Back in June, five friends and I had just returned from a glacier ski trip in the Yukon, completely cut off from the world. When we collectively turned on our phones upon returning to civilization we were blown up with notifications about what might be the most impressive athletic feat of our generation: Alex Honnold had successfully climbed Yosemite’s El Capitan without a rope. It blew our minds, and over the next few months that story has been told and re-told many times over, but somehow, it seems to get better every time.

For those not familiar with him or with the climbing world, Alex Honnold is an absolute character. Climbers tend to be quirky, but Honnold is on another level, and hearing him speak his mind about climbing is pretty damn entertaining. The North Face put together an animated short narrated by none other than Honnold himself, detailing some of the lesser-known aspects of his historic climb. Worms? Check. Little Mouse People? Check. Pure unadulterated honesty? Absolutely.