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Jimmy Chin

With California’s Yosemite Valley far below, Alex Honnold free solos—which means climbing without ropes or safety gear—the 3,000-foot southwest face of El Capitan. Before he accomplished the feat on June 3, 2017, Honnold had spent nearly a decade thinking about the climb and more than a year and a half planning and training for it.

“A reminder to breathe,” writes photographer, filmmaker, and mountaineer Jimmy Chin of this striking image of the Middle Teton in Grand Teton National Park.

YOSEMITE, California For a decade before Alex Honnold made his celebrated free solo up Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan—climbing the most famous rock wall on the planet, that is, alone and without ropes—photographer Jimmy Chin often had climbed with him. As part of the team documenting Honnold’s June 2017 climb for the National Geographic film Free Solo, Chin forced himself to focus as his friend, at 2,500 feet above the ground, negotiated the final pitches. “The stakes could not have been higher in this moment,” Chin says. “It represents achieving the impossible, the sublime: perfection.”

With California’s Yosemite Valley far beneath him, Alex Honnold free solos— which means climbing without ropes or safety gear—up a crack on the 3,000-foot southwest face of El Capitan. Before he accomplished the feat on June 3, 2017, Honnold spent nearly a decade thinking about the climb and more than a year and a half planning and training for it.

Alex Honnold and climbing legend Peter Croft rest on ledge while doing a practice ascent of the Freerider route on El Capitan. Croft was a free-solo trailblazer during the 1980s and 90s. “(Free-soloing El Capitan) was always the obvious next step,” says Croft. “But after this, I really don’t see what’s next.”

As part of his training, Honnold free soloed a Yosemite route called Excellent Adventure.

Honnold hangs from a finger board bolted to the roof of his van to strengthen his grip. For years he’s traveled to climbing sites throughout the U.S. in his customized van, which serves as his mobile base camp.

Alex Honnold trains on Freerider, a route considered so difficult that until recently it was newsworthy when anyone successfully free climbed it.

Honnold has been practicing for the daring climb for more than a year, training on routes throughout the Yosemite Valley and other locations around the globe.