To The Limit

Words: Thomas Huber

The Nose on El Capitan: Arguably the most famous route in the world. 1.000 meters of immaculate granite - the central pillar, marked by light and shadow - separates the face of El Cap into a South-Eastern and a South-Western aspect. History was written on this wonder of rock:

In 1958, after an astonishing 41 days of hard work, Warren Harding becomes the first person to climb what was back then the hardest rock climb in world. It takes almost twenty years until Jim Bridwell, John Long and Billy Westbay climb the Nose in a single day - speed climbing is born.

Lynn Hill achieves a groundbreaking ascent by redpointing the Nose in a day in 1994, and the team Yuji Hirayama/Hans Florine leaves the climbing world dumbfounded in September 2002, climbing the route in 2 hours and 48 minutes. For the entire climbing community, this ascent is incredible, unimaginable, beyond grasp, and thus all the more fascinating.

Yet, the rules of speed climbing are very simple:

That all sounds very simple, but the current record time of Hirayama/Florine makes the adventure Speed Nose one of the special climbing adventures of our time.

Fall 2005: We take on the challenge. We are accompanied by the movie production »To The Limit«.
We realise right at the beginning, that for this project we need to make use of our entire experience.
Given the radical tactics that we use to belay each other, the rope often suggests a safety it no longer provides. A mistake would be fatal.

During our first attempt in fall 2005, Alexander takes a 17 meter ground fall on easy terrain due to a broken hold. He is lucky to escape with relatively minor injuries on his ankles, but our project is on hold.

In spring 2006, we embark on another attempt. This time it’s me who takes the plunge during our attempt at breaking the record that could have gotten us in the range of 2:48 hours.  I painfully land on a ledge. Severe bruises put an end to our dream. Despite the mishaps, the movie »To The Limit« becomes a great success. The failure, and the allure to go after big goals display life as it is. “Live your dream, if not today, then tomorrow!” becomes the motto of our future.

September 13, 2007

We are back in Yosemite. Two days later, we climb the Nose in 10 hours. We are tired and disappointed. After this ascent, the record seems once again far away. It’s only the belief in ourselves that remains. We don’t give up! After a rest day, we make another lap on those 1000 meters - same procedure - and we repeat this again and again… After five ascents, everything is memorised, all the fine tuning of our strategy is done, and we are in the right mental and physical shape.

Our team strategy
We climb in 4 blocks. I start and climb to the end of Sickle Ledge, from there, Alexander takes over the lead up to the Boot Flake, I then lead from the King Swing to the Glowering Spot. Alexander makes the last dash to the summit.

Belaying Strategy
Short-fixing and Simul-Climbing

Gear for each block
Camalots 0-4, 3 small stoppers, a cam hook, 14 quickdraws and 20 carabiners.

Everything falls into place faster than we thought it would. On our 6th lap, Alexander and I climb the Nose in a “casual” 3 hours and 18 minutes. We are surprised, feel fit on the summit, and decide to make the next attempt count. Before that, we rest for three days.

October 4, 2007
7 am, we start … we are going strong… short look at the watch on Boot Flake: 1 hour 18 minutes … it’ll be close, but with a bit of luck, we’ll make it… I lose an aider on the great roof… we pass another party in the middle of the changing corners … loose precious time… time check before the last pitch: barely any chances at the record… if, it’s going to be extremely close… we give it everything we have… on the last meters.. the Suunto stops at 2:48,35 hours. We don’t know whether or not we took the record.

It’s only hours later the we get the confirmation from Hans Florine’s Website www.speedclimb.com … his exact time was 2:48,50 hours. We were 15 seconds faster. Hard to believe, but after 1.000 meters, 15 seconds decide. We celebrate. And we know we lost a few minutes on the route that we would still like to shave off our time.

October 8, 2007
Second Attempt. Without the pressure to break the record, as we already got it. No dropped aider this time, but again we have to pass two parties in complicated ways, and lose precious time… but still, it’s enough. We are even faster: 2:45,45 hours.

It’s done, we feel relieved… and for a couple climbers, a new dream is born, to break this record. Nothing is forever, and that is a good thing.

EL CAPITAN

Source: Wikipedia

El Capitan is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith extends about 3.000 feet (900 m) from base to summit along its tallest face, and is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers and BASE jumpers.

The formation was named »El Capitan« by the Mariposa Battalion when it explored the valley in 1851. El Capitán (»the captain«, »the chief«) was taken to be a loose Spanish translation of the local Native American name for the cliff, variously transcribed as "To-to-kon oo-lah" or "To-tock-ah-noo-lah". It is unclear if the Native American name referred to a specific Tribal chief, or simply meant »the chief« or »rock chief«. In modern times, the formation's name is often contracted to »El Cap«, especially among rock climbers and BASE jumpers.

The top of El Capitan can be reached by hiking out of Yosemite Valley on the trail next to Yosemite Falls, then proceeding west. For climbers, the challenge is to climb up the sheer granite face; there are many named climbing routes, all of them arduous. For skydivers, the challenge is to achieve sufficient horizontal separation from the sheer granite face before opening their parachutes.

Once considered impossible to climb, El Capitan is now the standard for big-wall climbing. »El Cap« has two main faces, the Southwest (on the left when looking directly at the wall) and the Southeast. Between the two faces juts a massive prow. While today there are numerous established routes on both faces, the most popular and historically famous route is The Nose, which follows the massive prow.

The Nose was first climbed in 1958 by Warren Harding, Wayne Merry and George Whitmore in 47 days using »siege« tactics: climbing in an expedition style using fixed ropes along the length of the route, linking established camps along the way. The fixed manila ropes allowed the climbers to ascend and descend from the ground up throughout the 18 month project, although they presented unique levels of danger as well, sometimes breaking due to the long exposure to cold temperatures. The climbing team relied heavily on aid climbing, using rope, pitons and expansion bolts to make it to the summit. The first ascent of The Nose in one day was accomplished in 1975 by John Long, Jim Bridwell and Billy Westbay. Today, The Nose typically takes fit climbers 4–5 days of full climbing, and has a success rate of around 60%.

As it became clear that any face could be conquered with sufficient perseverance and bolt-hole drilling, some climbers began searching for El Cap routes that could be climbed either free or with minimal aid. The first free ascent of a main El Cap route, was the Salathé Wall.

The Nose was the second major route to be freeclimbed. Two pitches on The Nose blocked efforts to free the route: the Great Roof graded 5.13c and Changing Corners graded 5.14a/b. In 1993, Lynn Hill came close to freeing The Nose, making it past the Great Roof and up to Camp VI without falling, stopped only on Changing Corners by a piton jammed in a critical finger hold. After removing the piton she re-climbed the route from the ground. After 4 days of climbing, Hill reached the summit, making her the first person to free climb The Nose. A year later, Hill returned to free climb The Nose in a day, this time reaching the summit in just 23 hours and setting a new standard for free climbing on El Cap.

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Die NOSE

Source: Wikipedia

The Nose is one of the original technical climbing routes up El Capitan. Once considered impossible to climb, El Capitan is now the standard for big-wall climbing. It is recognized in the historic climbing text Fifty Classic Climbs of North America and considered a classic around the world.

El Cap has two main faces, the Southwest (on the left when looking directly at the wall) and the Southeast. Between the two faces juts a massive prow. While today there are numerous established routes on both faces, the most popular and historically famous route is The Nose, which follows the massive prow.

Once thought to be unclimbable, the high granite walls of Yosemite Valley began to see their first attempts and first ascents in the late 1950s. One of the most coveted routes was the Northwest Face of Half Dome, and among those coveting it was Californian Warren Harding. He made an unsuccessful attempt on Half Dome in 1955, and returned for the 1957 season just as Royal Robbins and team were completing the first ascent. "My congratulations," Harding recounted, "were hearty and sincere, but inside, the ambitious dreamer in me was troubled."

Harding turned to an even larger unclimbed face, the 2.900 feet (900 m) prow of El Capitan, at the other end of the valley. With Mark Powell and Bill "Dolt" Feuerer, they began the climb in July 1957. Rather than follow the single-push »alpine« style used on Half Dome, they chose to fix lines between »camps« in the style used in the Himalaya. Attempting to get half way on the first push, they were foiled by the huge cracks, and Feuerer was required to form new rock spikes or pitons by cutting off the legs of wood stoves. This gave the name to the crack system leading to the half way point, the »stove leg cracks«.

Compelled by the National Park Service to stop until March due to the crowds forming in El Capitan meadows as soon as the snow melts, the team had a major setback when Powell suffered a compound leg fracture on another climbing trip. Waits at the base of The Nose and Korengals and easily reach 50 hours. Powell dropped out, and Feuerer became disillusioned. Harding, true to his legendary endurance and willingness to find new partners, continued, as he later put it, »with whatever 'qualified' climbers I could con into this rather unpromising venture.« Feuerer stayed on as technical advisor, even constructing a bicycle wheeled cart which could be hauled up to the half-way ledge which bears his name today, »Dolt Tower«; but Wayne Merry, George Whitmore, and Rich Calderwood now became the main team, with Merry sharing lead chores with Harding.

In the fall, two more pushes got them to the 2.000 feet (600 m) level. Finally, a fourth push starting in the late fall would likely be the last. The team had originally fixed their route with 1⁄2 inch (13 mm) manila lines, and their in situ lines would have weakened more over the winter. In the cooling November environment, they worked their way slowly upward, the seven days it took to push to within the last 300 feet (100 m) blurring into a »monotonous grind« if, Harding adds, »living and working 2.500 feet (800 m) above the ground on a granite face« could be considered monotonous. After sitting out a storm for three days at this level, they hammered their way up the final portion. Harding struggled fifteen hours through the night, hand-placed 28 expansion bolts up an overhanging headwall before topping out at 6 AM. The complete climb had taken 45 days, with more than 3.400 feet (1.000 m) of climbing including huge pendulum swings across the face, the labor of hauling bags, and rappel descents.

The team had finished what is by any standard one of the classics of modern rock climbing. The Nose Route is often called the most famous rock climbing route in North America, and in good fall weather can have anywhere between three and ten different parties strung out along its thirty rope lengths to the top. On the 50th anniversary of the ascent, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring the achievement of the original party.

The second ascent was made in 1960 by Royal Robbins, Joe Fitschen, Chuck Pratt and Tom Frost, who took seven days in the first continuous climb of the route without siege tactics. The first rope-solo climb of The Nose was made by Tom Bauman in 1969.The first ascent of The Nose in one day was accomplished in 1975 by John Long, Jim Bridwell and Billy Westbay. Today The Nose attracts climbers of a wide range of experience and ability. With a success rate of around 60%, it typically takes fit climbers 2-3 full days of climbing to complete.

EL CAPITAN

South Face, El Capitan, 2.307 m

Yosemite Valley, California, USA

NOSE

1.000 meters, 5.9 C1 or 5.13d

FIRST ASCENT

1958, Aid Climbing

Warren Harding, Wayne Merry, George Whitmore

and Rich Calderwood

FIRST REDPOINT ASCENT

1993, Lynn Hill

More info on Hans Florine’s website:

TO THE LIMIT

BLU RAY and DVD (2007), Length: 96 minutes

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YOSEMITE

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