BURSTPietro Vidi has made the second free ascent of Lurking Fear, a 19-pitch 5.13c first freed by Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden in 2000.
Lurking Fear on El Cap’s southwest face was first climbed in 1976 by Dave Bircheff, Phil Bircheff and Jim Pettigrew. They freed what they could but relied on a lot of aid. The name Lurking Fear, according to Pettigrew, was inspired by an H.P. Lovecraft poem.
In 1995, Steve Schneider, Alan Lester and Jeff Schoen freed 95 per cent of the route, having done every pitch clean except the pitches two and seven. In 2000, Caldwell and Rodden needed seven days to free pitch two at 5.13c, with Caldwell saying, “Some of the best climbing in the valley. A pitch of tricky face climbing followed by three pitches of beautiful 5.12 thin cracks…” They then went on to free the rest to the top.
Vidi is a strong boulderer with sends of F the System V16, Flow State V15 FA, Dreamtime V15 and Captain Nemo V15. Earlier this year, he climbed the 5.14+ trad route Tribe.
The post Lurking Fear on El Cap Freed After 25 Years appeared first on Gripped Magazine.