Home > Mountain

Canadian Rockies Alpine Pioneer and President Emeritus of the American Alpine Club Single-Push Ascent of The Nose

The pair made a fast continuous ascent very few younger climbers could beat. As of May 30, Donini was back on the valley floor with a new partner hoping to make another one day attempt.

 

Nose of El Capitan, (Stanford.edu)
Nose of El Capitan, (Stanford.edu)

New declarations that some climber or other intends to make a one-day ascent of the 36-pitch-still-a-big-wall-to-everyone-but-rockstars Nose of El Capitan are now a fixture of the internet. Few are as intriguing, however as that of former American Alpine Club president, Patagonian pioneer, alpinist extraordinaire and first-free ascensionist of parts of The Nose itself, 69-year-old Jim Donini. He was accompanied by the experienced 68-year-old George Lowe, famous to Canadians for the first ascents of the North Faces of Mounts Alberta and Geikie and North Twin, among other routes. The pair didn’t quite make it in a day, with Donini writing on supertopo.com “we reached Camp 4 in 13 plus hours and I knew the NIAD was not in the bag… we ratcheted back and continued up in a less hurried pace waking people up along the way.” Still , the pair made a fast continuous ascent very few younger climbers could beat. As of May 30, Donini was back on the valley floor with a new partner hoping to make another one day attempt.

Check out the latest buyer's guide:

The Best Climbing Gear According to Our Editors – March

Every month we're bringing you our favourite gear so you can complete your climbing kit with the latest and best stuff out there