Alex Honnold Net Worth and How He Built His Fortune
An inspirational story.
In this article we’ll talk about Alex Honnold net worth, his career, how he built his fortune, and key lessons from his path to success.
Who is Alex Honnold?
Alexander Honnold is an American rock climber who became famous for his free solo ascents on big walls.
He became notoriously famous when he completed a free solo climb in 2017 in El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
He was the first person to complete this type of climb. What he did was described by a commentator as “One of the greatest athletic feats of any kind, ever”.
Early Life
Alex was born in Sacramento, California. Both his parents were professors Dierdre Wolownick and Charles Honnold.
Alex developed a taste in climbing at the young age of 5 and at age 10 he “was climbing many times a week.”
When he finished school from Mira Loma High School, he enrolled at the University of California to study civil engineering.
Soon after, sadly his grandmother passed away and his parents divorced during his first years of college.
It was at this time that Alex started skipping classes and using that time to go to boulder by himself at Indian Rock.
When He Quit University…
Soon after he quit University all together to start climbing full time. He spent time living at home and driving around California to go climbing.
Let’s read a nice quote from Alex regarding that time of his life.
“I’d wound up with my mom’s old minivan, and that was my base,” he said. “I’d use it to drive to Joshua Tree to climb or I’d drive to LA to see my girlfriend. I destroyed that van fairly quickly; it died on me one day, and for the next year I lived just on my bicycle and in a tent.”
In 2007 he finally was able to buy a 2002 Ford Econoline van, which allowed him to climb whenever he wanted and allowed him to focus 100% on climbing.
He gained mainstream recognition after his 2008 solo of the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome, which was featured in the film Alone on the Wall and a subsequent 60 Minutes interview.
Alex Honnold Net Worth
Alex Honnold net net worth is $2 Million as of 2022.
He amassed his fortune by doing professional rock climbing.
He has also done several documentaries and Film appearances. His most famous documentary is Free solo. Here’s a list of the films he has appeared in.
- The Sharp End (2007)
- Alone on the Wall (2008)
- Progression (2009)
- Honnold 3.0 (2012)
- Valley Uprising (2014)
- A Line Across the Sky (2015)
- Showdown at Horseshoe Hell (2015)
- Africa Fusion (2016)
- Queen Maud Land (2018)
- Free Solo (2018)
- The Nose Speed Record (reel rock 14) (2019)
- Fine Lines (2019)
- Duncanville (2020) (TV)
- The Alpinist (2021)
- Explorer: The Last Tepui (2022)
Alex Honnold on Social Media
On Instagram he currently has 2.5 Million followers and he posts mostly pictures and thoughts, pictures of his family and pictures of himself doing lectures in different places around the world.
On Twitter he currently has 182.5 thousand followers. And he mainly posts pictures of his family and thoughts.
Alex Honnold Quotes
- “My comfort zone is like a little bubble around me, and I’ve pushed it in different directions and made it bigger and bigger until these objectives that seemed totally crazy eventually fall within the realm of the possible.”
- “‘Dirtbag’ is just the term we use, like a ‘gnarly dude’ in surfing. Within the climbing culture, it means being a committed lifer: someone who has embraced a minimalist ethic in order to rock climb. It basically means you’re a homeless person by choice.”
- “No matter the risks we take, we always consider the end to be too soon, even though in life, more than anything else, quality should be more important than quantity.”
Key Takeaways from Alex Honnold Success
Never give up on something that makes you happy
Alex said when he started climbing as a kid, he saw other kids from his age having a God given gift for climbing. For example, they were particularly strong, much stronger than him.
However, that never put him down. That never affected his determination and self-confidence.
If there is something we can learn here is this: do not bring yourself down by comparing yourself to others, believe in yourself and keep practicing.
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Make little sacrifices in order to be where you want to be
Alex lived in his van for over a decade, that means small spaces and definitely not the comfort of a normal house.
He shows us the two faces of the same coin: living in a van must be challenging, but can you imagine having the freedom to go and sleep wherever you want?
Alex mentioned this:
“I don’t think ‘van life‘ is particularly appealing,” he says.
“It’s not like I love living in a car, but I love living in all these places. I love being in Yosemite. I love being basically wherever the weather is good, I love being able to follow good conditions all over. And be relatively comfortable as I do it. And so that pretty much necessitates living in a car…“
“If I could, like, miraculously teleport a house from place to place, I’d prefer to live in a nice comfortable house. Though, honestly, the van is kind of nice. I like having everything within arm’s reach. When I stay in a hotel room — like, sometimes you get put up in a really classy hotel room, and it’s really big, and you have to walk quite a ways to the bathroom, and you’re like, ‘Man, I wish I had my [pee] bottle.’ Who wants to walk all the ways to the bathroom in the middle of the night when you could just lean over and grab your bottle and go?”
Make necessary sacrifices in order to achieve your happiness, don’t be afraid to leave your comfort zone, at the end you will see the results.
