Alex Honnold
Person
Alex Honnold is a world-renowned professional climber widely regarded as one of the greatest climbers alive. He is best known for his historic free solo ascents of massive rock faces. Honnold recently appeared as a guest on the podcast 'The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett' to discuss fear and his climbing career.
What Alex Honnold has said on podcasts
19 statements
Children should develop skills and become good at something they value.
“learn some skills, get good at something”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 0:16
Children should pursue activities that feel intrinsically enjoyable rather than laborious.
“the key for a kid is find the thing that doesn't feel like hard work”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 0:46
Alex Honnold has maintained a climbing schedule of five days weekly for 30 years.
“I've literally been climbing five days a week for 30 years”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 2:45
Repeated exposure to fear improves a climber’s ability to manage it.
“after years and years of always being scared, you get pretty good at Managing that kind of stuff”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 3:38
Long-term fear exposure reduces the impact of scary images in a safe MRI setting.
“black and white photos start to lose their edge. If you've been scared all the time for 20 years”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 4:47
Twenty years of climbing conditioning changed Honnold’s responses relative to average people.
“after 20 years of conditioning, I respond differently than an average person”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 5:30
Repeated public speaking exposure substantially reduced Honnold’s fear of public speaking.
“because of the free solo film tour and you know, all the public things I've done since then, I'm like, basically fine”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 6:34
Repeatedly confronting fear eventually makes it less frightening.
“there's no hack. You just get really freaking scared over and over for so long and eventually it's not that scary anymore”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 7:17
Persistent exposure is an enduring method for overcoming fear.
“that's like a very enduring way to overcome your fear is like, if you're willing to go through that process”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 7:24
Climbing’s fatality risk may be comparable to skiing’s.
“I suspect that it's actually pretty comparable to to skiing or something”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 12:09
The probability of dying while climbing is very small.
“The odds of you dying are very, very, very small”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 12:33
Free-soloing deaths occur less frequently than people generally expect.
“way less frequently than people would suspect”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 13:52
People should try to live freely rather than postponing freedom until retirement.
“maybe you gotta try to live that way as much as possible”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 15:59
Pursuing one’s own goals is a core component of a meaningful life.
“following your own goals is, I think, you know, certainly one of the cores of having a meaningful life”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 16:17
A meaningful life requires pursuing important goals consistently with personal values.
“living in line with your values, finding things that are important to you and pursuing them with as much as you can give them”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 16:27
Breaking a large challenge into smaller tasks makes it feel more manageable.
“once you, like, break it into pieces and start working on the pieces, then you're kind of like, okay, it starts to feel more reasonable”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 19:26
Honnold believes his endurance reserve exceeds what a two-hour climb requires.
“I know that I have a much deeper reserve than that”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 22:20
The Taipei climb was challenging but within Honnold’s preferred difficulty range.
“this was very much in my sweet spot where you're like, oh, it's hard enough that it's. That it's hard”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 23:10
The Taipei climb’s greatest difficulty was sustained stamina over hundreds of feet.
“But overall, it's the stamina, like, the challenge of doing this over and over for hundreds of feet that was the hardest thing”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 24:53
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
What others have said about Alex Honnold
2 statements · 1 positive · 1 neutral
Alex Honnold has maintained a climbing schedule of five days weekly for 30 years.
“I've literally been climbing five days a week for 30 years”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 2:45
Honnold believes his endurance reserve exceeds what a two-hour climb requires.
“I know that I have a much deeper reserve than that”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Fear Is A Skill You Can Train! Lessons From The World's Greatest ClimberListen at 22:20
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
5 episodes featuring Alex Honnold
Something You Should Know
Why Bad News Outweighs Good—and How to Use It
Recognizing the negativity effect can improve judgment, relationships, teaching, and responses to alarming news without ignoring genuine problems.
Sep 22, 2026 · 27 min
Something You Should Know
Horses built civilization; strategic laziness may improve modern work
The episode connects an animal’s historical power with a modern argument that purposeful idleness can produce more meaningful, effective work.
Sep 19, 2026 · 51 min
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Huberman argues for balance over health optimization
The conversation connects evidence-informed routines with spirituality, self-compassion, and the need to avoid turning wellness into another source of pressure.
Sep 7, 2026 · 1h 43m
Pardon My Take
NFL owners face scrutiny as power, money and accountability collide
The episode connects football’s immediate controversies to deeper questions about owner accountability, league power, journalism and the sport’s future.
Aug 26, 2026 · 3h 27m
The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Alex Honnold reveals how to systematically train the brain to manage fear
Understanding how elite athletes manage extreme risk offers a practical blueprint for overcoming everyday anxieties and public speaking fears through systematic exposure.
Aug 14, 2026 · 26 min