BURSTSome records are meant to be broken. Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter knew that the women`s speed record for the ascent of The Nose on El Capitan was theirs for the taking in fall 2014.
They set two speed records in a short period when they climbed The Nose in 5:02 and then 4:43. They took more than 1.5 hours off the old record of 7:26 which Smith-Gobat and Chantel Astorga set during a sub-24-hour link-up of The Nose and the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome. That record was in turn nearly three hours faster than the previous women’s speed mark, set by Quinn Brett and Jes Meiris.
Smith-Gobat described the technique they used to increase speed as “pretty risky… if I fall off, I’m hopefully not going to die, but I’m going to fall a hell of a long way before I hit the end of that rope… the main difference between us and the guys who are climbing it in 2:30, is that they simulclimb more of the upper half of the route, where we are short-fixing more to keep it within the safety margin we are happy with.”
Women’s Speed Record on The Nose
10/2014 – 4:43 Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter
10/2014 – 5:02 Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter
09/2013 – 5:39 Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter
09/2012 – 7:26 Mayan Smith-Gobat and Chantel Astorga
06/2012 – 10:19 Jes Meiris and Quinn Brett
09/2011 – 10:40 Libby Sauter and Chantel Astorga
2004 – 12:15 Heidi Wirtz and Vera Schulte-Pelkum
Women’s Speed Record
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