Climber Sets Yosemite Record, Then Alex Honnold Stole It
A new video has dropped featuring the first record-breaking climb up Salathe Wall earlier this year
Earlier this year, Brant Hysell rope-soloed Salathé Wall on El Capitan in 19 hours and 57 minutes. The previous fastest time was by Cheyene Lempe in 2013 at 20 hours and six minutes. Shortly after his ascent, Alex Honnold climbed it solo in 11 hours and 19 minutes. A new video featuring Hysell’s climb just dropped, watch below.
Salathé Wall is a 35-pitch 5.9 C2 that was first climbed in 1961 by Royal Robbins, Chuck Pratt, Tom Frost. It was first free-climbed in 1988 by Todd Skinner and Paul Piana who swung leads over a nine-day period. The overall fastest time is four hours and 55 minutes by Alex Honnold and the late Sean Leary. In 2018, Josie McKee and Diana Wendt set a new women’s speed record at 16 hours and 24 minutes.
“I used a Silent Partner hanging off my belay loop for the Salathe ascent, although I’ve previously utilized an unmodified GriGri for speed soloing El Cap with good results,” said Hysell about his gear setup. “I generally used two Soft-Cinchers per pitch for bare minimum backfeed prevention. For cache management, I relied on a Micro-traxion also attached to my belay loop. However, in hindsight, I would opt to place the micro on my right gear loop for easier slack feeding. Additionally, I’d consider backing up the gear loop with a sling in case the blocker knots got sucked into the Micro-traxion during a fall. I’d hate to blow out a gear loop and loose precious cams way up the wall alone.”
About his new record, Honnold said, “I’ve never had the Salathé solo record. When it was my friend who held it, it would have felt weird to go and dunk on him. But if it’s someone I don’t know, it’s like, game on!”
Hysell on El Cap
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