When Women Cruise Up Yosemite Big Wall
Colorado climbers Jes Meiris and Quinn Brett came to Yosemite with one mission: Break the women's speed record on El Capitan's 32-pitch Nose route. On June 10, they were out for "another practice run" on the big wall that turned into a record run when they finished in 10 hours and 19 minutes, shattering the old record set by Libby Sauter and Chantel Astorga in 2011 by a full 21 minutes. "Climbing was awesome and smooth, didn't expect to break [the record] on Sunday," Brett wrote in an email. Things got a little hairy on the final pitch, where they passed five other climbers, but the two women, both guides and instructors, kept their cool. Read their trip report (and ogle a scandalous photo) here.
The overall record for The Nose of two hours, 36 minutes, 45 seconds was set by Dean Potter and Sean Leary in 2010, though phenom Alex Honnold and Hans Florine are gearing up to take a run at it in the coming days (in a repeat of their February 2011 attempt, which came up 45 seconds short).