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how long did it take alex to free solo el capitan

Alex Honnold’s free solo of El Capitan took 3 hours and 56 minutes from base to summit.

Quick Scoop

The Core Fact

  • Route: Freerider on El Capitan in Yosemite.
  • Distance: About 2,900 ft (around 900 m) of near‑vertical granite.
  • Time: 3 hours 56 minutes, done in a single continuous push with no rope.
  • Date: June 3, 2017.

Why That Time Is So Wild

Most climbers take 3–5 days to climb the same wall with ropes, gear, and bivies on the wall. Honnold rehearsed the route many times over years so that, on the free solo, he could move quickly and almost automatically, even on sections as hard as 5.13.

A Bit of Story

On that June morning, Honnold started from the base of El Capitan just after sunrise and moved so smoothly that accounts describe him “almost running” through the final easier pitch. By the time he topped out, under four hours later, other elite climbers were already calling it the “moon landing” of free solo climbing because of how unprecedented and committing it was.

Latest News, Forums, and Trend

  • Climbing and outdoor communities still point to “3 hours 56 minutes” as a benchmark stat whenever his name or the film Free Solo comes up.
  • Forum discussions and social posts often revisit how he managed the mental side of moving that fast, unroped, for nearly four hours.
  • Even years later, it’s still treated as one of the greatest athletic feats ever done on rock.

SEO Bits (for your topic)

The key phrase “how long did it take Alex to free solo El Capitan” points directly to that 3 hours 56 minutes figure, and it remains the central fact in news pieces, records databases, and forum threads discussing his climb.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.