(Editor’s Note: With the self-quarantine still in place, we’re continuing our look back at trips we’ve taken over the past year. Below, we revisit a climbing weekend we took with Alex Honnold and his fiancé, Sanni McCandless. Here in Tahoe, we found one of the world’s greatest athletes focused on two things: improving his climbing skills and improving the planet. Each has required him to make significant changes to his lifestyle along the way, but according to Alex, change doesn’t have to be hard.)
Just a few hours north of El Capitan — the iconic 3,600 foot monolith that made Alex Honnold a household name — is the stretch of the Sierra Nevada where he first learned to free solo. Alex spent every summer in Lake Tahoe as a kid, wandering down sandy gravel roads and up massive blocks of granite. While climbing has taken him all over the world, these are the rocks he always comes back to.
Pump Lust (above) is a 5.13b route on Donner Summit. Alex admits it’s not particularly better than other nearby routes, but it’s one of his favorites.
“I tried it first as a teenager and thought it was impossible. It remained one of my most attempted projects for many years. I would come into the area, try it at few times, fail, go on a climbing trip, come back, and repeat the cycle until one day I finally was able to do it. It’s nice to feel a sense of progress.”
Climbing is as much a psychological exercise as a physical one. Alex’s approach: wrap your head around the easy things first. He’s proof that small, incremental changes can add up to something big. Now he’s using that philosophy to substantially lower his carbon footprint.
“I live pretty simply, by principle, but there’s always more you can do. Over the years, I’ve made a lot of personal changes in my life — I changed my bank to something more progressive. I became a vegetarian. I installed solar in my home. I’ve wanted to drive electric for years but until now, it didn’t seem like a possibility. The places I go still require a rugged vehicle with good clearance.”
A short film that sums up our weekend in Tahoe. And captures why we love Alex.
To photograph an athlete, it helps if you are one. Before Ben Moon was a photographer and director, he was a climber. His friendship with Alex began on a mountain and that personal connection to both the athlete and the sport show up in his work. When we asked him to document Alex and Sanni's weekend of adventures in the R1T, the first thing he did was put together a crew of fellow adventurers and storytellers.
When it's safe to get back outside, below are a few local Tahoe routes that Alex recommends. If they seem impossible at first, do what Alex does. Embrace the climb. Break the problem down into small, achievable goals, and do the easy thing first.
Bear’s Reach - 5.7 at Lover’s Leap.
“This might be one of the most fun routes in the world, made extra famous by the classic video of Dan Osman speed soloing it — look it up! It’s easier than it looks in the video. I’ve taken my mom up it.”
Weekend at Bernie's - 5.14b at Cascade Cliff
“This is one of the best hard routes around Tahoe. It’s not actually the hardest one on the wall, but it’s certainly the most fun. The style is actually really similar to El Cap — really technical and footwork dependent.”
Cajun Hell - 5.13a at Mayhem Cove
“This route is basically steep jugs, similar to sport climbing somewhere like Rifle or Jailhouse. Which is a really pleasant change of style compared to all the other technical granite around Tahoe. It’s fun to just dangle from your arms and get really pumped sometimes.”
FILM CREDITS
a Moonhouse production
Ben Moon, Director
Shannon Ethridge, Producer
Keenan Newman, Director of Photography
Sashwa Burrous, Assistant Camera
Tim Hardy, Sound + DIT
Dana Shaw, Editor
Original music by Todd Hannigan
Recorded and mixed at Brotheryn Studios
© 2026 Rivian
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