Star climber expresses condolences to family of Marc-André Leclerc

With each passing day, it’s becoming even more clear how influential a highly-regarded Squamish climber was.

A star from the climbing world is expressing his condolences to the family of Marc-André Leclerc.

“Super sad to hear about the passing of young Canadian alpinist Marc-André Leclerc,” wrote Alex Honnold in an Instagram post on Wednesday.

By Thursday afternoon, the post had more than 38,000 likes.

Honnold is best known for his free solo — that is, rope-free — climbs of big walls like El Capitan in Yosemite.

 

Super sad to hear about the passing of young Canadian alpinist Marc-Andre Leclerc. He and his partner Ryan Johnson had been overdue since last week after climbing a route outside of Juneau Alaska. Marc was a huge inspiration to me personally despite being such a young alpinist - he embodied the perfect blend of talent, psyche and humility. A true climber’s climber who had a deep love of adventuring in the mountains. These pics are from when he passed @colinhaley1 and me on his approach up to Cerro Torre before a mind blowing solo of the Corkscrew the next day. In the second photo you can just make out the tiny black dot in the center of the frame - that’s Marc-Andre sending the gnar on a truly epic, Patagonia scale. I couldn’t believe that he felt comfortable in such enormous mountains. But it seemed like he was just out having a good time. My sincere condolences to family and loved ones. Marc was a gem.

A post shared by Alex Honnold (@alexhonnold) on Mar 14, 2018 at 6:22pm PDT

“Marc was a huge inspiration to me personally despite being such a young alpinist — he embodied the perfect blend of talent, psyche and humility. A true climber’s climber who had a deep love of adventuring in the mountains.”

Leclerc and his climbing partner Ryan Johnson have been presumed dead since failing to return from a climb in the Alaskan Mendenhall Ice Field.

They were dropped off by a chartered helicopter on March 4 near the Mendenhall Towers.

“I couldn’t believe that he felt comfortable in such enormous mountains,” Honnold continued. “But it seemed like he was just out having a good time.”

“My sincere condolences to family and loved ones,” he said. “Marc was a gem.”