No, Alex Honnold is not officially the only person who could ever free solo El Capitan, but he is the only person known to have done a full free solo ascent of the main wall and had it documented and recognized by the climbing world so far.

Below is a fuller, article-style breakdown in your requested format.

Is Alex Honnold the Only Person to Free Solo El Capitan?

Quick Scoop

  • Alex Honnold made the first-ever documented free solo ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite on June 3, 2017, via the Freerider route.
  • As of the latest widely reported information, he is the only climber publicly known and verified to have free soloed El Cap in its entirety.
  • No other ascent has been similarly documented, vetted by the climbing community, and recognized by major outlets or record bodies.
  • The climb is often called one of the greatest athletic feats ever recorded.

So: in terms of confirmed, documented ascents, Alex Honnold stands alone.

What “Free Soloing El Capitan” Actually Means

To understand why this question is such a big deal, it helps to clarify what is meant here:

  • Free solo : Climbing with no rope, no harness, no protective gear—only shoes and a chalk bag. A fall would almost certainly be fatal.
  • El Capitan : A roughly 3,000‑foot (about 2,900 ft/884 m) granite wall in Yosemite, one of the most iconic big walls in the world.
  • Honnold’s route : He soloed the Freerider route (graded around 5.13a, VI) in 3 hours 56 minutes.

Guinness World Records explicitly lists Honnold as the person who achieved the first free solo climb of El Capitan , emphasizing that he climbed the entire wall without ropes or protective equipment.

Has Anyone Else Done It?

Documented reality (as of latest info)

  • Major climbing coverage (e.g., Climbing.com) calls Honnold’s ascent the “first-ever free solo of El Capitan” and treats it as a once‑in‑history level event.
  • Guinness World Records similarly records only Honnold for this feat.
  • Biographical summaries of Honnold highlight this ascent as uniquely his—there is no mention of a second person repeating it.

In other words, within:

  • mainstream climbing media,
  • formal record bodies, and
  • widely circulated biographies,

Honnold is the only named and verified individual to have free soloed El Capitan’s main wall.

That doesn’t prove no one ever has done something similar in total secrecy, but there is no credible public record of any other climber repeating his feat on the same scale.

Climbing Community & Forum Vibe

In forums and casual write‑ups, you’ll often see lines like:

“Honnold is the only person to free solo El Capitan (2000ft)…”

These comments reflect the consensus view:

  • People treat his ascent as unique.
  • The idea of someone else repeating it is usually discussed as either hypothetical or something that might happen in the far future, if at all.

There’s also a strong emotional tone around it:

  • Many climbers and non‑climbers alike regard the climb as almost unrepeatable due to the combination of physical difficulty, mental control, preparation, and risk.

Quick Fact Table: Honnold and El Capitan

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Aspect Details
Climber Alex Honnold
Wall El Capitan, Yosemite Valley, USA
Style Free solo (no rope or protection)
Route Freerider (5.13a, VI)
Date of ascent June 3, 2017
Time for ascent About 3 hours 56 minutes
Documented by Climbing media, National Geographic, Oscar‑winning documentary “Free Solo”
Recognition Recorded as first free solo of El Capitan by Guinness World Records
Others known to have done full free solo of El Cap? None publicly verified as of latest widely available records

Why This Still Matters in 2026

Even several years after the 2017 ascent, Honnold’s El Cap free solo remains a benchmark in:

  • discussions about human performance and risk,
  • debates on where the limits of climbing should be, and
  • the way outdoor sports are portrayed in film and media.

The climb continues to trend in:

  • re‑posts of the famous photos and stills,
  • forum threads asking exactly what you asked—whether anyone else has done it, and
  • arguments about ethics, acceptable risk, and “pushing the limits.”

So the core answer stays the same: Alex Honnold is currently the only publicly known and documented person to free solo El Capitan.

Meta description (SEO‑style):
Is Alex Honnold the only person to free solo El Capitan? Learn how his 2017 Freerider ascent became the first and so far only documented free solo of El Cap, plus the latest forum discussion and context.

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