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Free Solo Takes the Best Documentary Prize at this Year’s Academy Awards

A beautiful film that’s only second to seeing El Capitan in person.

California garnered some extra love this past weekend when Sacramento native Alex Honnold took home an Oscar for his documentary Free Solo. The film captures Alex’s historic climb of Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan in 2017, a feat he achieved without ropes, a harness or safety net. Anyone lucky enough to see El Capitan in person can appreciate his dramatic ascension of the 3,000-foot granite wall. The documentary is at once thrilling and stunning, an edge-of-your-seat adventure in one of the state’s most breathtaking natural treasures.

Watch the trailer here.

According to Alex, having the Sierra Nevadas in his backyard growing up helped shape his destiny. “I grew up there and spent my whole life playing in the mountains,” he tells California Now. “The smell of the dry pine forest around Tahoe and the High Sierra—that feels like home to me. There are so many [climbing] opportunities with big mountains, and the rock is so good. The sheer walls in the Sierra are unlike any other mountain range in the United States. The whole Eastern Sierra just drops off with several thousand-foot walls. It’s amazing for climbing.”

You can read more about Alex and his big win and love for California here.

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