Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
3671 Climbers
7315 Climbs
19065 Ascents
Featured
The Nose | E9 Trad climb at El Capitan
The first ascent of The Nose (A2) was mainly aided. Sections were freed by many different people, not always formally recorded, before Lynn Hill's landmark completely free ascent.
The Stoveleg Cracks were first freed by Jim Bridwell in June 1967 after attempts in 1965 partnering Frank Sacherer who originally conceived they might be climbable without aid.
In 1975 John Bachar, Dale Bard and Ron Kauk had climbed ~85% free, all bar 120m, at ~5.11+.
In Spring 1980 Ray Jardine spent 4 months working the route, fixing ropes, managing to climb as far as the Great Roof free but only after chipping four holds on the Jardine Traverse to avoid the King Swing pendulum. So far (2025) all subsequent free ascents have taken this traverse.
In Fall 1990, Brooke Sandahl and Scott Franklin climbed all but four pitches free, the remaining aided sections were the Great Roof, Pitch above Camp 5, Changing Corners and the final Harding bolt ladder. Working top-down, Sandhal freed the Harding bolt ladder in 1991 (5.12c/7b+) and, with Dave Schultz, freed the pitch above Camp 5 in 1992 (5.12d/7c). They prepared the route for a free ascent including bolting a variation just the left of the aid line on the Changing Corners pitch but were unable to climb this.
Lynn Hill partnered by Simon Nadin first free climbed the Great Roof on a ground-up attempt in 1993 (5.13b/8a) but they were unable to completely free the Changing Corners by either the original line or the Sandhal/Schultz variation. All bar 10 feet of the route had now been free-climbed.
Hill and Sandahl joined forces later in the summer of 1993 and began working the Changing Corners pitch top-down, Sandhal focusing on his left hand variation, Hill on the original aid line. Hill was able to climb all the moves on the latter with two falls. The completely free ascent was made from the ground with Hill leading all the hard pitches.
References
[1] https://alpinist.com/features/birds-eye-view/
[2] http://www.edhartouni.net/nose-in-a-day.html
[3] https://www.rayjardine.com/Papers/Magazine-Articles/index.php?StoryPage=7
[4] https://www.rayjardine.com/Avocations/Rock-Climbing/index.php
[5] https://climbingzine.com/brooke-sandahl-beginnings-freeing-nose/
[6] https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199404100/El-Capitans-Nose-Climbed-Free
The first ascent of The Nose (A2) was mainly aided. Sections were freed by many different people, not always formally recorded, before Lynn Hill's landmark completely free ascent.
The Stoveleg Cracks were first freed by Jim Bridwell in June 1967 after attempts in 1965 partnering Frank Sacherer who originally conceived they might be climbable without aid.
In 1975 John Bachar, Dale Bard and Ron Kauk had climbed ~85% free, all bar 120m, at ~5.11+.
In Spring 1980 Ray Jardine spent 4 months working the route, fixing ropes, managing to climb as far as the Great Roof free but only after chipping four holds on the Jardine Traverse to avoid the King Swing pendulum. So far (2025) all subsequent free ascents have taken this traverse.
In Fall 1990, Brooke Sandahl and Scott Franklin climbed all but four pitches free, the remaining aided sections were the Great Roof, Pitch above Camp 5, Changing Corners and the final Harding bolt ladder. Working top-down, Sandhal freed the Harding bolt ladder in 1991 (5.12c/7b+) and, with Dave Schultz, freed the pitch above Camp 5 in 1992 (5.12d/7c). They prepared the route for a free ascent including bolting a variation just the left of the aid line on the Changing Corners pitch but were unable to climb this.
Lynn Hill partnered by Simon Nadin first free climbed the Great Roof on a ground-up attempt in 1993 (5.13b/8a) but they were unable to completely free the Changing Corners by either the original line or the Sandhal/Schultz variation. All bar 10 feet of the route had now been free-climbed.
Hill and Sandahl joined forces later in the summer of 1993 and began working the Changing Corners pitch top-down, Sandhal focusing on his left hand variation, Hill on the original aid line. Hill was able to climb all the moves on the latter with two falls. The completely free ascent was made from the ground with Hill leading all the hard pitches.
References
[1] https://alpinist.com/features/birds-eye-view/
[2] http://www.edhartouni.net/nose-in-a-day.html
[3] https://www.rayjardine.com/Papers/Magazine-Articles/index.php?StoryPage=7
[4] https://www.rayjardine.com/Avocations/Rock-Climbing/index.php
[5] https://climbingzine.com/brooke-sandahl-beginnings-freeing-nose/
[6] https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199404100/El-Capitans-Nose-Climbed-Free
Pics + Vids
Featuring 9295 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Harry Constantine on Rhythm 8B
Dave Barrans on Dead and Bloated 8B
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- All sport ascents of 9b or above
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Podcasts
Featuring 4060 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Josh Horsley on The Testpiece Podcast, December 2025
- Vasya Vorotnikov on The Ground Up Podcast, September 2024
- Chris Sharma on The Struggle Climbing Show, June 2023
- Sean Bailey on Bad Kitty, January 2024
Library
Featuring 11030 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Sleepwalker (Uncut) (2019) Film
- Alpine Journal 1891 Vol 15 361-362 Butler Oetzthal (1891) Journal
- Climbing in the Brecon Beacons National Park: Part 6 (2020) Guidebook
Recent updates
Strong boulderer and Olympian. Hamish is most known for his quick ascents of hard boulders, including:
- Megatron (9A) - 5 Sessions
- No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - 1 Session (2h17m)
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps [1] and moved to Squamish to focus on outdoor climbing.
References
Strong boulderer and Olympian, Hamish is most known for his quick ascents of hard boulders, notably:
- Megatron (9A) - 5 Sessions
- No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - 1 Session (2h17m)
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps [1] and moved to Squamish to focus on outdoor climbing.
References
Strong boulderer and Olympian, Hamish is most known for his quick ascents of hard boulders, notably:
- Megatron (9A) - 5 Sessions
- No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - 1 Session (2h17m)
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps to focus on his outdoor climbing. [1]
References
Strong boulderer and Olympian, Hamish is most known for his very quick ascents of cutting edge boulders, notably:
- Megatron (9A) - 5 Sessions
- No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - 1 Session (2h17m)
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps to focus on his outdoor climbing. [1]
References
Strong boulderer and Olympian, Hamish is most known for his very quick ascents of cutting edge boulders, notably:
- Megatron (9A) - 5 Sessions
- No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - 1 Session
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps to focus on his outdoor climbing. [1]
References
Strong boulderer and Olympian, Hamish is most known for his very quick ascents of cutting edge boulders, notably:
- Megatron (9A) - 5 sessions
- No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - climbed in just a couple of hours!
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps to focus on his outdoor climbing. [1]
References
Strong boulderer and Olympian, Hamish is most known for his very quick ascents of cutting edge boulders, notably:
- Megatron (9A) - climbed in 5 sessions
- No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - climbed in just a couple of hours!
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps to focus on his outdoor climbing. [1]
References
Strong boulderer and Olympian, Hamish is most known for his very quick ascents of cutting edge boulders, notably: - Megatron (9A) - climbed in 5 sessions - No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - climbed in just a couple of hours!
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps to focus on his outdoor climbing. [1]
References
Strong boulderer and Olympian, Hamish is most known for his very quick ascents of cutting edge boulders such as Megatron (9A) - climbed in 5 sessions, and No One Mourns the Wicked (9A) - climbed in just a couple of hours!
As of 2026 Hamish has fully retired from comps to focus on his outdoor climbing. [1]
References
Originally proposed at 8B+, the second and third ascentionists used new beta and suggested 8A+.
Originally proposed at 8B+, second and third ascents with newfound beta suggest 8A+.
References
Possible at 7a+ with a short aid section on the second pitch.