A new short film called Next Go For Sure follows Alex Honnold — the world's most famous free soloist — as he drags two fellow climbers into the hills behind his Lake Tahoe home for a day on a crag so obscure even he doesn't know its name. The film, directed by climber Carlo Traversi, is a fun, unpolished slice of traditional climbing culture that will resonate with anyone who's ever driven hours for a route no one else has heard of.
The premise is simple. Honnold invites Traversi and Nik Berry to try a series of new, painful lines on a feature he casually dubs "the east face of the whatever." The trio bushwhacks out to the wall, and Honnold is soon on the rock, his friends heckling him admiringly as he picks his way up shredding finger holds. His verdict, delivered with evident delight: "It's pretty hard. It's pretty painful. And… we're all going to do it."
On-screen text eventually gives the route a proper name — East Face of the Plectrum, graded 5.13b. Berry goes first and finds the meaty, painful sections far tougher than Honnold made them look. Traversi follows, then Honnold himself, who openly admits he's struggling to grip the holds with a full rack of gear weighing him down. What makes the film refreshing is the tone: there's no teacher-student hierarchy despite Honnold's fame. His companions shout beta up at him, and the dynamic feels like any group of mates on a day out.
And because he's Honnold, the day doesn't end when the project is done. Facing the long hike back, he figures he may as well free solo a nearby 5.9 hand crack — with the memorable, if mildly off-putting, name All-American Finger Crack. It's a tidy illustration of what makes him unusual: a 5.13 trad project is his warm-up, and a ropeless 5.9 is the cool-down.
For travellers, the film doubles as a window into the climbing culture around Lake Tahoe. The region is dotted with granite crags and backcountry walls that see far less traffic than Yosemite, just a few hours away, and the film captures the low-key, DIY spirit of the local scene — bushwhacks included. Even non-climbers get a genuine sense of what drives people out to anonymous lumps of rock: discomfort, banter, and the satisfaction of ticking something nobody else has bothered to name.
Next Go For Sure is a quick, charming watch — direct, casually intimate, and free of the hype that surrounds Honnold's bigger projects. It shows him still doing the thing he loves most: exploring unglamorous rock with good friends, one painful finger jam at a time.
Story via ExplorersWeb.