut you a monthly check.

Yeah, yeah, they just pay your salary to represent. But monthly well I don't know, you don't know. Well, goes through an agent and like, uh huh. You just get the check when you get it. Well, I don't even think I get checks. I think somebody else gets something and it puts it into account and I just don't even stress it.

Uh huh. And is that like the bread and butter sponsorship money?

It definitely used to be in general, that's that's the thing for professional For if you're a professional climber, you're probably making your living off sponsorship. For me, it's a little bit different now because of the success of free solo, make a lot more from corpors speaking and things like that.

And do you hate the commercial speaking. No, No, it's like I mean, but you say you get nervous in front of people.

Oh, I'd say I used to get nervous in front of people. Now No, I just don't care anymore now I've done it. Note that it's pretty Jill.

What's like one of the worst ones where you're like, oh, they they set me up on this, I'm taking the check.

But this is not I don't know if I've done anything bad. I think the ones that I dislike the most are like a like a sales conference or something where you stand on the stage. It's insanely bright lights. You're in like some auditorium and they're like three thousand people and you can't see any of them, okay, and you just speak into the void in some like echoi

I always just find that stuff like demeaning when they have this money, these companies and they're like, oh, we wanted a comedian, so here come tell jokes and.

Find it a meeting until they pay you, and then you're like, man, I love that. I do. I think of myself as a piece of meat that gets shipped around the country in a little metal box. I'm like, honestly, for half the work things I do, I'm like, they could just like gag me and put me in the back of the car and drive me there and it'd be the same thing. How long when you do a publish whatever whatever people want, Well, how long.

Would you be whether they said to do two hours? Would you be like, I'm not doing two hours.

No, I could just get into some crazy stories or something, but I would go deep into like Okay, well and you know I probably have thirty minutes of good material and be on that. I'll just tell you know, you want to hear one hint of pooping stories. I got a couple and they're each insane and if you set them up then that don't take some time.

What do you think of Patagonia?

They're great, amazing.

Are they a sponsor too?

They aren't because they compete with the North Face. That's what I thought, I thought, But incredible brand. Actually, on the on the Devil's Thumb expedition thing last year, when we were biking up to Alaska, we stayed at Evan Schnard's house for two days, the founder of Patagonia. I mean for an eighty year old billionaire, he just like hung out and cooked his beans and rice and hit chatted and it is amazing. I was like, what inspiration? He's the man? Do you do you hate?

The tech bros ruined the bubble vest?

Like would you just say, like, what is a bubble vest?

You know, like sleeveless vest jackets that are kind of cool that we're meant for like climbers and hikers, but now like all the to.

You mean a down down vest? Uh oh there are no bubbles inside that.

We could only call it a bubble vesta. Yeah, some people called a.

Bubble I've never heard that. Yeah, downvest, I got it. Yeah, it's full of feathers. All right, you get the point. Yeah, I got it.

Do you own any vests?

I think the best are totally stupid. I was like, why would you buy a garment with no sleeves in the hood.

They look good, they look good in certain environments and it's nice. It keeps you warm.

I have a couple of vests, but like the point of a down jacket is to keep you warm. Yeah, I know, trying to stay warm, you che sleeps.

You also need mobility.

Actually no, so I do have some friends who are professional optimists who swear by vests as like part of the layering system because they don't want too bulky, like they don't want too much stuff on their arms. And yeah, I think it's stupid. Though.

Are you still eating like an idiot?

You mean like simply yes? Yeah?

Yeah, dispatchela, Yeah you're not.

No, No I have you know, it's like we have a house, we have plates, we have all the things. But if I'm by myself, then yeah, I just do whatever the easiest.

I didn't want that to be.

It's the simple life. Uh huh, Well, why do more dishes than you need to?

It makes me laugh, That makes me laugh. I mean, it makes sense. Why do more dishes? You went to Berkeley studied civil engineering but dropped.

Out indeed, why I didn't have any particular aptitude for engineering, and uh, and I like drop climbing a lot more. You think you'll go back and finish up. For many years I did. I was kind of like, oh, I'm taking a semester off. I'm taking eight semesters off. I've taken you know, twenty four semesters off.

You know the number now?

Well, no, it's like fifteen years. Yeah, I've met like thirty semesters or something.

You respect those American Ninja warriors.

I mean, yeah, it's hard, it's.

In your wheelhouse. You could you probably could.

Oh, I think I could do the course. I don't think i'd win though, because it's for time. I wouldn't mean nearly as fast as people who were good at it.

Do you enjoy the speed climbing in any the Olympics or no?

Yeah, actually I'm really into it. I mean they're climbing forty five foot wall in four and a half seconds. It's like it's crazy.

It doesn't look it doesn't look like they're human to be honest.

Yeah, yeah, exactly when they run a wall, they're back back to their order j apes.

Your mother, at age sixty six and at seventy, became one of the oldest persons to ever climb l cap, which begs the question is it really even that hard?

No, I mean I don't. I would say no. I would say anybody could do it.

You could.

You could take me up, Oh yeah, easily, uh huh with with you know, two weeks of practice. I mean, she put a lot of effort into practice, training like learning systems, learning the ropes and stuff. But then and then we spent the whole freaking day going up there, and it was a total life experience and she got crushed and it was like the biggest adventure of her life. I love it, Like, you could definitely do that. You're a lot more fit than my mom. Well I don't.

I mean I don't. I don't know your mother. But that's very nice of you to say. Okay, how long have you been married?

I don't know. Six, No, I don't know four, four or five years? Same?

Were you registered at ARII?

Yeah? Yeah, I have an old account. Yeah, I get my little.

No, we registered at ARII for your wedding?

Oh no, no. Yeah, I was strongly anti gift. I don't know if we got anything that.

The wedding cake was it one giant Cliff Bar.

I got fired by Cliff Bar, so I have bad blood with Cliff But no, no, I'm kidding. I don't have that blood. But but you did get fired, but I did get fired. I don't like the man. They dropped everybody on the team that did risky things basically, huh. I was kind of like, come on, guys.

I never have been into eating any type of protein bars or things like that. They've always tasted gross. I don't like them. But one time I found a bar that I liked. It was a lunar bar, like a mint jar or something. But then I found out that it was for women.

But you know, it's still essentially a candy bar, so you may as well just eat it.

That's well. I thought I was okay, but then I thought I started developing breasts, so I was worried. I was like, oh, man, I shouldn't be eating this thing you moisturize or no, no, that's that bad for future grip it.

Yeah, well, skin stuff is skin is a total thing for climbers. Everyone's like either your skin's too hard or too soft or whatever in yours, trying to make sure it's better than it is.

Let me feel your hands. If you don't mind, just you give me. How would you would you shake my hand? I mean, you definitely have some calusies. They're strong.

What do you weigh like one sixty? I know?

How often do you weigh yourself?

Like twice a week? I'd say in the morning. I only weigh myself if I've woken up, take my morning poop and then weighed myself with the same person. Yeah, well I do that. One thing is though, that I have to get up with our older daughter every morning, so I generally wake up with the baby and then uh, and then things happen, and then I eat breakfast and do whatever, and so I rarely weigh myself just because normally the day gets away from me.

How has your sleep schedule changed since having children?

Yeah, it's like somebody ran a truck over it. It's like were you I.

Mean, normally, what time did you used to go to bed.

Ten eleven maybe like eleven eleven thirty and then sleep till you know, seven or eight or something. And now it shifted it to go out now, it's just a complete disaster. It's just you go to sleep and you can and you get up as soon as somebody starts to cry. You have two daughters, Yeah, I have two daughters seven months old than two and a half.

It's exciting, right.

It, Yeah, it's I'd say it's only getting better. You know.

The one thing that always struck me was that you do don't have the same level of fear that a lot of people have. But does that transfer to all of fear, Like, do you have fear for your kids? Like you're like, oh, I don't want them to get hurt, or you just you have no fear for anything.

No, it's not that I don't have any fear for anything, and I mean I do. I definitely don't want my kids to get hurt. But I would say I probably have a much higher tolerance for risk with my kids. Like, actually, my two and a half year old just learned to climb this really steep ladder in this place that we were staying, and you know, I was like, that's fine.

You know, if you're there and catch them, that's not an issue. But if she was up there by herself on supervised, would you be like, oh, I hope she may.

No, I would definitely, I would definitely supervise.

Uh huh. All right, So you're you're not wired completely, You're not like a maniac. No, No, I don't think so. How much parenting are you doing? You're doing fifty percent? Where are you at what percentage?

Probably less than fifty, but I would say a lot. I think, you know, I do mornings and evenings every day. You know, even when I'm climbing. I think I'm a very involved parent.

Do you ever do you ever like when when things are tough as a father or a husband, think, you know what, I'm just gonna go for a real reckless climb right now.

No. No, even back in the day before having a wife and kids and all that kind of stuff, you know, I occasionally did some solas where you know, I have like a bad breakover some dramatic stuff going on, you know, things in life and I'd be like, oh, screw, I'm gonna solo this thing. But it was never like I'm just I just don't care, I'm gonna kill myself souling. It was just kind of like, Oh, I'm gonna harness this angst and I'm gonna do something I've always wanted

What's the most you've ever waged in your life?

Coming home from the Devil's Com thing, the bike tour to Alaska, I was like the heaviest ever in My legs were very bigger for biking twenty four hundred miles, and I think I was just heavily inflamed. I was like just I was kind of unhealthy, like basically going hard like that. For a long time, I felt like I felt less fit actually than when I started, sort of counterintuitively like I did too much and it was like I'm dying. But then my wife called me Husky, and I was like, oh, Husky, come on.

You have a return The favor to her and call her husky.

I'd try my very best not there, but you know, two pregnancies in the last couple of years.

Don't lie. I mean, how many times have you watched Free Solo?

Not that many all the way through? Maybe I don't know, for six or something. I mean all part of the tour, you know, so like the premiere at the different places, like with certain audiences, like certain screenings.

Are you excited for the day that you and your daughters sit down and watch it together?

They're gonna be like, Daddy, why are you so mean? Why are you such a psycho?

Yes, some of that will come through, but still that that'll be a pretty neat time capsule.

Actually is my wife was joking about U. At what point our kids will notice that it's unusual to know all the people in the movies they see your films and stuff, Because the kids have seemed like the Devil's Climb thing, you know, with me and Tommy, and they're like, oh, uncle Tommy, Uncle Tommy, that's cool. But so they're sort of used to seeing stuff on screens where it's like, oh, people they know, and like, why don't you watch better movies?

Geez?

Well it's that's your kid. Yeah, I've been watching that and Frozen two.

By the way, I'm gonna go on record right now. And this is controversial.

Frozen two kind of sucks.

I think Frozen two is better than Frozen one.

I didn't. I haven't finished yet, only soundtrack.

No, the soundtrack is not as good, but the story itself and Frozen two I prefer.

Really, uh huh, Okay, Well, we'll see you when I finish it. Because somebody said the second half improves.

You ever go to a spa?

No?

You you laugh at me for that question. But like if anybody really should just lay there and get like.

I get to work once a week when I'm at home. We have this bodywork guy in town. He's amazing. Okay, so but you're not the shout out to Pat. He's the world's best body worker.

Pat's the world's best body working.

So yeah, for like deep tissue and sash Pat.

I don't like deep tissue. It hurts, but that's the point. No, No, I don't want I want to I want to fall asleep.

Yeah, well that's a different that's a different kind of thing. Like I went like a mechanic to just get into like bas and things with his tools.

I want beautiful, soft hands, and I want the ball asleep. I want to be peaceful.

No, I've got my man Pat. We just talked about football or something the whole time, and he just like breaks stuff up.

What's your football team?

Which everyone wins the most?

You're just a front runner.

I just like to see excellence.

Oh, look at you.

I want to see about college football or no. No, but I do like that the games are so high scoring that they look like basketball games. And it's like eighty four to seventy two, And you're like, how the fuck do you.

Think that's crazy? How about the fact that Vegas can predict those spreads of fifty seven points. I'm like, that's ridiculous. Everybody's on my show gets a gift, but it's just stuff from my house I'm trying to get rid of.

I do a lot of that, dude, just giving people my trash.

Yeah, but this is a funny gift to me. This I wanted you to have. It's a servant spoon. But I, my son and I were on the beach. All we ever do on the beach is look for treasure, anything that's been left behind and one day we found this serving spoon. And my wife has nice dishes and nice serving She didn't win your serving spoon. No wait, listen, this is years we've had this, okay, and every time we'll have like a real dinner friends over, I will put that serving spoon into the dish and she will

Okay, this I got for you.

This will be for your uh, for your seven month old. This is a fun one. It just tooks onto your shoulders like this, and then it's it's like sweetish, so it's simple and then the kid just sits up there and they love it. They strap in. Oh, by the way, comes apart.

O.

Wow, you could do a commercial. No, no, I don't do commercial. I don't know how are you gonna get this home?

Wait?

You're giving that to your daughter.

You are literally just taking all the trash out of your garage.

Get this off the desk, please, Yeah, I got more stuff coming. Hold on, we get get this, get this match law Okay, okay, this is all just the cute clothes for uh, for the for the six month old. Oh they look at these pants a little flair.

Your wife's gonna love that kind of stuff.

She's gonna love that. And there's a lot of stuff is good and hasn't been worn. Oh look at this cute little swimsuit. She'll love everything.

Dude, this is this is actually, this is great. Oh I got it.

Look at this a little tiny vest for her.

Yeah, that's now that's really cute.

Though. Oh wait, wait, look at this. Look at these flare jeans. Are you are you kidding me?

Do My wife is gonna love this.

I know it's what I want you to go home it. She'll be happy.

She's gonna be shocked that I have nice things for a baby. Let me put all this. How do you still have all this? I thought you said your kid is a five.

I have a five year old boy and and a one and a half year old girl.

Oh oh wow, you're in it still.

It's the easiest thing in the world. Couldn't be easier. Love it here? Get this all nice?

And so this is so your your daughter just aged out of all this.

Yeah, here, because I know that you have a Rivian. I have some aftermarket Rivian stuff for you. Oh yeah, my brother, you know, the tech guy in the family, he's some of this stuff. I'm like, no, you're gonna he writes these long letters to me. Dude, your brother, what a dude? Is this a wireless charging pad?

Is that?

The wireless charging pad on the Rivian is terrible? My brother writes, this path lies on top of it, plugs into the USB port in the center. Well, actually works.

Yeah, but I just have a plug and then he just plugging your phone. Who cares?

You're you're resisting like I am. He's got this this thing.

I'm strongly anti weird phone stuff.

This goes like into like the air vent and it like sticks out.

Actually i'd try that. Do not want that? No, I think my wife would be really into that.

I think she would too. What is this? I don't even know what he's got me here. Removing the air bag warning stickers on the sun visors would be tough, and you may damn edge the fabric instead use these custom stickers to mask the warnings. Brother and I are the same one that stuff. I hate seeing like a big warning sticker.

I see it.

I'll keep that. Oh this I don't want. This is like fits in. I don't think I want bigger than what is this? Because he doesn't like the cup holder. He thinks the cup holder is flimsy. So that goes on that base. And that's a much bigger cue in the bottom yep, the bottom mark. Oh classic, that's that's that's your call in that one.

It is weird. You're sure you don't need those. Well, I know you don't need those, but but you're sure you don't want to keep them.

Yeah, you know they're gifts.

Thank you, thank you. That's very meaningful.

I don't like that you you don't want to accept my gifts. You have any hobbies where uh, mistakes don't result in death?

I do the New York Times Crossford every day, and that's that. Mistakes just result in frustration. Were you a clue? Yeah, I was a clue like last week. Yeah, it's amazing, that's pretty but not a Sunday. Yeah. I've actually I've been a clue a couple of times in different ways, not like my name exactly, but el cap and all the stuff. And then yeah, but being in the Sunday Cross. I got more texts from friends than I had from any climbing achievement in like a decade, so it psyched.

Here's what I've I've always liked about my own and the shoes that I wear. I don't have any desire to do things, but I just love when other people can. I'm fascinated by your journey, but no, you'll never see me paying whatever it costs to do Mount Everest.

But I feel the same way about tons of things. I would never ever do comedy, Like, No, that is not for me. I think it might be. I hate I hate public speaking, I hate crowds. I'd never hate that too.

I didn't have a lot of choices. I couldn't climb a goddamn mountain, that's for sure. Yeah, but did you you went to college somewhere the night? Yeah, so you get a job? No, there's no no one's hire. That's why I got into comedy. I wasn't Those interviews weren't going well, what is your opinion? Just real quickly on Mount Everest?

The whole guided like the commercial guided thing on Everest, I think is a little bit weird. I mean, I have a lot of friends who make livings as guides, so I don't don't want to poo poo their profession, but it's a little bit weird to sort of outsource your risk, Like when you're hiring you know, Nepali porters or Shirba to carry your loads for you, to set everything up for you. It's like it's not really climbing,

Yet some of them still die.

Yeah, No, I mean that's the thing. And so despite all that, it's still very challenging. You know. It's like I'm sure it's I've never done it, but I'm sure it's still physically very demanding what I'd like them to do.

And I'd consider it as a building a gondola up there, that would be nice.

We go to Europe, there's a gandilau practically every mountain. No, but that is kind of the whole. That is the weird thing. So like the south side of Everest, the Neapoli side, which gets more of the commercial traffic. To get up there, you have to go through this thing, the Kumbuai's Fall, which is incredibly dangerous reporters and people that commute through it back and forth. There's a lot

You put a moving sidewalk. I'll stand on that too.

Yeah, I mean it does raise some interesting questions, is like why do you climb? What's the purpose of climbing all those kinds of things?

Are you turning into a normal dude?

I don't know. I'd say I still have some ambitions.

Are you done with free souloing?

No? Should you be done with it? Well? I you know, I just I don't think so, I.

Mean I do recall a quote in the movie like, oh, I think it was your wife that said something to the fact of if we had children, I might, you know, want to put it in.

More of an opinion, right, Yeah, I would say that my wife's opinion matters a lot more in climbing plants now, I mean, certainly, it's like more of a team effort.

By the way, are we not supposed to ever talk about this kind of stuff? Are you like a like a pitcher in baseball that's doing a no hitter and it's like, don't jink. Some don't ever talk about that stuff.

No. I would say I'm the least superstitious person.

That's great. I'm not superstitious anyway.

Climbing in general, you talk about risk, you talk about death, like all that stuff comes up all the time, like you have to think about it.

I talk about death every day like constantly.

I Mean. The thing is, I think the more you know about climbing, the more you can appreciate the nuance, like the subtlety of risk taking, because not all free soling is extreme death defying, Like it's not all al cap you know. It's like you can go soling and have a lovely time and keep it show.

How embarrassed will you be if you end up dying by choking on a carrot or you know, like tripping on your front porch.

That I wouldn't totally mind. I'd be more embarrassed if I diet felling and falling off something, just because you know, it's like, if you stick it, everyone's like, what a hero. But if you die making some mistake in the mountains and it was like, what an idiot, you know, kind of cast out on everything else you've ever done.

I don't think it would think. I think your Marcus cemented. We'll see, We'll see. Well, listen, Alex, thank you very much for being on the show.

Pleasure.

I wish you the best.

I've literally never been on a show where I get to leave with all kinds of goodies. Are cool.

All right, let's go climb.

Thank you, Pasha.

I want to thank Alex for being on the show. We just finished free soloing the Culver City staircase. Unfortunately, on the down climb he died. Yeah, it was tragic. On a positive note, I got Ava here and Carl. The reason both my dogs are in the studio today is because I am terrified that one of them could end up in some Haitian stomach. I was telling Rufina. I was like, Rufina, have you heard about all these illegals coming into our country and eating our pets? She

What do you think of that?

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Ll let's do our plugs. I got boys, We're paying coc Eddie Gosling. Check out my tour dates. New shown reno just added in December. Oh that'd be fun. Speaking of great football, it's time for our free plug segment, and today I want to plug the Cuyahoga Falls Varsity football team that's in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. Good luck in your big homecoming game this Friday, the twentieth against Revere. Now, I know they've embarrassed you in the past four years.