Alpinist caught up with Alex Honnold for a little Q & A about his recent free solo of El Sendero Luminoso in El Potrero Chico, Mexico:

I used to be scared of spiders but I kind of got over it. I mean, with a route like El Sendero, I definitely felt some anxiety or nervousness beforehand, but I think a lot of that comes with experiencing something new. I didn’t know how it would go because I’d never done anything like it before. Stepping into the unknown is always a little unnerving. But I wouldn’t necessarily call that scary, I’d call it more stimulating than anything.