This essay, crafted in an as-told-to style, unfolds from an extended conversation with the renowned professional rock climber Alex Honnold—an athlete celebrated not only for his extraordinary accomplishments in the vertical world but also as the founder of the Honnold Foundation, an organization dedicated to inspiring environmental progress and promoting sustainable energy solutions. Honnold first captured the public imagination through his unprecedented rope-free ascent of El Capitan, an imposing 3,000-foot granite monolith in California’s Yosemite National Park. This remarkable feat was immortalized in the Academy Award–winning 2018 documentary *Free Solo*, a film that brought global attention to his discipline, courage, and meticulous approach to risk management.
Beyond his life on the rock wall, Honnold has evolved into a multifaceted communicator and advocate. He currently serves as both executive producer and host of the podcast *Planet Visionaries*, a series that shines a light on innovative conservationists and environmental pioneers confronting the escalating challenges posed by climate change. The podcast—developed in collaboration with the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative—enters its fifth season on October 28, continuing to explore the perseverance, ingenuity, and interconnectedness of those striving to protect our planet. Now 40 years old, Honnold lives in Las Vegas with his wife and two young daughters, balancing parenthood and professional demands with the same precision that defines his climbing. This story has been edited only for length and clarity.
Each day for Honnold begins with simplicity and structure. After waking up, he prepares a glass of *Athletic Greens*, a powdered nutritional supplement mixed with water that has become a cornerstone of his morning ritual. Living in a desert climate has made hydration particularly important, and this green concoction serves as both nourishment and a mindful reminder to begin the day replenished. Unlike many who rely on coffee to jolt into motion, Honnold has never developed a taste for it, openly admitting that he finds its flavor unpleasant. Instead, he prioritizes sleep, balanced nutrition, and regular exercise to maintain his energy. This holistic approach ensures he wakes up already invigorated—alert, focused, and ready to engage fully with the day’s physical and mental challenges.
Following his morning drink, Honnold typically eats a straightforward yet nourishing breakfast—a choice between muesli with fruit or a plate of eggs, toast, and avocado. Once fueled, he departs for his true element: the outdoors. On most days, he spends thirty to forty hours per week climbing, an amount that would be daunting for most, yet for him it never feels like a job. The joy and sense of freedom derived from scaling cliffs outweigh any exhaustion. His passion transforms exertion into play.
Now that he shares his life with a family, his routine blends responsibility with recreation. After dropping his elder daughter off at school, he often drives to a nearby cliff and climbs for several hours, syncing his sessions with the school schedule so that he can collect her in the afternoon. This rhythm—dividing time between parenting and physical training—illustrates how closely he integrates personal priorities with professional pursuits.
Honnold’s schedule alternates between active and rest days, though rest in his world rarely equates to idleness. He follows a structured rotation, typically climbing for two consecutive days before taking a day off to allow his muscles and skin to recover. Yet a rest day might involve just as much mental engagement as physical activity. On these days, he immerses himself in intellectual or creative work: hosting his podcast, strategizing with his foundation, writing, or delivering public lectures. These pursuits, though different in nature from climbing, engage the same discipline and curiosity that define his athletic practice.
Despite his fondness for order, Honnold admits that his career demands flexibility. The paradox of professional climbing is that one’s livelihood depends not only on performance but also on appearances, sponsorships, and events. While proficiency on the rock wins recognition, the actual work often requires constant travel—attending media engagements, speaking events, and filming projects around the world. He describes this dual existence with wry humor: although his diet and training might be consistent, the broader landscape of his days changes drastically. During extended travel, he sometimes finds himself waking in a new bed five times in one week. He jokes that at times it feels like he’s being shipped from place to place simply to perform—a product of his own success.
Nevertheless, one element remains nonnegotiable: movement. Whether through climbing, walking to engagements, or taking advantage of urban bike-share programs and scooters, he insists on remaining physically active. This autonomy in mobility, he explains, connects deeply with his sense of independence—mirroring the self-reliance that defines his climbing philosophy. Occasionally, on his most productive days, he manages to record a podcast in the morning and complete a four-hour training session later, leaving him with the satisfying impression that both his body and his career have been fully exercised.
His eating habits throughout the day are governed by practicality and efficiency. Lunch, in a traditional sense, is optional; he prefers grazing on energy bars or compact snacks while on the move or mid-ascent. To sustain this rhythm, he orders nutritional supplies in bulk—from sports bars to energy gels—stockpiling a veritable pantry of quick-fuel options. These essentials provide portable calories for long climbs or travel-heavy days.
When the school day ends around mid-afternoon, the domestic sphere takes center stage once again. Between 3:30 and 7:30 each day, family life unfolds in its lively simplicity. The Honnolds often gather in their backyard, where a play set waits beneath a broad desert sky, framing a view that both grounds and inspires them. The family might take short hikes, chase each other on the patio, or let the children run wild in a small, carpeted playroom that frequently becomes a scene of joyful chaos. Dinner tends to be wholesome but unpretentious—pasta with vegetables, Asian-inspired noodle dishes with tofu, or, depending on circumstance, hearty salads. Simplicity rules when traveling in the family van: quick-fix meals like macaroni and cheese or tuna keep things easy.
If by 8:30 both children are asleep, Honnold and his wife celebrate a small but meaningful victory. The quiet hours that follow are reserved either for productive catch-up—responding to correspondence or managing philanthropic affairs—or for restful companionship. They unwind together, sometimes watching a show or talking late into the evening. Recently, they enjoyed the first season of *Wednesday*, relishing the rare calm between obligations. They jokingly refer to these nights as “sleepovers,” when conversation becomes connection, offering respite from days otherwise filled with motion.
Books also remain a major presence in Honnold’s off-hours. He gravitates toward nonfiction, favoring titles that challenge his intellect or broaden his perspective. Recent reads include Nate Silver’s *On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything* and Sally Rooney’s *Intermezzo*, the latter reminding him how swiftly fiction moves by comparison. Even on planes and in hotel rooms, he finds solace in reading, a portable meditative act that parallels climbing’s rhythm: deliberate, focused, and introspective.
Given that his daughters wake early, bedtime discipline is key. He and his wife aim to be asleep by ten each night and rise around six, maintaining a consistent cycle that supports both family demands and physical recovery. To him, this reliability is not restrictive—it is liberating, allowing life’s many parts to fit together smoothly.
Perhaps the greatest privilege of Honnold’s profession is flexibility. Being a professional climber enables him to dictate his own hours and design a life centered around both family and terrain. A compact home gym enables him to train rigorously without leaving the house, while their residence near world-class climbing sites like Red Rock Canyon makes daily adventure possible with minimal logistical friction. As he explains, life is a steady balancing act among three elements—work, family, and climbing—and while perfection is impossible, harmony over time is achievable.
Even when commitments pull him across the country, technology ensures connection. On a recent short trip with a friend to Yosemite National Park, he spent two days on the valley’s sheer walls but still managed to FaceTime his family, giving his three-year-old a real-time view of El Capitan illuminated under the stars. The moment captured for him what balance truly means: pursuing passion without severing the threads of home.
Efficiency, in his view, is the foundation of this balance. A friend once commented on Honnold’s relentless optimization—how every minute, movement, and decision seems calibrated. He laughed and agreed: it has to be that way. Without constant intentionality, the structure collapses. Life for him is about economy of effort and clarity of purpose. By operating at full intensity—“turning it up to eleven,” as he puts it—he can accomplish far more, both in personal fulfillment and professional achievement.
Ultimately, Honnold’s outlook distills to a profound simplicity: time is the only true resource we ever own, and each of us must decide how to spend it. Between the physicality of climbing, the dedication to family, and his commitment to sustainability, he refuses to waste a second. The moment he unpacks from one adventure, he is already preparing for the next, moving seamlessly from summit to school drop-off, from podcast studio to starlit wall—a life lived constantly in motion, yet deeply rooted in purpose.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/alex-honnold-day-in-the-life-routine-professional-rock-climber-2025-10
