MAKE or BREAK
“MY BOYFRIEND CLIMBED A 900-METRE VERTICAL ROCK FACE WITHOUT ROPES”
SANNI MCCANDLESS, 27
I met Alex [Honnold] in 2015 at a book signing in Seattle for his tome Alone On The Wall, about his free solo career where he climbs vertical rock faces without ropes. He was really honest, funny and a bit snarky; I was immediately drawn to him. When I went to get my book signed, I gave him my number and he messaged me that night. We hung out three weeks later when Alex was back in Seattle and haven’t stopped hanging out since.
We’d been dating for six months when Alex invited me to go to Switzerland with him on a climbing trip. I quit my job and we started living together in Alex’s van on the road after that. The whole process of climbing is special to us, we both love being outside, pushing ourselves and then coming home to our van and relishing the memories. I always joke that me and Alex are very different people – I’m super emotional and he is much more straightforward and rational – but we have climbing in common.
When I was still fairly new to climbing, I dropped Alex. I was holding onto his ropes when they slipped through my hands and he fell three metres, landing on his side. It