Speed Ascent of El Capitan’s The Nose Lands Another New Record

Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama have broken their own record for ascending El Cap’s The Nose. Unlike the last few attempts on this majestic piece, this one has caught me by some surprise.   UKclimbing.com is reporting that the newest record breaking attempt took place yesterday, October 12th.  The new record has shaved another six minutes off the highly coveted speed ascent record on The Nose.

Official time:  2 hours, 37 minutes, 5 seconds

This breaks the previous mark, once again set by Florine and Hirayama, of 2 hours, 43 minutes, and 33 seconds.

I have covered this record quite exhaustively in the past, both with the team of Florine and Hirayama and The Huber brothers, who have all been after this coveted record for almost two years now.  They seem to trade marks back and forth.  Once the record is rebroken, the other team seems to go back and try to best the new time.  I have been hearing some rumors that a few others may be joining in the fun competition come next sumer, but we will have to see.

There is an illustrated report of the latest record breaker, featuring Florine and Hirayama, over on SuperTopo.  You may also be interested in reading the history behind this amazing record, one of the most coveted in the world, over at Climbing.com.

If you would like to read more of my coverage of these record attempts, be sure to check out my previous coverage of Florine, Hirayama, and The Huber brothers’ attempts in recent years.  You can find all the articles by typing in “The Nose”, in the little search box at the top of this blog.