It was early Saturday morning in Yosemite National park. The sun was just beginning to rise over California, but the sheer face of the smooth El Capitan wall was still dark, jutting out silent and looming in the inky pre-dawn.
Alex Honnold, wearing his favored three-quarter-length climbing pants, a red t-shirt, some sticky-soled shoes, a small bag attached to his waist filled with chalk to keep his hands dry -- and nothing else -- looked up at the half mile high chunk of rock face in front of him. And then he began to climb.
Just short of four hours later, the 31-year-old lifted himself up onto the ledge of El Capitan, having completed climbing's version of the three-minute mile.