BURSTConnor Herson didn’t let his spring semester at Stanford get in the way of his climbing. In between his studies, he made an effort to spend “as many weekends as possible” climbing in Yosemite Valley. His goal was to get after ground-up, single-day ascents. He racked up seven mega lines, taking the meaning of weekend warrior to a whole new level:
- Wet Lycra Nightmare 5.13d
- Golden Gate 5.13a
- El Corazon 5.13b
- Pre-Muir 5.13c/d
- Westie Face 5.13-
- Final Frontier 5.13b
- Father Time 5.13b
“It turned out to be the best season of climbing I’ve had while in school: three free ascents of El Cap in three consecutive weekends, plus four 5.13 multipitches in two consecutive weekends—all ground-up,” said Herson on Instagram. “More importantly than these ticks, though, I finally felt like I was climbing smoothly on Valley granite, a skill which has always felt fleeting at best for me.”
Herson, only 22 years old, has already sent most of Canada and the United States’ most iconic hard trad lines. His accomplishments are already too long to list, but highlights include repeats of Stranger Than Fiction 5.14, Meltdown 5.14c, Magic Line 5.14c, Blackbeard’s Tears 5.14c, Cobra Crack 5.14b, and Crack of Destiny 5.14b. While in Squamish last summer, he made first ascents of the stunning crack The Shark 5.14b as well as one of Canada’s hardest sport climbs, Midnight Way 5.15a. In 2022, he made the first all-gear ascent of Carlo Traversi’s Empath, a sport line graded 5.14d at the time.
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