Go higher, faster - Climbers break El Cap Record

(Photo: Michael Maloney / San Francisco Chronicle)

Two climbers have broken the world record for scaling Yosemite's majestic El Capitan. Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama scaled the 2,900 vertical feet of El Cap's Nose route in a jaw-dropping 2 hours, 43 minutes, 33 seconds. For those who have never seen El Capitan, imagine scaling a 290 story tall slab of uneven, crag-filled granite, to get a sense of this accomplishment.

(Photo: Michael Maloney / San Francisco Chronicle)

The first ascent of El Cap, fifty years ago, took 47 days. Of course, equipment and training has improved dramatically, and the route today is well known.

From the San Francisco Chronicle article on the climbers' feat:

Yosemite National Park - -- A Lafayette rock climber and his Japanese partner snatched the world record for fastest climb up the Nose of El Capitan on Wednesday in a thrilling, heart-stopping display of strength, endurance, concentration and pure guts.

Hans Florine, 44, who grew up in Moraga, and Yuji Hirayama, 39, of Hidaka, Japan, pulled themselves over the top of the immense slab of granite and touched the tree that serves as the finish line in 2 hours, 43 minutes and 33 seconds.

It was 2 minutes and 12 seconds faster than the record set last year by the famous German climbing brothers, Alexander and Thomas Huber.
...
It took Florine and Hirayama three tries to reclaim their record on the iconic 2,900-foot Nose route, one of the most hair-raising and arduous vertical climbs in the world.

(At the top. Photo: Michael Maloney / San Francisco Chronicle)

The men started up the giant wall faster than they had ever gone, reaching the granite feature known as the Boot Flake - a spot that most climbers take two days to reach - in one hour. Twelve minutes later they had completed the perilous and spectacular 90-foot-long "king swing." The large crowd of family, friends and fellow climbers gathered at the bottom let out a giant whoop as Florine spun completely around while in the air.

Congrats to Messrs. Florine and Hirayama!