El Capitan “Nose” Speed Ascent Record by Alex Honnold and Hans Florine

On June 17th 2012 Alex Honnold and Hans Florine set a new speed record for climbing the Nose of El Capitan – 2900 feet in 2:23.46. For those of us sitting in El Capitan Meadow, this was hardly to be believed. If you are not familiar with El Capitan, you should visit Tom Evans’ site at www.elcapreport.com to get a feel for what an amazing accomplishment Alex and Hans pulled off (note: the average ascent of El Capitan is between 3 – 6 days). One observer noted, “Watching Alex Honnold climb El Capitan is like watching a spider climb a wall.”