Speed records on routes the climbers have done dozens or even over a hundred times before leave me cold. Is there a known record for the fastest flash of the Nose?
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Speed records on routes the climbers have done dozens or even over a hundred times before leave me cold. Is there a known record for the fastest flash of the Nose?
If anyone in the future flashes The Nose it would be the fastest.
Free or aided?Quote:
Originally Posted by old goat
I'm 99% sure the Nose have never been flashed free.
Oh yeah -- this. I misread.Quote:
Originally Posted by concretejungle
The shortest time I've heard of someone red pointing it was a couple of weeks. Everyone needs significant rehearsal on the Changing Corners and Great Roof pitches.
Yep. A flash ascent is a free ascent, and the Nose has never been flashed free AFAIK. The speed climbers "French free" the climb, which basically means grabbing gear, aiding, whatever it takes. But there might be a known record for climbing the Nose on-sight by whatever means...Hans Florine would probably know.
I guess a better term is needed. Climbed with aid without any previous attempt or practice. Beta allowed--I think it would be hard to follow the route without it.
Do people climb the Nose in a day the first time they climb it?
I was curious about this so I asked Hans, whom I've known since I edited his Speed Climbing book way back when. Hans says:
I think it was onsighted by Grant Horner, his partner and him drove into Yosemite in the dark, started climbing in the dark and the first time he saw Yosemite valley was on Sickle ledge. They did the route in 14 hours approximately. I believe Adam Ondra did it with his dad in less time, onsight.
Chongo FTW.
Ha. I can't recall ever seeing that guy actually climb. Helluva slackliner though. Potter's mentor.
Ondra flashed up to the great roof, and then aided/freed after that just to get it done in a day. They bivied through a storm at the top. I think he was the best hope at a flash. The last guy to free it, Jorg Verhoeven, rapped in to work changing corners before even trying it ground up.
As far as I can tell, no main el cap route has been flashed.
Honnlove almost flashed freerider, he fell once. Also Leo Houlding only fell once in '05
Ueli Steck came within 1 fall of onsighting golden gate. Fell on wet 5.11 pitch, total bummer on a 5.13b!
Source (list of most known free ascents of el cap and other notable Yosemite climbs): http://web.stanford.edu/~clint/yos/longhf.htm
He actually lived on El cap. He climbed plenty.Quote:
Originally Posted by yeahman
That's what I was looking for. Thanks. Another question--when a party with 2 strong climbers do Nose IAD can both climbers climb each free pitch or does one or the other have to jug every pitch to get it done in time? Just curious.Quote:
Originally Posted by yeahman
I think they are mostly simulclimbing with a few pieces of gear between them, and occasionally short-fixing certain sections, which basically means the leader ties the second's rope off to a solid piece so the second can jumar while the leader keeps on climbing. There are many tricks and techniques. I'm no expert.Quote:
Originally Posted by old goat
One thing I do know is that speed climbing it is very dangerous no matter what--all the experts freely admit that. Quinn Bret got paralyzed in a 100 foot fall speed climbing the Nose a few months ago. Hans Florine broke both his legs recently. Even Tommy Caldwell took a hundred footer when training with Alex Honnold a couple weeks ago. If you are really interested I highly recommend Florine's book On the Nose. It was just released in paperback.
Edit to add: I kind of missed that you were asking about standard NIAD, not record setting speed climbing. I think most NIAD parties have the second jumaring, and only one climber leading each pitch.
This pic shows Honnold leading (look at all that slack!) while Caldwell jumars up on the short-fixed rope. Once Caldwell reaches the tied off piece he will untie the rope from it and then start simulclimbing behind Honnold. They basically do this all the way up, with variations depending on terrain. That's my understanding of it anyway.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6de140931c.jpg
Thanks for the info. I should know more about this stuff since one of my climbing partners was Warren Harding. (OK, he was 65 at the time--almost the age I am now--and I think we did one 5.6 together. He was dating a fellow resident. She was 26.)
Yeahman is right on. Sometimes they jug and sometimes it's faster to climb.
https://www.climbing.com/videos/two-...-speed-record/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG4ubEPPN7U
Warren Harding, that's pretty awesome. Got a signed copy of Downward Bound by chance? That book is hilarious. I just looked on Amazon and apparently some company has re-issued it as of 2016. Might have to pick one up, mine is long gone.Quote:
Originally Posted by old goat
No autographed copy. I did find a used one and gave it to my son for xmas, along with 50 classic climbs.
After my son saw Valley Uprising he figured I was on RR's side, not WH's. That hurt.