Honnold Caldwell Jorgenson

Alex has three specialties in rock climbing where he is the best in the world, IMHO. There are a number of specialities or variations of climbing and some climbers are good, but not great, at a number of them and others are great at only one and only good at others - much like a baseball player, some are good at fielding, batting and running but not great at any one while others are great at batting and only good at running and fielding.

Alex's has three specialties, meaning he is the best in the world at these.
#1 Free Soloing. He does difficult climbs without using a rope or any other assistance and is by himself. It is just him and the rock.

#2 Speed Climbing. He climbed the Nose Route on El Capitan with another person in the shortest period of time using ropes and pulling on anything that was on the route including mostly rock features but also any fixed pitons etc.

#3 Long linkups. He did difficult rock climbs (Didn't go the easiest way up but also didn't go the most difficult way up) on Mt Watkins, Half Dome and El Capitan in Yosemite in less than a day. He used whatever means available to him but did them solo (by himself) and much of the time he wasn't using a rope. In very difficult sections he would self belay.

Another area of rock climbing is free climbing and this is an area that Alex is currently good at but not great. If he trained more in this specialty he could probably also be great. Tommy and Kevin are great in this area and IMHO the best in the world. They have been working on the Dawn Wall on El Capitan for many years to be able to free it.

I'll explain this. The Dawn Wall is what we climbers generally refer to as an aid climb, meaning that much of the climb is so difficult we can't climb it just using our skills and abilities to get us up the rock. What Tommy and Kevin are attempting to do is free climb the entire route in free climbing style where the rope is only present to catch them if they fall. It is just the climber and the rock with gear only used for protection rather than progression. They have spent much time working out difficult sequences on the route and now are attempting to put it all together to be able to do each pitch clean (without a fall). On many of the difficult pitches, they attempt a pitch and fall so they go back to the beginning of that pitch and try until they get it clean.

ps. JohnRq is a retired cattle rancher. He did his first round up with Augustus and Call down in the Rio Grande back in the 1800s