Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell Strike Again
Plus three times they teamed up for epic rock and alpine climbs
Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell are two of the most recognizable names in the world of rock climbing. Together and apart they’ve amassed such impressive lists of first ascents, hard repeats, speed records and link-ups that it’s hard to know where to start.
Their most recent climb together was a possible first repeat of a newer 10-pitch line up the Rainbow Wall in Red Rock called What Dreams May Come. Honnold said they found each pitch to be stout and upgraded it on the topo to 5.13+. Like most modern climbs in Red Rock, due to complicated new-routing policies, most climbs involving bolts are kept secret or “in the know.” Where Dreams May Come is one of those routes that you won’t find beta for easily.
Three Honnold/Caldwell History-Making Climbs
In 2014, they completed the Fitz Roy Traverse at 5.11d C1 65 degrees, 5,000 m, in Patagonia over five days. They received a 2015 Piolet d’Or. It was repeated last year, solo, by Sean Villanueva O’Driscoll. Read about it here.
On June 6, 2018, they broke the speed record for The Nose on El Cap at 1:58:07, becoming the first climbers to complete the route in under two hours.
And then in July 2020, they headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for a climb they dubbed the Continental Divide Ultimate Linkup or CDUL, “pronounced ‘cuddle’ for how we warmed up in the middle of the night,” Said Caldwell on Instagram. They climbed 17 summits including 11 technical routes (approximately 65 pitches of 5.6 to 5.11), and covered about 40 km and 6,000 m of vertical gain in roughly 36.5 hours. Read more about it here.
Honnold and Caldwell in Banff
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