I loved “The Impossible Climb” by Mark Synnott. In this article I have three reasons why you should read this book if you haven’t done so already!

Mark Synnott is half author half super hero rock climbing and mountain adventurer. While everyone has watched Free Solo on Netflix chronicling Alex Honnold’s incredible soloing of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Mark’s book takes you on the same journey but also a few others that wraps into an excellent read for any climber or outdoor adventurer!

Here are three reasons why I recommend you read the Impossible Climb!

1. A knowledge of just how normal all these adventurers are. And how you can do the same!
   We tend to decide that athletes and movie stars have some innate quality “that we don’t and they do.” It’s just not true.
   Mark does a wonderful job of weaving in the “normalcy” of himself, Jimmy Chin, John Bachar, Lynn Hill, Alex Honnold, and so many more by showing their flaws, fears, tireless work, and weaknesses in a way that makes it more possible to wrap your own head around being unique and incredible, in the rock climbing world or in whatever you choose to pursue!

Rock climbing inside is a lot of fun, especially if you have a fear of falling! See above :)!

2. The Myths of Alex Honnold’s Pursuit
The internet trolls and the average person who only watched Free Solo the movie had a lot of judgments for Alex. “Too dangerous”, “what an idiot”, and “go get a real job” were a few of the haters favorite lines.
A big one that I heard though was how dangerous it was to just go up and climb this without a rope. Mark’s book debunks the fact that Alex didn’t just go do this.
In fact Alex obsessively planned every move of this rock with practice on it more than most have ever prepared for anything in their lives!
Was it still dangerous? Sure. But so is not exercising, meditating, and having a stressful job you despise.
Both can put you in dangers way but Alex was following his heart. And he did it with much more precision than the average person would have imagined. Mark writes about this well in this book!

I didn’t have any recent photos of myself free soloing El Capitan so I utilized my recent indoor top roping and bouldering adventures to play by the copyright rules! This is us top roping at Vertical Adventures in Columbus Ohio! If you do want to read about hiking adventure up Half Dome in Yosemite National Park (just down the valley corner from El Capitan you can do so HERE!)

3. Life outside the 9-5.
Wow do we get caught up in mundane chats about office life and zoom calls or what?
Meanwhile there’s a whole world out there living in vans (some forced, some chosen), and so many doing epic things while never taking the route we were basically forced into taking.
Alex hated school but is a mad genius.
Jimmy Chin’s parents had plans for Dr Chin. Not one of three people to summit the Shark Fin of Meru in Pakistan for the first time in existence. He went for it anyways.
The list could go on and on.
School and offices are not for everyone. We can do so much more than the systems that society attempts to box us into will allow us.
There are plenty of people happy to live this existence. But there are plenty more that want out and don’t always have the support group to muster the courage. There’s a big support group found in this book and Mark really brings them to life!

In conclusion Mark puts a plethora of sweat, grit, interviews, and research into this book and it came out wonderful.
I received it as a gift and thought I knew so much about Alex’s Impossible Climb already, little did I know how little I actually was aware of.

I hope you enjoyed my review and three reasons why you might decide to read this book yourself!
Support authors like Mark, givers like Alex, and creators like Jimmy when you can. They are a special breed!

Comment below with one reason you liked this book and thanks for being here!

Because Adventure Feeds the Soul,
Mike R