The world’s most famous climber reveals the gadgets he takes with him on his adventures
We often talk about wearable technology in the context of the best running watches or the best sleep trackers, but which gadgets are helping the mountain climbers of the world?
The popularity of rock climbing and its sister sport, bouldering, has soared in recent years, thanks in no small part to the success of Nat Geo’s Oscar-winning climbing documentary. Free Solo. At the center of this heartbreaking film is Alex Honnold, a now 38-year-old climber who in 2017 became the first person to successfully climb California’s legendary El Capitan rock face without ropes.
Now Honnold returns to the screens Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold – a three-part Disney Plus series in which he and a group of scientists attempt to conquer Greenland’s 4,000-foot Ingmikortilaq sea cliff. Ny Breaking spoke with Honnold ahead of the show’s premiere on February 4, and we took the opportunity to ask the star about the wearable technology he uses when he embarks on his death-defying climbs.
“Personally, I wear Whoop,” Honnold tells us, “because I’m sponsored by Whoop and I’ve been using them for a while. I also sometimes use a Coros watch to track specific activities, as well as the GPS, to navigate things.
“I also currently use the Levels app, the continuous glucose monitor. I’ve been using that for a month, just to try it out and see what it’s all about. And I actually learned something about nutrition (using Levels). Obviously, I’ve watched my diet in different ways throughout my life, I’ve tried to learn different things, and using a glucose meter has certainly proven to be a useful tool.
“But now I feel like a bit of a freak,” Honnold laughs, “because I had to sync all these different things – the Whoop, the Coros, the Levels app, etc. – through Apple Health, so that the Levels app automatically imports activities. It’s all a bit too much, so I’m pretty sure I’ll go back the other way in about a month or two and drop everything. I just keep a general idea of how much activity I do each day using a timer. The whole quantified self thing? I’m looking forward to it, and I think it’s a useful tool, and it’s fun. But at some point I think, ‘Do I care that much?’ But it certainly all helps, and there is a place for it.”
We hear you, Alex. It can be hard to know where to start – and stop – with health monitoring apps and wearable tech in general, but Honnold’s recommendations make for a strong quartet of climbing gadgets.
In our Whoop 4 review, we described Whoop’s latest fitness tracker as an “excellent tool” for anyone interested in seriously optimizing their exercise and sleep routines. The display-less device presents all kinds of health-related data, and the Whoop algorithm takes into account a range of factors before making calculations, including where you are in your menstrual cycle, how well you slept last night, your heart rate variability, your temperature and much more.
However, as Honnold notes, tracking all these metrics can sometimes feel like overkill, so we only recommend Whoop if you’re a bona fide fitness fanatic who wants to perform at your best.
The story is a little different for Coros watches, which can be seen as stripped-down alternatives to more expensive Garmin and Apple Watch models. Honnold doesn’t specifically mention which Coros watch he’s using, but in our Coros Apex 2 review, Coros Apex 2 Pro review, and Coros Pace 3 review, we found that all three of Coros’ latest models offer strong GPS accuracy, much usable battery life and impressively lightweight design.
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As for the Apple Health app, this easy-to-overlook library of personal data pulls useful information from almost everything you do on your iPhone, including screen time, activity, sleep data, and even heart rate data if you have an Apple Watch connected . We’ve detailed why the iOS Health app is more important than you realize elsewhere on Ny Breaking, but we’re willing to bet that if it’s good enough for record-breaking climber Alex Honnold, it’s good enough for you!
Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold premieres February 4 on National Geographic. All episodes will be available to stream on Hulu and Disney Plus starting February 5.