Another New Speed Record on the Nose for Sauter and Smith-Gobat
John Long has reported to Rock and Ice that Libby Sauter and Mayan Smith-Gobat have now shaved 19 minutes off their four-day old speed record on the Nose, climbing the 32 pitch El Capitan big-wall in 4 hours and 43 minutes.
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John Long has reported to Rock and Ice that Libby Sauter and Mayan Smith-Gobat have now shaved 19 minutes off their four-day old speed record on the Nose, climbing the 32 pitch El Capitan big-wall in 4 hours and 43 minutes.
On October 28, Smith-Gobat and Sauter cruised the 3,000-foot route in 5 hours and 2 minutes, however, the women mentioned that the record-breaking climb was actually just a test run. Today (October 31), Sauter and Smith-Gobat have once again topped out the massive wall, this time getting closer to their overall goal of climbing the feature in five hours, “with a hope to get close to four,” says Smith-Gobat. “We are both really happy with the time we did, given our techniques and the amount of time we are able to dedicate to this.”
The men’s speed record was set in 2012 by Alex Honnold and Hans Florine and currently stands at a daunting 2 hours and 23 minutes and 51 seconds.
