Very few climbers on this planet can claim to have bested an Alex Honnold speed record — particularly in Yosemite, where the phenom’s accomplishments are especially impressive.
But climbers Tanner Wanish and Michael Vaill did just that over the weekend. They shaved an hour and five minutes off Honnold’s record on a famously difficult route that only a handful of other climbers have even attempted.
The Yosemite Triple Crown is a composite route linking three classics: The Nose on El Cap, the Regular NW Face on Half Dome, and the South Face of Mount Watkins. The route includes 2,448m of climbing and 77 pitches connected by 30km of hiking. As if that wasn’t hard enough, to claim the Triple, you’ve got to send all three in under 24 hours. That’s why only nine teams have completed the feat.
The last team to knock it out comprised Miles Fullman and Tyler Karow in 2023, and they were nowhere close to Honnold’s record.
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Wanish and Vaill managed it in 17 hours and 55 minutes, besting Honnold’s June 2012 record of 19 hours. Honnold later estimated he free-soloed about 95% of the route.
Details on the pair’s achievement are scanty as of this writing.
“A perfect day in the park. Will share some fun details and stories later, for now we’ll smile and sleep,” Wanish shared on his Instagram today.
According to Maxim Ropes, one of Wanish’s sponsors, he’s only been climbing for about five years. And ExplorersWeb sister site GearJunkie reports that the pair has only been tackling big walls for an incredible three years.
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As Gripped rightly points out, Honnold has a habit of reclaiming his records, so it’s anyone’s guess how long this one will stand. But an hour and five minutes is a commanding lead, and Honnold is over a decade older than the last time he snatched the record.
Time will tell.
