When Alex Honnold stood beneath Heaven (5.12d) and contemplated soloing the route, his first thought was that it looked “pretty easy.”

“When we got to the base, I just looked up and knew it couldn’t be that bad,” he says.

But even Honnold can draw the line.

“Onsight soloing (Heaven) seemed a little too hardcore for me,” he tells us in an e-mail.

Honnold opted to belay Mason Earle, who worked out the moves and unlocked the sequence of Heaven.

Then Honnold simply climbed it, "with perfect beta,” first go and without a rope.

“He was incredibly solid on it, smooth the whole way,” Earle tells Rock and Ice.

“At the lip, though, he got his foot stuck, briefly keeping him from topping out.”

Honnold later told Earle honestly that he had been a little worried at that moment.

Still he rocked over the lip and pulled off an impressive free-solo flash.

“He wouldn't admit it, but I think his solo flash of Heaven is quite ground-breaking,” Earle tells us.

Many climbers regard Honnold’s flash solo of Heaven as an even more impressive feat than his free solo of Cosmic Debris (5.13b), completed earlier the same day. (See Rock and Ice report here.)

Rock and Ice caught up with Honnold about a landmark day:

Why Cosmic Debris and Heaven?

Cosmic and Heaven were both just on my list. There aren't that many iconic single-pitch routes in the Valley and I'm just trying to work my way through them.

Did Cosmic Debris prepare you for soloing Heaven ?

Cosmic felt super mellow. It was surprisingly easy and locker. I think that sort of boosted my confidence for Heaven.

Was this one of your best climbing days?

It definitely wasn't one of my best days. I literally climbed 11 minutes the whole day. I warmed up on a bouldering traverse, then did Cosmic, which took like 4 minutes, and then did Heaven, which was about the same. So I mean it was pretty satisfying to do both routes, but it wasn't exactly a full day.

[Alex Honnold on the second ascent of Concepcion (5.13b). Photo by Cory Richards.]