Last week we reported that Alex Honnold and Hans Florine would be attempting to break the speed-climbing record on The Nose, the iconic climbing route on El Capitan.
According to Erica Jessop, writing for The Examiner, the climbing duo was successful, summiting The Nose in 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 51 seconds.
This new record, set on Sunday June 17, is a full 13 minutes faster than the previous record, set by Sean Leary and Dean Potter in 2010. For more information on the climbers and their ascent, see this article.
In addition, a team comprised entirely of disabled climbers made the ascent of El Capitan–the first time an all-disabled team has made it to the the top.
According to Climbing, Craig DeMartino, Pete Davis, and Jarem Frye climbed Zodiac (5.9 C3+) on Thursday, June 14, after being on the wall for five days and four nights. The route was 16 pitches.
DeMartino had part of his leg amputated after surviving a 100-foot fall from Whiteman, a cliff-face in Estes Park, Colorado, in 2002. Frye lost his leg to cancer when he was a kid. Both climbers use prosthetic limbs designed specially for climbing, according to the article in Climbing.
Davis was born with a congenital amputation. He climbs with only one arm.
DeMartino and Davis tried the same route, one of the most difficult for aid climbers, in June of last year and failed when Frye’s prosthetic leg snapped, forcing the duo back down.
