Alex Honnold started his journey to being the world’s greatest free solo rock climber long before he did ‘Free Solo (2018)’. ‘Free Solo’ is a style of rock climbing where the climber does so without any ropes or harnesses. The documentary film charts Honnold’s climb in 2017 to the El Capitan in Yosemite, one of the steepest summits in the States. Being a professional, he also debunked myths about climbing that were perpetuated by Tom Cruise in one of his movies. Let’s find out about the myth.

In an interview with ‘GQ Sports’, Alex Honnold breaks down the various extreme climbing scenes in movies and television. One such was from Tom Cruise’s 2011 film, ‘Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol’ (4th in the franchise). Cruise, who famously does all his stunts in movies, did the climbing for this as well and the audience completely bought into it. Honnold shares crucial details about the climbing scene. Let’s learn more about it.

Alex Honnold separates fact from fiction in MI: Ghost Protocol skyscraper climbing scene

‘MI: Ghost Protocol’ has a famous scene that depicts Cruise climbing the Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world. The actor is shown doing so with his magnetic gloves that stick to the outer walls. Honnold immediately brushes it off as fiction. He says, “I feel very confident in saying that there is no such thing as magnetic gloves”.

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Later on, we see Cruise’s gloves lose their magnetic property and he free solos the building with his bare hands. Honnold shares mixed feelings about the technique saying, “His hands are sticking to the wall which is unrealistic, but the way he is pushing his feet as counter pressure between the two beams is totally realistic”. Also, the gloves wouldn’t really jerk off as shown in the film; they would simply stop sticking.

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In the next scene, Cruise uses a laser beam to cut the glass and enter. The counterpressure he uses to balance himself, with his back on one side and his foot on the other, is a legitimate technique. Although it doesn’t work on the Burj. Honnold says, “In the Burj, it doesn’t work because the little chrome fins he is pushing against, one, they slope away from him and two, the dimensions don’t really work. They’re too small”.

Honnold, who has also charted the Burj Khalifa, puts it into perspective. “The experience that he is having right there where all you see is yourself, and the exposure behind you, actually is incredibly unnerving”, he says. This is because the exterior of the Burj Khalifa is made out of aluminum and mirrored glass with a vast desert landscape around it. So, the climber seeing his reflection amidst nothingness feels incredible.

How weather often plays spoilsport during climbing

The movie shows an incredible shot, where the Burj Khalifa dwarfs the other skyscrapers in the city. Honnold justifies it by saying, “Dubai has something like 50 of the tallest buildings in the world. But the Burj is so much taller than all the other buildings around, that they look like little toys below you”.

Ghost Protocol also famously involves a giant sandstorm, which is common in the desert city. Honnold, who has himself experienced similar predicaments, said, “It’s not that unusual to encounter weather issues when you are climbing”. In reality, however, the film fails in planning the timing of the climb, since a giant sandstorm would show up on forecasts.

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He concludes by saying that he loves the Mission Impossible movies and that has a 50-50 opinion on the climbing scenes in terms of their liberty with realism and usage of fiction. What did you think about that iconic scene and do you believe it is possible to climb the Burj Khalifa free solo?