Mark Synnott is an American professional rock climber and author. He is an internationally certified mountain guide and member of

The North Face The North Face is an American outdoor recreation products company. The North Face produces outdoor clothing, footwear, and related equipment. Founded in 1968 to supply climbers, the company's logo draws inspiration from Half Dome, in Yosemite ...

athlete team. Synnott specializes in remote first ascents of big wall climbs.

Books

Synnott has climbed frequently with fellow The North Face athlete

Alex Honnold Alexander Honnold (born August 17, 1985) is an American rock climber best known for his Free solo climbing, free solo ascents of Big wall climbing, big walls. Honnold rose to prominence in June 2017 when he became the first person to free solo El ...

, who is famous for free solo climbing

El Capitan El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granit ...

in 2017. Honnold's daring ascent inspired Synnott's best-selling book ''The Impossible Climb'', a part memoir, part historical account of climbing history and the ground-breaking first

free solo Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual ...

of El Capitan. In 2021, Synnott published ''The Third Pole'', documenting his 2019 expedition with

Renan Ozturk Renan is a name present in Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish language, Spanish, French language, French, Turkish language, Turkish and Breton language, Breton as an alternative form of Ronan. It may refer to: People Arts * Ary Renan (1857 ...

to search for the body of Sandy Irvine on

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

Climbing

Synnott is known for groundbreaking first ascents around the world. He often documents these trips for

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

and The North Face. One such first ascent was climbing Mount Weiassipu,

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

on an expedition where he led a team of climbers including

to the top of the

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran S ...

to help Dr Bruce Means find new species of frogs. Their journey was documented in ''Explorer: The Last Tepui'' by

and was released on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

on Friday 22 April, 2022. }

References

American rock climbers American non-fiction writers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-bio-stub