climbing california ... n.g.

Speed Climbing the Nose, El Capitan, Yosemite, California

Photograph by Paul Hara

"Wow, I'm surprisingly tired," thought rock climber Alex Honnold, 26, at this moment while speed climbing the Nose on El Capitan with Hans Florine, now 48, to set a new record on June 17, 2012. "This was actually the hardest move on the final bolt ladder, a really long pull over a slight bulge, and my one arm was kind of wilting," says the 2011 Adventurer of the Year, seen in the shade on this 90-degree day. Florine and Honnold set a new record of 2 hours, 23 minutes, and 46 seconds, shaving almost 13 minutes off the previous record set by Dean Potter and Sean Leary in November 2010. (Watch Honnold free solo in this video "Alone on the Wall.")
"Hans was an awesome climbing partner. We both climb in a similar style, so it was easy to work together," says Honnold, who had just completed a solo linkup on El Capitan, Mount Watkins, and Half Dome in less than 19 hours a week before starting on the Nose. "And to be fair, I learned most of what I know about speed climbing from his book on the subject." Florine has held the Nose speed-climbing record eight times over the past 22 years.
"Once we both made it to the top, we just sat and smiled for a while. No real celebration, but we felt some pretty deep contentment," notes Honnold, who is shifting his focus to bouldering. "Hans partied with his family the rest of the day—it was Father's Day afterall."

Getting the Shot
“It was very exciting to be hanging 3,000 feet in the air and hear the cheers of spectators in El Capitan meadow, as [Alex Honnold and Hans Florine] completed each milestone,” recalls photographer and climber Paul Hara.
Two weeks before the record-setting climb, Hara began setting up his shot, stowing camping gear and setting ropes to rappel the last pitch of the climb. The day before the attempt, he rappelled into place to ensure he had the right lenses for the job.
Originally, Hara planned to communicate with Jackie Florine, who was tracking the climbers’ progress, but the excitement of the moment broke communication. Luckily Hara was able to tune his radio to other spectators and track Alex’s ascent. “When we were told that Alex had cleared the Great Roof, I decided to rappel down, into position.”
“I could only start to see the climbers when they were about 200 feet from me. The crowd was cheering loudly, and I realized the old speed record was likely going to be broken,” says Hara. “When Alex saw me hanging near the top he said ‘good morning,’ in a casual, but breathless voice.”
Hara photographed with a Nikon D4 and 24-120mm, f/4 lens