Video of the Week: Free Solo

The word adventure is thrown around a lot these days. From trendy products to cute Pinterest pages, people are taking advantage of its ability to capture our innate desire to explore, but they’re also diluting it. Like synergy in the business world, adventure has become a buzz word that is slowly losing its meaning—and that’s a shame because true adventure is a beautiful thing. It forces us to leave our comfort zones, to push our limits, and to challenge our perceptions in the face of great adversity. If we rise to the occasion, it will forge us into stronger individuals, and many times, alter the course of the rest of our lives.

But how does one define true adventure? A dictionary would tell us that it’s an unusual and exciting experience or activity. For some, that might be wandering off the pavement in their four-wheel drive for the first time. For others, it could be immersing themselves in a foreign culture. But for a select few, a true adventure is something most of us couldn’t even imagine. Alex Honnold is one of those select few. As a free soloist, Alex climbs rocks, cliffs, and mountain faces with no rope or safety beneath him, and last year, he completed the impossible: a free solo climb of El Capitan. The mind-blowing ascent of over 3,200 feet was completed in just under four hours, and the entire heart-pounding experience was captured on film by Jimmy Chin. Right now, this amazing motion picture is in theaters, but it will only remain there for a very limited time, so we encourage you to check it out before it’s gone. The highs, lows, and incredible display of courage are almost unimaginable, and all the more gripping because they’re real. Just take a peek at the preview below, and you’ll see what we mean.

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Chris didn’t receive a real taste of the outdoors until moving to Prescott, Arizona, in 2009. While working on his business degree, he learned to fly and spent his weekends exploring the Arizona desert and high country. It was there that he fell in love with backcountry travel and four-wheel drive vehicles, eventually leading him to Overland Journal and Expedition Portal. After several years of honing his skills in writing, photography, and off-road driving, Chris now works for the company full time as Expedition Portal's Senior Editor while living full-time on the road.