BURSTJordan Cannon and Michael Vaill have completed the El Cap Triple, climbing three legendary routes in under 24 hours. Their choice of routes was deliberate, echoing the same lines climbed by Alex Honnold and Sean Leary in 2010, when they completed the challenge in less than 24 hours.
Honnold and Leary started with The Nose (VI 5.9 C2 or 5.14a, 900 m), then climbed Salathe Wall (VI 5.9 C2 or 5.13b/c, 900 m) and finished with Lurking Fear (VI 5.7 C2 or 5.13c, 700 m). In total, the pair climbed about 85 pitches and 8,200 vertical feet – according to Alpinist here.
Tom Evans gave his eye witness account of Honnold and Leary on his El Cap Report: “They climbed The Nose in 4 hours 15 minutes with Stanley taking the first half of the route and Hondo the second. The Zodiac boys watched them pass by their bivy, just after midnight. They then went to the Salathe, which they did in 6 hours and some change, again splitting the climb into two big blocks. I saw them this morning as they came by the Bridge to fuel up for the last of the three climbs, Lurking Fear. Hondo looked worse for wear, as he had driven up from LA yesterday, with no sleep before the climb. But some food and drink perked him up, and they soon were back at it.”
Cannon and Vaill followed suit, meticulously replicating not only the route sequence but also the strategic start time. To sidestep the peak heat of the day, they set off at 8 p.m. on June 2, ensuring some of the hard climbing coincided with cooler hours.
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