Industry News
According to San Francisco Gate, two climbers broke the speed record on The Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, CA on Saturday. Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds scaled the near 90-degree face in 2 hours 19 minutes and 44 seconds. This surpassed the previous record of 2 hours and 23 minutes that was set by Hans Florine and Alex Honnold in June 2012.
Conditions were less than ideal on Saturday, as a north wind pushed smoke into the Yosemite Valley. Also, the route was filled with climbers. To increase their chances of setting the new speed record, the pair didn’t use Camming Devices, which are meant to prevent falls. Along with any other unnecessary gear that would weight them down. They didn’t even pack food or water for the 2+ hour climb.
“The big thing that Jim and I were worried about was that to some extent you have to kind of put safety behind you when you’re trying to move that fast,” Gobright, 29, said in an interview Sunday. “It requires a lot of focus, much more than a regular climb. Speed climbing requires your full attention.”
Gobright and Reynolds were originally scheduled to make the record-breaking climb on Thursday, October 12th, but they postponed it after they learned of Quinn Brett’s fall on El Cap the day before. Since 1905, more than 2 dozen people have been killed while climbing El Capitan.
