‘Free Solo’ Rock Climber Alex Honnold Endorses

Recently, rock climber Alex Honnold, who scaled Yosemite’s El Capitan in the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” publicly endorsed the Energy Innovation Act. The Outdoor Industry Action Team helped this endorsement come about. Bill Barron, who co-leads the team with Matt Tucker, says, “It is a great story of teamwork!” Here’s Bill's story of how it happened:

In November 2018, Steven Zhang from Mercer Island, WA, (who had joined CCL that month) reached out to me as the Outdoor Industry Action Team guy on Community and said he had a friend, Jason Curtis from Alpine, CA, who knew Alex Honnold really well. Steven introduced me to Jason. I suggested the video idea to Jason and Alex via email, referencing the endorsement videos by Angel Collinson and the US XC Ski team. Alex was game.

Jason worked with Alex to get the raw footage, and then CCL’s marketing team singled out the best talking points from CCL's perspective. Matt Tucker (now my co-lead for the Outdoor Industry Action Team) had been working with a film editor, Mike Hatchett, on another project. Matt hired Mike on his own dime, as a donation to CCL, to create the finished project.

Watch Alex Honnold’s endorsement video on CCL’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and CCL's YouTube Testimonial Playlist.