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Alex Honnold, Who Scaled Skyscraper Live on TV, Reveals the Mundane Thing That Terrifies Him

Alex Honnold scaled a skyscraper on live TV. So you would think he's a man without fear, but one mundane thing terrifies him.

Honnold became a household name after climbing Taiwan's nearly 1,700-ft. Taipei 101 tower without safety equipment. But at home, he's terrified of his two-year-old, Alice, climbing out of her crib.

"She just learned how to get out of the crib [last night]­," Honnold tells PEOPLE in this week's issue, "so we have to redefine our sleep situation — I woke up, like, every 45 minutes. I watched through a tiny crack in the door after I put her to bed, and I just watched her. It looked effortless."

The professional climber is just Dad at home. He's happy to be a father to two girls. "I'm way more tired, but family life is great," he said. "It's freaking awesome."

Alex Honnold Talks Climbing

As far as climbing skyscrapers, Honnold didn't have that in his future when he was younger. "I didn't really have a tremendous vision [for my future]," he said. "I was just going with it. At the time, professional climbing wasn't really a thing. I kind of thought I'd end up being a mountain guide or something like that."

However, Honnold says he loves the thrill of it. He said, "I love heights, but I also have a respect of falling to my death. I love being up high, but if I think I'm going to fall off, then I'm just as scared as anybody else."

So being a father is much more scary than climbing a skyscraper. In fact, he says that he enjoyed and had a good time climbing.

"My strategy was to just have a good time and that made it more fun," he said. "Although, it was a little stressful having all those people in their offices watching me through the windows."