Inside Alex Honnold's family life — and his extraordinary living situation for over a decade

Sanni McCandless Honnold was born in Washington state before moving to North Carolina as a pre-teen. While she had a love for the outdoors at a young age, going hiking and camping with her family, it wasn't until she moved back to Washington after college that she found rock climbing.

Sanni is an avid climber as well, which is how she first bonded with her future-husband (more on that in a bit). She first started in tech, working at an energy efficiency-focused tech startup in Seattle before she decided to take a break and embark on a year-long rock climbing trip around the world.

She then became certified as a life coach, which is what she primarily does now. "My coaching practice has a strong emphasis on value‑alignment, mindset, and communication," her website reads. Sanni was also featured in the 2018 Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo, started an outdoor retreat brand called Outwild, and is currently also writing a book titled The Holding Pattern.

Sanni met Alex back in 2015 at a book signing and talk he was hosting. "I hadn't known a single thing about him, but after listening to him speak, I decided he was cute and funny, so I left my phone number on the table as I walked away," she wrote in an essay for Outside. "A few weeks later, we went on our first date."

On Christmas day 2019, Alex shared on Instagram that the couple were engaged. Less than a year later, in 2020, they tied the knot, with Alex describing it on social media as a "small family ceremony on the lake."

In 2022, Alex and Sanni welcomed their first daughter, June. And in 2024, their second daughter, Alice, was born. "We had decided we wanted our kids to be close together in age and had been trying for a few months," Sanni told People. "We were very happy when we got the good news!"

Sanni conducts her life coaching sessions remotely, but is primarily based out of Las Vegas with her family, including Alex. The couple bought a home on the outskirts of Sin City in 2020 for an estimated $1.7 million, citing the incredible rock climbing opportunities in Nevada as a factor.

For over a decade, however, Alex lived his life in a tricked out van, customized with a variety of utilities like a bathroom, kitchenette, sleeping area, and more. Sanni joined him for the first bit of their relationship as well, and he cites the ease of being able to travel and live life on the go as what inspired that move.

"I bought a house in Las Vegas, a classic cookie-cutter house in the suburbs," he later told Wealthsimple Magazine. "It's just functional. In some ways, it's not unlike van life was. It's cheap, it's easy, it's close to the airport. It's close to the rock. Property there is really cheap. I didn't have any furniture at first, so I lived in the van in the driveway for the first couple weeks."