Timelapse: Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell’s “Nose” Speed Record (1:58:07)
On June 6, 2018, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell set the Nose speed record on El Capitan in 01:58:07, fulfilling Honnold’s “lifetime goal” of a sub-2-hour Nose ascent. This is the actual record breaking climb, bottom to top, in one continuous time-lapse shot.
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In an interview with Rock and Ice just before he and Honnold took the Nose speed record below two hours for the first time, Tommy Caldwell reflected on the riskiness of the endeavor:
It feels less risky than big mountains. You can understand the risk. You can choose when to push it and hold back, place more gear here or there. If you start to feel out of control you can stop.
Honestly, Alex takes more risk than me; which doesn’t necessarily make it more risky for me, because he’s short fixing up there [on the top half], so I’m just jumaring. The risk really is him just taking a monster whipper while short-fixing.
I’m pretty sure we’re way, way faster on those top corners than anybody else, whereas on the bottom part we’re more similar to the other previous records.
The full film of Honnold and Caldwell’s record-setting climb is available for download from REEL ROCK!
Nose Speed Records (Since the First One-Day Ascent)
6/6/2018 – Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell – 1:58:07
6/4/2018 – Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell – 2:01:50
5/30/2018 – Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell – 2:10:15
10/21/2017 – Jim Reynolds, Brad Gobright – 2:19:44
6/17/2012 – Hans Florine, Alex Honnold – 2:23:46
11/6/2010 – Dean Potter, Sean Leary – 2:36:45
10/12/2008 – Hans Florine, Yuji Hirayama – 2:37:05
7/2/2008 – Hans Florine, Yuji Hirayama – 2:43:33
10/8/2007 – Alexander and Thomas Huber – 2:45:45
10/4/2007 – Alexander and Thomas Huber – 2:48:30
10/4/2007 – Hans Florine, Yuji Hirayama – 2:48:55
9/29/2002 – Hans Florine, Yuji Hirayama – 2:48:55
11/2001 – Dean Potter, Timmy O’Neill – 3:24:20
10/2001 – Hans Florine, Jim Herson – 3:57:27
10/2001 – Dean Potter, Timmy O’Neill – 3:59:35
1992 – Hans Florine, Peter Croft ~ 4:22:00
1991 –Peter Croft, Dave Schultz ~ 4:48:00
1991 – Hans Florine, Andres Puhvel ~ 6:01:00
1990 – Peter Croft, Dave Schultz ~ 6:40:00
1990 – Hans Florine, Steve Schneider ~ 8:06:00
1986 – John Bachar, Peter Croft ~ 10:05:00
1984 – Duncan Critchley, Romain Vogler ~ 9:30:00
1975 – Jim Bridwell, John Long, Billy Westbay in ~ 17:45:00