Valley Uprising World Premiere: Q&A With Alex Honnold

From the Stonemasters to the Stone Monkeys, Yosemite Valley has a storied history when it comes to rock climbing.

Greats like Yvon Choiunard, Royal Robbins, and Peter Croft once clung to the granite walls of the Valley, with outlaw climbers like Dan Osman carving out a special spot in history in later years.

In their latest film Valley Uprising, directors Nick Rosen and Pete Mortimer chronicle Yosemite’s rocky, countercultural history from the classical Golden Age of climbing through to the Stonemasters of the 1970s, who ignored the status quo and tested the limits of famous rock faces like El Capitan and Half Dome, to the Stone Monkeys of the late ‘00s, who worked BASE jumping into their daredevil routines.

Though he may not consider himself “countercultural,” Alex Honnold has arguably been the biggest name in the rock climbing industry since being featured on 60 Minutes three years ago. With a penchant and prowess for free-soloing (climbing without a rope) the Valley’s walls, Honnold was a dead giveaway when it came to wrangling characters for the Sender Films flick.

The Center for Environmental Journalism spoke to Honnold, who’s in town for the world premiere on Thursday, about the cultural shifts he’s witnessed in Yosemite and his own experiences among its granite cliffs.

CEJ: Since you began climbing in Yosemite, how have you seen climbing culture there change, if at all?

AH: I haven't seen it change a ton just because it seemed like when I started climbing it was changing generations, in a way. I sort of started climbing right at the tail end of the major dirtbag scene where you'd see a bunch of dudes hanging out as if they were homeless or something—or kind of like how it is on Pearl Street here. But now there’s slightly less of that dirtbag culture.

CEJ: Do you think today's younger climbers are aware of the Valley's history and past legendary climbers—how aware were you when you started climbing?

AH: I was pretty aware of the history particularly because I grew up in California where you just hear all of those stories. It’s legends around the campfire type of stuff, like ‘Oh, I heard somebody once did such and such,' and you're like ‘Wow, so cool.' Especially around California, the Stonemasters were such a big influence in Yosemite, but then also in places like Joshua Tree where they were just a big part of climbing.

CEJ: So co-director Nick Rosen said the film is meant to be a history of counterculture climbing in the Valley as opposed to just a general history. How do you think you fit into that? They defined it as a ‘Stone Monkey,' but I'm not sure if you would necessarily call yourself that.

AH: No, I definitely don't really call myself countercultural. I mean I suppose in some ways I am just because I'm not obviously not doing a normal job and everything. But I never really considered myself super counterculture; I've always prided myself on playing by the rules and working within the confines of the Park Service. I just don't think that has any bearing on how you climb. I think you can be legit and still get the same amount of climbing in. I don't see any reason to cause trouble.

CEJ: That clash with the park authority in the 1970s and '80s seems like one of the main aspects of the film. Does any of that still prevail?

AH: I’m sure there's still a bit of that. There's still a fundamental tension between climbers and rangers just because the rules are pretty prohibitive to climbing in terms of state limits and where you can camp. If you're planning on being a serious climber in they Valley, it is difficult to follow all of those rules. There's still definitely tension there. I just don't think it's the open revolt of the '70s.

CEJ: You had mentioned at the North Face Speaker Series in Boulder a few weeks ago that a lot of the rangers are now climbing too, so you'll see them up on the walls.

AH: Yeah totally. I think there's a lot more overlap now and more understanding between sides. And I do think society has changed a little bit. People aren't rocking the hallucinogens quite as hard, and the free love and recreational drug use. I mean it's not the ‘70s anymore.

CEJ: It seems like over the past couple decades climbing has gone from that kind of communal culture to a bit more of an independent pastime. How prevalent are these climbing communes in the park still? When you go out climbing—I know that you have your van—but are you hanging around in these little pop-up cities?

AH: I go back to the van. I'm sort of on the opposite end of that now. There's still a bit of the climbing commune—Camp 4 is still sort of the hub of climbing. And the El Cap ridge and El Cap meadow is the place where a lot of climbers hang out. But i sort of specifically don't do that anymore, just because I prefer privacy or whatever. It just gets a little crazy in the group stuff. But if I needed to find a partner that's where I would go look.

CEJ: So have you seen a cut of the film by now?

AH: I actually haven't seen the whole final thing. I've just seen all the pieces of it over time. I have a very good sense of what's in it, but I’m psyched to see it as much as anybody.

CEJ: Was there anything that stood out that was new that you hadn't seen before?

AH: I haven't seen their treatment of the Golden Age stuff in like a year, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't changed. The Golden Age was maybe the coolest part to me because it was the story that I knew the least about. I think they did the best job of bringing it to life because it's hard to make footage from the '50s and '60s look really exciting. But they did such a good job of combining photos and making things move with animation, getting interviews with the guys that are still alive, etc. It's a really rich story for me.

CEJ: You’ve said that Yosemite has the best walls in the world, but you've also been doing some more international stuff lately. Do you foresee your trips back to Yosemite decreasing in the future?

AH: Not really. That's the thing: Every time I come back to Yosemite I'm just like ‘Woah, this is awesome.' Any time I look at El Cap it's the best piece of rock in the world. The more I travel, the more I'm like 'Wow, Yosemite is really awesome.' A lot of my climbing partners make fun because everywhere I've been I see some cool new wall and I'm like 'Oh yeah, that's really cool, but it's not quite Yosemite.’ It's just funny that I grew up in Yosemite so I almost didn't appreciate it until traveling more.

Valley Uprising premieres at Boulder's Chautauqua Auditorium on Thursday, September 11 with a second screening on Friday, September 12. Tickets are available here.