El Cap’s Heart Route (5.13b V10) Sees Second Free Ascent
Twenty-three-year-old Belgian climber Sebastien Berthe makes the second free ascent of the Heart Route (5.13b V10) on the southwest face of El Cap in Yosemite.
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Mountain Project. “The climbing is varied, with tedious slabs down low, and steep, enduro pitches above the heart. The ‘V10’ rating
is for a dyno on the sixth pitch.”
Before his attempt of the Heart Route, Berthe warmed up on Valley classics such as the Regular Northwest Face on
Half Dome—complete with knot throw, due to the rockfall of 2015—Freerider on El Cap, which he almost onsighted, Astroman on Washington Column, The Cobra on Royal Arches, and Steck-Salathé on Sentinel Rock. With these routes ticked, Berthe felt ready for the Heart Route’s 26 pitches—nine
at 5.13, 12 at 5.11 (the remaining five are easier), and one massive V10 dyno.
“It required all my skills to make it happen,” he reported. “The crux pitch (the sixth) is a huge and acrobatic … dyno followed by a super technical
slab. The next pitch is another technical slab, very demanding and, maybe, the hardest of my life. This pitch literally ate my fingers and my toes.”
Berthe completed the climb on November 13, after spending six days on the wall. “All these pitches are amazing and this route is a pure Yosemite route!”
More Yosemite Action this Season
Adam Ondra Sends the Dawn Wall!
Barbara Zangerl, Jacopo Larcher Free El Cap’s Zodiac (VI 5.13d)
Jorg Verhoeven Makes Second Free Ascent of Dihedral Wall (VI 5.14a)