Alex Megos Wrote a Book on His Rock Climbing

Alex Megos, 32, is one of the world's best rock climbers. He became the first ever to onsight a 5.14d in 2013 with Estado critico and he's completed three 5.15c.

He recently wrote a book called Frei am Fels and 8a.nu touched base with him about it.

Can you tell us more about Frei am Fels? I’ve been contacted my an agency regarding the book back in 2020, but I told them I’m too young for a biography. I told them to contact me again in a few years. They did! After listening to what the process would look like I thought it could actually be quite interesting and I agreed. It’s mostly a biography about my climbing life, how I started climbing, my big achievements, but also the ups and downs of my life as well as the struggles.

What is your driving force and how has this changed over time? My driving force still is the love for climbing. That has never changed. But was has changed is my willingness to try routes regardless of the outcome.

How have your 2025 season been and what are your plans for 2026? 2025 was not what great on the competition side of things. The two world cups I did both went terrible [17 & 21]. Outdoors it was a bit of a different game. It was not great, but also not too bad. The FA of El Taureg Blanco (9b) and Le Grand Saccage (9a+) were probably two of the biggest achievements this year, but I also found a bunch of new projects I’m psyched for.

Ah yeah! Plans for 2026 are focus on outdoors. Try a couple of projects in the Frankenjura, probably also get back on B.I.G and maybe explore some other areas with projects.

What are the three best advice you can give to the youngsters pushing hard?

1. Don’t get injured. That is always a big setback in training.

2. Rest is often more useful than harmful.

3. Fun is the core.