Colorado's bouldering scene is still going strong, with Dave Graham and Issac Caldiero stopping by recently and climbing with Ty Landman, Chris Schulte, Randy Puro and Tony Lamiche on a brand new V12.

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Alex Honnold was a virtually unknown climber several months ago, before bursting on the scene this summer in Yosemite by free-soloing Astroman (5.11c) and the Rostrum (5.11c) in a day, a feat that has only been managed by one other: the legendary Peter Croft.

There are several variations on Astroman, but Alex chose all of the harder options during his solo, including the 5.11c boulder problem and the 5.11b pitch above the Harding Slot. On the Rostrum he chose the Regular North Face route, using a 5.10 variation at the second pitch – there was a party on the 5.11a option.

Quiet and unassuming, Alex is a self-professed gym rat from Sacramento. I did, however, manage to get him on the phone recently to ask him about soloing. His answers – well, in a nutshell – are ‘cuz it’s fun.’