The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan, and the Climbing Life

美國攀岩之神 Alex Honnold（艾力克斯・霍諾德） 於2026年1月25日以 Free Solo 徒手攀登方式，成功登頂高達 508 公尺的台北 101，全程僅耗時 91 分鐘。
攀爬過程中，霍諾德不僅展現世界級的冷靜與技術，還不時向大樓內為他加油的民眾揮手致意。他在登頂後表示，當時天氣狀況極佳，是欣賞台北城市景觀的最佳時刻。

本書《不可能的攀登》為全美暢銷書・《紐約時報》月度暢銷榜，是一部深入現場、震撼人心的攀登紀實，完整揭開 Alex無繩獨攀優勝美地酋長岩（El Capitan）三千英尺花崗岩壁的歷史時刻。2017 年 6 月 3 日上午，霍諾德在不到四小時內完成登頂，世界屏息；《紐約時報》稱之為「史上最偉大的運動壯舉之一」。

作者 Mark Synnott 以摯友與同行者的第一手視角，將這次壯舉置於攀岩文化與歷史長河中：從 Yosemite 的黃金年代，到 Royal Robbins、Warren Harding 開創的精神傳承；並穿插作者自身的冒險與掙扎，描繪一群人如何在恐懼邊緣，與自然共舞、逼近人類潛能的極限。不只關於一條路線或一次登頂——而是人們如何面對恐懼、選擇全力以赴，並把有限的人生用到極致。

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
NEW YORK TIMES MONTHLY BESTSELLER
One of the 10 Best Books of March, Paste Magazine

A deeply reported insider perspective of Alex Honnold’s historic achievement and the culture and history of climbing.
“One of the most compelling accounts of a climb and the climbing ethos that I've ever read.”—Sebastian Junger

In Mark Synnott’s unique window on the ethos of climbing, his friend Alex Honnold’s astonishing free solo ascent of El Capitan’s 3,000 feet of sheer granite is the central act. When Honnold topped out at 9:28 A.M. on June 3, 2017, having spent fewer than four hours on his historic ascent, the world gave a collective gasp. The New York Times described it as “one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever.” Synnott’s personal history of his own obsession with climbing since he was a teenager—through professional climbing triumphs and defeats, and the dilemmas they render—makes this a deeply reported, enchanting revelation about living life to the fullest. What are we doing if not an impossible climb?

Synnott delves into a raggedy culture that emerged decades earlier during Yosemite’s Golden Age, when pioneering climbers like Royal Robbins and Warren Harding invented the sport that Honnold would turn on its ear. Painting an authentic, wry portrait of climbing history and profiling Yosemite heroes and the harlequin tribes of climbers known as the Stonemasters and the Stone Monkeys, Synnott weaves in his own experiences with poignant insight and wit: tensions burst on the mile-high northwest face of Pakistan’s Great Trango Tower; fellow climber Jimmy Chin miraculously persuades an official in the Borneo jungle to allow Honnold’s first foreign expedition, led by Synnott, to continue; armed bandits accost the same trio at the foot of a tower in the Chad desert . . . 

The Impossible Climb is an emotional drama driven by people exploring the limits of human potential and seeking a perfect, choreographed dance with nature. Honnold dared far beyond the ordinary, beyond any climber in history. But this story of sublime heights is really about all of us. Who doesn’t need to face down fear and make the most of the time we have?