2016 Colin Haley & Alex Honnold Single-Day Torre Traverse Expedition

United States🏔️ 3 Peaks

Alex Honnold

Alex Honnold was born on August 17, 1985, in Sacramento, California. Starting climbing in an indoor gym at age ten, Honnold devoted his adolescence to obsessive repetition and movement training. Dropping out of the University of California, Berkeley, to pursue climbing full-time, Honnold lived out of a Ford Econoline van, spending months in Yosemite Valley, Joshua Tree, and Zion. Possessed of superhuman psychological composure, immense finger strength, and a methodical ability to master complex sequences, Honnold pushed the perilous art of unroped free soloing to heights previously considered impossible. In 2008, Honnold stunned the climbing world by free soloing the Moonlight Buttress (5.12d) in Zion and the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome (5.12a) in Yosemite. On June 3, 2017, Honnold achieved what is universally acclaimed as the greatest athletic feat in mountaineering history: the first free solo of El Capitan, scaling the 3,000-foot granite monolith via Freerider (5.12d, 30 pitches) without a rope in three hours and fifty-six minutes, a triumph immortalized in the Oscar-winning documentary 'Free Solo'. Beyond Yosemite, Honnold established remarkable alpine milestones in Patagonia. In February 2014, alongside Tommy Caldwell, Honnold completed the historic first full ascent of the 'Fitz Traverse', traversing all seven major summits of the Fitz Roy ridgeline, which earned them the 2015 Piolet d'Or. On January 31, 2016, teaming up with Patagonian speed specialist Colin Haley, Honnold completed the first single-day ascent of the Torre Traverse, crossing Aguja Standhardt, Punta Herron, Torre Egger, and Cerro Torre in an astonishing twenty hours and forty minutes. Alex Honnold continues to push global climbing horizons while directing the Honnold Foundation, supporting global solar energy access.

United States🏔️ 3 Peaks

Colin Haley

Colin Haley was born on September 21, 1984, in Seattle, Washington. Growing up hiking and scrambling in the rugged North Cascades under the guidance of his father, Haley developed a profound devotion to technical alpinism at an early age. Combining relentless physical endurance, encyclopedic meteorological knowledge, and flawless ice and rock technique, Haley chose the savage, storm-lashed spires of Patagonia as his primary climbing canvas, embarking on dozens of expeditions to the southern Andes. Haley established a new paradigm of speed and precision in Patagonia. In January 2008, alongside Argentine master Rolando Garibotti, he completed the historic first complete traverse of the entire Torre ridge—linking Aguja Standhardt, Punta Herron, Torre Egger, and Cerro Torre—a long-sought prize known as the 'Torre Traverse'. In November 2010, Haley made the historic first solo ascent of Aguja Standhardt via the Exocet route. In January 2016, he achieved the monumental first solo ascent of Torre Egger, ascending via the Italian route on the west face and descending in a continuous, breathtaking push. Just days later, on January 31, 2016, Haley teamed up with free-soloing icon Alex Honnold to make the historic first single-day ascent of the Torre Traverse, racing across all four summits of the Torre massif in an astonishing twenty hours and forty minutes. Beyond Patagonia, Haley has established daring speed and solo records in the Alaska Range, including solo ascents of Mount Hunter and the Cassin Ridge on Denali. Colin Haley remains universally respected as one of the purest, most dedicated alpine stylists of the modern era.