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Two Climbers Set New Speed Record on Eldorado Canyon’s The Naked Edge
Climbing isn’t usually a competitive sport, but there are times when it certainly can be. Chasing speed records on long hard routes has always caught the attention of climbers looking to prove themselves, and that has reached across climbs like El Cap’s the Nose, to Everest, and all the way to short classics like the Naked Edge just outside Boulder, Colorado. That particular climb, a six-pitch 5.11b is considered one of the most classic climbs in the country, and has seen numerous speed ascents over the last decade, including blistering times put up by the late Brad Gobright and Jason Wells, renowned climbers who perished in separate accidents in the last two years. The standing record, held by Wells and his partner Stefan Gabriel was broken yet again just a few days ago by the young guns Ben Wilbur and John Ebers, hardmen of the illustrious CU Alpine Club. It now stands at 24:14.
To set the record, Wilbur and Ebers did several “slow” 28-minute laps of the route over the last few weeks to get warmed up and acquainted with the intricacies. For their record lap, they ran the approach, simul-climbed or free-soloed the easier first pitches, and then sprinted back down the 4th-class descent to the bridge.
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They even got a shoutout from none other than Alex Honnold:
