HONNOLD FREE

“It’s interesting to see how it has changed,” he says. On Honnold’s first trip, the village didn’t have electricity, though development is happening slowly. The village is certainly more isolated than Yosemite, reached by a nearly five-hour drive from Marrakech followed by a two-hour hike. You’re not likely to find Taghia in a guidebook, but this was Honnold’s third trip there. The long climbing days in Taghia, a small village outside of Marrakech, are great practice for Yellowstone, and getting to know the village and indigenous Berber community is a bonus too. “Everything about the trip is totally different, except for the climbing,” Honnold says. Honnold has nicknamed the mountains around Taghia the “Yosemite of limestone”, they are the same scale but different rock. The same type of rock, same style of climbing, but completely different cultural experience.” “You could be climbing a big cave in Greece or climbing the same formation in Thailand. Most of Europe is limestone, Honnold says, as is a lot of Southeast Asia. But climbers can make a connection that others wouldn’t consider: the geology. Connections between Morocco and the American West might not come to mind quickly.

HONNOLD FREE

Hikers take on these trails at their own risk, but Honnold assures “you’re pretty much guaranteed to not see any other people.”īetween training in Yosemite for his free solo, Honnold and his crew took a trip to rock of comparable scale, skill, and activity type: the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. I’ve probably hiked every trail within the valley core.” When looking to get off the beaten path, he prefers some of the decommissioned trails, closed-down or abandoned paths the park system no longer maintains. Photograph by Jimmy Chin, National Geographicįor travelers not ready to take on El Capitan, Honnold says “every hike in Yosemite is worthy.

A mosque and its minaret break the mountainous landscape of Zaouia Ahanesal, the final village road before the hike to Taghia.