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How does Alex Honnold use visualization and breaking down a climb into pieces as a preparation strategy, and can this apply to other challenges?
Before any free solo attempt, Alex Honnold ropes up and scouts every individual section of the climb, checking each transition between distinct segments to understand exactly how each piece feels. He frames this explicitly as a universal principle: break any major challenge into pieces, work on those pieces separately, and the whole thing starts to feel manageable. For Taipei 101, he flew out in September for a dedicated scouting trip — four months before the January climb — inspecting each architecturally distinct section on its own.
Scouting Taipei 101 Section by Section — Four Months Out
Honnold's preparation for Taipei 101 is a precise illustration of the method. He did not simply show up and attempt the structure. He made a full preparatory trip in September, well before the January climb, to inspect each architecturally distinct section of the building separately.
Each part of the structure presented its own unique challenges — different surfaces, different transitions, different physical demands. By isolating each segment during scouting, Honnold could understand what each piece required before ever stringing them together. This is exactly the same logic he applies to big walls like El Capitan in Yosemite, which he has climbed approximately 60 times across different routes — a volume of experience that made the free solo feel earned rather than improvised. You can hear Honnold walk through this approach in detail on The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett.
The Piece-by-Piece Principle: From Rock Faces to Any Big Project
Honnold is explicit that this is not just a climbing technique. He frames it as a general mental framework for approaching anything that looks overwhelming at first glance. The logic is straightforward: the challenge feels impossible when viewed as a single monolithic object. Break it into discrete, workable pieces — and it stops being impossible.
He draws a direct parallel to how he approached El Capitan before the Free Solo documentary was ever made. The film covers two years of preparation, but it missed nine years of prior work in Yosemite — years of climbing El Capitan repeatedly, section by section, route by route, since 2006. The free solo was not a sudden leap. It was the accumulated result of thousands of individual pieces, each worked separately over time.
This is also why Honnold dismisses the idea of a single breakthrough or shortcut. As he explains in this episode, the process is deliberate and cumulative — not dramatic. You work the pieces until the whole stops feeling unreasonable.
"There's no hack. You just get really freaking scared over and over for so long. And eventually it's not that scary anymore. But that's a very enduring way to overcome your fear."
Alex Honnold — Professional Rock Climber.
Honnold is best known for free soloing El Capitan in Yosemite — a feat documented in the Oscar-winning Netflix film Free Solo. He has been climbing five days a week for 30 years and completed approximately 60 ascents of El Capitan via different routes before his landmark free solo. His first major free solo, Half Dome, came in 2008. His early career was funded by a North Face sponsorship of around $10,000 per year, during which he lived in a van to keep costs low.
The quote underlines what makes the piece-by-piece approach work in practice: it is not about eliminating discomfort upfront. It is about repeated, deliberate exposure to each piece — until that piece no longer triggers the same level of fear. The method and the mindset are the same thing, applied together. More of Honnold's thinking on preparation and fear is explored across The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett.
See also
How much was Alex Honnold earning from climbing in his early career and how did his income evolve?
Honnold's first year of sponsorship through The North Face paid him approximately $10,000, which he considered more than enough since he was living in his van and keeping his expenses minimal.
What traumatic experience did Alex Honnold have while free soloing Half Dome in 2008?
Honnold free soloed Half Dome in 2008 with what he describes as bare minimum preparation, admitting he barely knew how to get ready for it. He got off route during the climb, above a 1,700-to-1,800-foot drop at the crux ledge.
What is Alex Honnold's view on fear as a skill and how does he recommend overcoming it?
Honnold says there is no hack to overcome fear — the only enduring method is to get really scared over and over for long enough that it eventually stops feeling as threatening. Fear, in his view, is a skill that can be trained through repeated exposure.
Key takeaways
- Honnold scouts every individual section of a climb with ropes before any free solo attempt, checking each transition between segments to understand what each piece demands.
- For Taipei 101, he made a dedicated scouting trip in September — four months before the January climb — inspecting each architecturally distinct section separately.
- He explicitly frames this as a universal principle: break any overwhelming challenge into pieces, work on those pieces, and the whole starts to feel reasonable.
- The Free Solo documentary captured two years of preparation but missed nine years of prior groundwork in Yosemite — proof that the piece-by-piece method is a long-term, cumulative process, not a shortcut.
This answer comes from a real episode of The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett. Listen to the full conversation with Alex Honnold on Listenly.
Listen to the episode on Listenly