LOS ANGELES – In 2017, American rock climber Alex Honnold became the first person to scale El Capitan – a sheer 900m rock wall in California’s Yosemite National Park – on his own and without ropes or protective gear to stop him from falling.

That death-defying feat was captured in the film Free Solo (2018), which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and made Honnold a celebrity beyond the world of extreme sports.

But like many people who complete a major life goal, the question then becomes: What next?

For Honnold, part of the answer was to head to Greenland in 2022 and attempt to summit a 1,200m sea cliff – one of the biggest unclimbed walls on the planet and 300m taller than El Capitan – as well as make the first-ever crossing of a treacherous ice cap.

The goal was also to better understand climate change and its potential impact on sea levels.

With the help of a glaciologist, a guide and two other world-class climbers, Honnold embarked on a six-week expedition to Greenland, the highlights of which are documented in Arctic Ascent With Alex Honnold, a three-part documentary debuting on Disney+ on Feb 7.

Speaking to The Straits Times over Zoom, Honnold says this was a very different experience from climbing El Capitan, which he had plotted out meticulously.

“These climbs are first ascents, so nobody’s been there and there’s no way to prepare, really. Even the photos we looked at weren’t really that helpful,” says the 38-year-old, who found himself travelling up an iceberg-strewn fjord and navigating a potentially deadly icefall.

“You kind of just have to show up, see the wall and try your best.”

But Honnold had done first ascents before, and was also accompanied by climbers who had done the same.

“So we can’t map out every hold, but we can feel confident that we’ll figure it out as we go, because we’ve done things like that in the past.”

That said, the giant sea cliff Ingmikortilaq “was definitely pushing the edge of anything any of us had ever done before as a first ascent”.

When he ascended El Capitan, Honnold was dating American life coach Sanni McCandless, 31, and their relationship – a central element in Free Solo – seemed to raise the stakes for the climber.

But the couple went on to marry in 2020 and now have a one-year-old daughter.

So is there more at stake for Honnold when he attempts a dangerous climb these days? “No, I don’t think so,” he says.

“You’re always trying to manage risk, and whether you’re in a relationship or not, you’re always trying to survive.

“The bigger difference is in how you choose your expeditions – what trips you’re willing to go on and spend time away from your family.”

Projects can also take a toll even when they succeed.

McCandless, who is interviewed in the new series, reveals that after Honnold summited El Capitan, he seemed lost, depressed and frustrated for a long time.

Honnold says: “It was an all-encompassing dream for many years, and achieving it was incredible.

“But then you’re left with this hole and, like, ‘Do I need another project like that – something I’m inspired and driven by?’

“I’ve done a lot of climbing goals since Free Solo that I’m proud of, but none have been quite as big. So I think that’s what Sanni saw – that I was lacking a big project to work on.”

And while not as big a project as El Capitan, the Greenland trip had a profound impact on his understanding of climate change.

“Being in Greenland does make it feel more concrete because you’re actually seeing glaciers and icebergs float out to sea.

“There’s no better visual representation of sea-level rise. Every piece of ice you see floating away is going from the Greenland ice sheet to the ocean, which will raise the ocean level.

“And it’s pretty sobering,” Honnold adds.

“It’s one thing to read about the forecasted sea-level rise over the next 50 years, but it’s another thing to see an armada of icebergs floating out and melting.”

• Arctic Ascent With Alex Honnold premieres on Disney+ on Feb 7.