Yuji Hirayama and Hans Florine set a new speed record on the Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite. Leaving all the common practices and protections of climbing behind, they simo-climb mind-bendingly fast, stretching their lead-outs by 60, 80, even 150 feet at a time as the crowd screams, “GO!” from below. This is the Super Bowl, Olympics, and Boston Marathon of rock climbing, all rolled into one. Here’s how they broke the record at 2:43:33 on 2900 vertical feet of the world’s finest rock.
Kevin Jorgeson puts up one of the most stunning highball boulder problems in the world at Lake Tahoe, California. Sean Jones adds a new inspiration rating to his first ascents on Half Dome and Ribbon Falls. BASE jumping way too close to the ground, parkour on rock, free-soloing, roped free-falling and many more breakthroughs…
More than any other sport, rock climbing continually redefines its rules and resets its limits. Yesterday's 'impossible,' becomes today's warm-up as advances in mental and physical mastery combine to break new ground. Every few years the MASTERS OF STONE series delivers a new episode that captures these breakthroughs in a tasty mix of music, character, commentary and, above all, visual action.
MUSIC BY: MONTAN’A, ESP, SOL JIBE, CRANIUM and more
Eric Perlman {writer/director/producer/camera/editor/composer/etc.} has been climbing more than 40 years with first ascents in Tibet, China and the USA, and ski mountaineering first descents in North and South America. An Emmy-winning cameraman, he has been shooting and producing international adventure films, tv and commercials for more than 35 years (for more, see Weblog - EP).
On Wednesday, July 2, 2008, Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama climbed the Nose (VI 5.9 A2, 2,900') on El Capitan, Yosemite. The team made multiple attempts in days prior, and on the previous Sunday had missed the Hubers' record of 2:45:45 by only two minutes. However, their repeat attempt proved successful; they beat the Germans' time by two minutes to set a new record of 2:43:33. Florine and Hirayama had climbed the Nose four times over the course of the week, starting with a time of 4:48 on Monday, and paring it down to their record-breaking time by Wednesday.
El Cap's Nose route, described by Florine as 'very exposed, very sensational,' was first climbed in 1958 by Warren Harding, Wayne Mary and George Whitmore. After 18 months of preparation and 45 days of work on the route, the team made the first complete ascent in 11 days. The first single-day ascent was made in 1975 by Jim Bridewell, John Long and Billy Westbay.
