Alex Honnold Free-Soloing in Morocco
The legendary free-soloist has visited the tall limestone walls near Taghia several times. A new video documenting some of his climbing there just dropped
Before Alex Honnold free-soloed El Capitan, he travelled to the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco to train with Tommy Caldwell. Around the town of Taghia, which is a five-hour drive from Marrakech, are limestone big walls where climbers have been visiting since 1975.
“I have been to that area of Taghia three times,” said Honnold. “There is no road; you have to take a donkey to get to this amazing rural village in the High Atlas outside of Marrakesh. I call it the Yosemite of limestone, because of the limestone walls. It is different kind of climbing than Yosemite, but similar in size and scale, so free soloing out there was great training.”
Honnold has free-soloed several test-piece climbs in Morocco, including the 14-pitch 500-metre Rouge Berber 5.12 over 2.5 hours, which you can see him on below.
Honnold in Morocco
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