Originally climbed as an easier variation of Salathé Wall, avoiding the hard crack pitches on the headwall, Freerider is now one of the most popular free routes on El Capitan.
There are two common variations that make up the crux of the route, The Boulder Problem at around 7c+ sport or 7B/+ boulder or The Teflon Corner at around 7c sport. The boulder problem is short, technical and crimpy while the teflon corner features extremely technical smearing. While the rest of the route is seldom easy the other notable hard pitches are The Monster Offwidth and The Enduro Corner.
Dan McManus on The Monster Offwidth:
Left side in! The first time I climbed this pitch I had been told that it was crucial to climb it with a specific side in the crack, but I couldn’t remember which side. I guessed right side, I was wrong, but I did miraculously manage to chicken-wing my way up by the skin of my teeth. In doing so I removed the skin on my tricep which oozed for the next few days and made further offwidths very painful. [1]
[1] https://danmcmanus.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-guide-to-freerider.html
15 recorded ascents.
| Climber | Style | Ascent Date | Suggested Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Huber | Alternate Leads | worked | 1998 | |
|
First ascent. With Rob Cook.
|
|||
| Thomas Huber | Alternate Leads | worked | 1998 | |
|
First ascent. With Alex Huber.
|
|||
| Ivan Tresch | Alternate Leads | worked | Oct 2002 | |
|
With Ben Bransby.
|
|||
| Ben Bransby | Alternate Leads | worked | Oct 2002 | |
|
With Ivan Tresch.
In a day. Ben and partner Ivan Tresch were caught being light-fingered in a local shop and were given a court date a couple of days later. Unsure how the court appearance might go, they decided to make a quick one day ascent before going to court in case their freedoms were more limited after the appearance in front of the law. [1] References |
|||
| Steph Davis | Lead | worked | 24th Apr 2004 | |
|
First female ascent.
The second woman to free climb el cap after Lynn Hill's first ascent of The Nose. Exactly a month later Steph freed the entire route in a day. |
|||
| Dan McManus | Alternate Leads | worked | 2014 | |
|
In 22 hours. |
|||
| Pete Whittaker | Lead | ground up | 2014 | |
|
By some definitions Pete flashed the entire route. However it is not clear cut:
References[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2014/10/freerider_flashed_by_pete_whittaker-69244 |
|||
| Jacob Cook | Lead | worked | 1st Jun 2015 | |
References[1] http://jacobclimbsthings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/freerider.html |
|||
| Pete Whittaker | Rope Solo | worked | 2016 | |
| Calum Coldwell-Story | Lead | worked | Oct 2016 | |
|
1 move off the onsight!
References[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/el_capitan-8023/freerider-179703 |
|||
| Alex Honnold | Solo | worked | 3rd Jun 2017 | |
|
03hrs 57mins.
Via The Boulder Problem. Surely one of the wildest solo ascents ever. References |
|||
| Amity Warme | Lead | worked | 10th Apr 2022 | |
| Jacopo Larcher | Alternate Leads | ground up | Nov 2024 | |
|
With Barbara Zangerl.
Jacopo was tantalisingly close to the flash taking just one fall on the boulder problem pitch before redpointing the pitch successfully on his second attempt. [1] Climbed via the boulder problem variation. Jacopo and partner Barbara Zangerl swung leads on the easy pitches but both led all the hard pitches. [1] References |
|||
| Barbara Zangerl | Alternate Leads | flash | Between 19th Nov 2024 and 22nd Nov 2024 | |
|
With Jacopo Larcher.
Climbed via the boulder problem variation. Babsi and partner Jacopo Larcher swung leads on the easy pitches but both led all the hard pitches. [3] While various others had come close, with this ascent Babsi became the first person to flash a free route on el cap. References[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DCuEYCatToS/ [2] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/barbara-zangerl-flashes-freerider-on-el-capitan.html [4] https://www.climbing.com/news/interview-first-person-flash-el-capitan/ |
|||
| Buck Yedor | Lead | ground up | ||