They say, “All roads lead to Rome,” but for serious rock climbers, they lead to California’s El Capitan. Four to six hundred ascents are made per year on the world’s most famous big-wall, which abounds with iconic climbing routes with names like The Nose, Jolly Roger, Dawn Wall and Sea of Dreams.
Located on the north side of the Yosemite Valley, El Capitan rises 3,000 feet (almost 900 meters) from base to summit along its tallest face. For decades the imposing granite monolith was considered impossible to climb, until Warren Harding took up the challenge. In 1958, Harding led a team of three climbers methodically up The Nose over the course of 47 days.
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Thirty five years later, Lynn Hill free climbed the route (utilizing climbing equipment such as ropes and other means of climbing protection, but only to protect against injury during falls and not to assist progress), and that’s where our video chronicle begins…
[fusion_title size=”4″]LYNN HILL[/fusion_title]
In 1993, together with partner Brooke Sandahl, sport climber Lynn Hill became the first person, male or female, to make a free ascent of the The Nose on El Cap. The following year, she became the first to climb the entire route in a 24-hour period.
[fusion_tagline_box backgroundcolor=”#fafafa” shadow=”yes” shadowopacity=”0.5″ border=”” bordercolor=”transparent” highlightposition=”top” link=”” linktarget=”” buttoncolor=”” button=”” title=”“If a lot of good climbers have come and tried to do it and failed, and a woman comes and does it first… it’s really meaningful. That was my underlying motivation.”” description=”— Lynn Hill, on free climbing The Nose” animation_type=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=””][/fusion_tagline_box]
[fusion_title size=”4″]JORG VERHOEVEN[/fusion_title]
In October of 2014, Jorg Verhoeven spent 30 days in Yosemite with one goal in mind; replicating Hill’s free ascent of The Nose‘s 30 challenging pitches — the hardest of which is rated 5.14 on the climbing difficulty scale.
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Verhoeven’s patient approach to El Capitan paid off, as he completed just the fifth ever free ascent.
[fusion_title size=”4″]TOMMY CALDWELL & KEVIN JORGESON[/fusion_title]
On January 14, 2015, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson made the first free ascent of The Dawn Wall, El Capitan’s most inimidating line with large stretches of almost featureless rock. The first released footage from the film crew on the mountain featured Caldwell’s breathtaking climb on pitch 15 (rated 5.14c).
In all, Caldwell and Jorgeson’s history-making climb took 19 days to complete.
[fusion_title size=”4″]ADAM ONDRA[/fusion_title]
In November of last year, 23-year-old Adam Ondra became the latest sport climber to have his name inextricably linked to El Capitan.
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Ondra’s ascent of The Dawn Wall more than halved the time established by Caldwell and Jorgeson.
[fusion_title size=”4″]ALEX HONNOLD[/fusion_title]
Solo climbing involves making ascents with nothing but a chalk bag and climbing shoes. To date, no one has dared challenge El Capitan in this way, but if anyone can do it, it would be Alex Honnold.
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