Sewing and Beta Crushing: Yosemite National Park - Hike up the Half Dome is "No Big Deal"

Yosemite Valley Tunnel View

Two days before leaving to Yosemite to go on a major day hike to Half Dome, I read this article about this guy free soloing 3 big walls within 18 hours. (Free soloing = Climbing without any rope) (Big Wall = Multi-day climb/ several pitches) So if he fell, he is ultimately screwed! His name is Alex Honnold (age 26) aka The Hon Solo or Alex No Big Deal.

The Triple Solo Crown

First big wall (his "warm up") was south face of Mt. Watkins 5.8 C2 with 19 pitches.

Second big wall was on El Capitan, which typically takes 3-5 days to climb and not by any average rock climber.

Third big wall was on the northwest face of Half Dome.

It took me about 12 hours just to hike to and from Half Dome. I can't even imagine climbing it!

Here are a few pictures of these big walls from my trip.

Mt. Watkins

El Capitan (right cliff)

Half Dome (left face)

While on my Half Dome trip....

On June 9th, "DeMartino, Pete Davis, and Jarem Frye made the first all-disabled ascent of Yosemite Valley's El Capitan... They topped out on Zodiac (5.9 C3+) in the late afternoon after spending five days and four nights on the 16-pitch route"

On June 11th, Jes Meiris and Quinn Brett set the new women's speed record on The Nose of El Capitan at 10 hours 19 minutes.

SO.....

I come back from Yosemite and the next thing I hear is Alex Honnold plan to beat the record speed on The Nose of El Capitan. If you've seen Reel Rock Film Tour 2011, Dean Potter takes the breaking record speed on the Nose against Hans Florine, who has been competing to keep the record speed since 1990. On Sunday, June 17th (Father's Day) Alex Honnold teamed up with Hans Florine to yet again break the record speed. 13 minutes faster than the previous record at 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 51 seconds! Alex Honnold has never cease to amaze me.

Congratulations! June has been an amazing month for climbing!