Hans & Yuji Set New Nose Record

On Sunday, October 12, Hans Florine and Yuji Hiriyama smoked their July speed record on El Capitan’s Nose route by racing up it’s 2,900 feet six minutes faster, in an astonishing 2 hours 37 minutes and 5 seconds. As in July, Yuji lead every pitch while Hans belayed, cleaned gear, and simul-climbed, that is climbed at the same time that Yuji did. Simul-climbing is, of course, very dangerous since neither the leader nor the follower can fall without disastrous consequences.

The pair left early in the morning but were behind their previous record pace much of the way. They passed four parties climbing the route. To save time on the last 300 feet in the upper dihedrals, Hiriyama climbed “French free,” that is he placed little gear but instead clipped and grabbed fixed pitons and bolts along the route. It’s dangerous, Hirayama told the San Francisco Chronicle, "but I have confidence. I just go step by step, every pitch, every move. I knew it was our last try, so I wanted to go 100 percent." When he reached the tree at the top that marks the final stopping point, he belayed Florine, who flew up the pitch with frozen hands. At the top the pair raised their arms in a victory salute to over 100 onlookers in El Cap Meadow far below.

After descending back to the Meadow, friends, family, and a Japanese film crew greeted and drenched the climbers with champagne. Yuji told the film crew, “Sugoi,” Japanese for “Way cool.”

Photo above: Hans and Yuji atop El Cap after breaking their speed record.
Photo courtesy Hans Florine

Read more about speed climbing:
San Francisco Chronicle article
San Francisco Chronicle multi-media: The Route Up El Capitan: How They Do It
Climb Fast Climb More
Speed Climbing on The Nose
Speed Climbing Tip #1