Alex Honnold Back in Yosemite for The Nose
Less than 12 people have ever freed the iconic 5.14 big wall route
Alex Honnold is back in Yosemite to work on free-climbing The Nose, one of the most famous rock climbs in the world. While it’s regularly aid climbed at a modest aid grade, it’s only been freed a handful of times.
Honnold announced on social media that he’s been projecting the cruxes of The Nose with accomplished alpinist and big wall climber Brette Harrington. See his post below. Honnold has climbed The Nose several times and he currently has the team speed record on it with Tommy Caldwell in a time of one hour and 58 minutes.
The first ascent of The Nose was in 1958 after 47 days of effort by Wayne Merry, Warren Harding and George Whitmore, with various partners. In 1993, Lynn Hill nearly freed it, making it past the Great Roof and to Camp VI, but fell at the Changing Corners because a piton was jammed in a critical finger crack. She removed it and then climbed it from the ground to the top in four days. She returned the next year and freed it in just 23 hours.
On Oct. 14, 2005, Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden spent four days swapping leads for a team free ascent. Two days later, Caldwell returned and climbed it all free in less than 12 hours. In 2014, Jorg Verhoeven spent three days freeing The Nose. In 2018, Keita Kurakami became the first climber to rope-solo free The Nose. Shortly after Kurakami’s ascent, Connor Herson became the youngest climber to free The Nose at 15. In 2019, Seb Berthe freed The Nose after eight days; then Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher freed it a few days later. In 2023, young British competition climbers Alex Waterhouse and Billy Ridal freed The Nose.
