UKC

It's all here:
http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?m=110417

Apparently Beth Rodden and Tommy Caldwell have just completed a free ascent.

In reply to tobyfk: Loving your work Toby!

Great effort from Caldwell & Rodden. Doesn;t surprise me though, they must be one of the strongest teams around at the moment.

In reply to tobyfk: Not to be a kill joy but wasn't Scott Burks ascent the second free ascent?

In reply to mike kann:

As far as I knew too...

In reply to mike kann:

He never managed to lead the Great Roof pitch free.

In reply to tobyfk:

FRom the supertopo post (Billygoat)
"Secondly, Tommy is not the first male to free the nose. Scott Burke was the first male to free the nose. Yes, he did the Great Roof on toprope on his final ground up ascent, but how much should this really matter? He had previously led the pitch (no falls). Durring his ascent the pitch was wet and crowded, so to speed things up he TRed the pitch.

Questions that remain unaswered: did Tommy and Beth each lead every pitch??? Or did they do a Skinner style ascent??? Or did they swing leads??? "

In reply to tobyfk: You say the second free ascent - are you sure? Didn't Lynn Hill free it, and then repeat it in 24 hours? That was quite a long time ago. Surely it has been done again since then?

In reply to tobyfk:
Tee Hee!

In reply to tobyfk:

They can even beat Rocktalk in how fast a thread can degenerate!

Enty

In reply to Enty:

Found that strangely comforting!

In reply to tobyfk: Just read my book again about it. You are right - he toproped the great roof pitch because when he climbed it it was streaming with water from a storm, which would suggest that had it not been wet he could have led it. But I guess he didn't do it so its not valid...

In reply to Jon Dittman:

Absolutely true.


No it hasn't. So if it's true, it's a big deal. Of course, everyone knows that Lynn Hill could only do it because she had small hands, and similarly Beth Rodden's ascent won't count because she's a girl, so the key question is: how big are Tommy's hands? Does having only 9.5 fingers make a difference?

In reply to tobyfk:
Hey, one of those is a pictrure of me, am I famous? I don't remember doing El Cap, maybe it was so easy I've forgotten about it.

Anyway, surely the 2nd free ascent was done last month by Jack Osbourne?

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Tommy Caldwell/ Simon Caldwell/ whatever ....

In reply to tobyfk: Hey - I don't take any of the credit away from Beth just cause she is a girl. If it really hasn't been done since Lynn Hill did it then Wow!!!

It also gives me an excuse not to listern to whinging short arses moaning about the fact they can't reach "that" hold!

In reply to tobyfk:
That's near enough for me, I'll have to issue a press release to the local paper, bound to get on the front page...

In reply to tobyfk:

To be fair you could send a news item to UKC linking to the Supertopo site - just make sure you do it before Mick gets his version in

In reply to Simon Lee:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/

In reply to Jon Dittman: I heard the crack in the great roof is really thin, so not suprising that its been repeated by another woman. Must be pretty frustrating if your fingers are to fat to fit in the holds.

There must be a whole host of superhard thin fingers cracks out there that will only ever be climbed by those with small fingers. (women, children and midget men)

In reply to Simon Caldwell:
You must be disappointed UKC haven't used your photo for the news item ?

In reply to sandywilson:

Well done Lanky Paddy for the exclusive picture scoop - I have used my magnifying glass and can definitely pick them out cranking it out on the Great Roof

In reply to Jon Dittman:

Unless I've been caught in a cunning double sarcasm trap, I think you need to turn on your sarcasm detector.

In reply to sandywilson:

I've contacted my lawyers...

In reply to tobyfk:

Sarcasm aside, will be interesting to learn who led the Great Roof and changing corners pitches.

jcm

In reply to tobyfk:
Caldwell-Rodden Free the Nose

By Dougald MacDonald


Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden have completed a “team free” ascent of the Nose of El Capitan. The husband-and-wife team each led or followed every pitch free during four days of climbing, after working on the route during the past several weeks.

According to Kelly Cordes, a friend who spoke with the pair on Saturday, the day after they descended from El Cap, each climber led about half of the route’s 31 pitches. Rodden led the Great Roof successfully on her second try during the free push. Caldwell led the crux Changing Corners pitch above Camp VI on his third try. Caldwell said he felt the Great Roof was 5.13c and the Changing Corners was about 5.14a.

Lynn Hill made the first and second free ascents of the Nose, freeing the route over four days in 1993 and then returning the next year to make a one-day free ascent. In 1998, Scott Burke climbed the Nose free in a stormy 12-day ascent, leading every pitch but the Great Roof, which he free-climbed on toprope.

In reply to nz Cragrat:

Would that make Lynn H's ascent of the CC pitch the first female 8b+ if it were right, then, or had she (or someone else, though I'm not sure who) done that already by then?

Took them four days to lead it on alternate leads - LH did the whole lot in 24 hours. Hmm. Jumaring is quicker for the second, of course, but still puts LH's achievement in perspective a bit.

jcm

In reply to nz Cragrat:

Would that make Lynn H's ascent of the CC pitch the first female 8b+ if it were right, then, or had she (or someone else, though I'm not sure who) done that already by then?

Took them four days to lead it on alternate leads - LH did the whole lot in 24 hours. Hmm. Jumaring is quicker for the second, of course, but still puts LH's achievement in perspective a bit.

jcm

In reply to Anonymous:


Competely off the top of my head, I reckon, yes, she'd redpointed F8b+ by that stage, probably in France, where I think she was living for a year or two prior to doing the Free Nose?

In reply to tobyfk: She did Mass Critique (8b+) at Cimai in 1991. As I recall JB Tribout egged her on by saying no woman would ever do the route.

In reply to Anonymous: took Lynn several months of working and then 3 days to do the FFA, the in-a-day ascent was the following year. It will be interesting to see if Caldwell & Rodden come back to do it in a day within the next year.

In reply to the_chapati_of_doom_again:

More speculation........who do you reckon could be the first Brit to do the Nose Free?

Bransby maybe, Vickers, McClure, Simpson?

Mick

In reply to Mick Ryan: Given how badly they got their asses kicked by Free Rider, probably not Heap and Bentley anyways.

In reply to tobyfk: Vickers was on the FFA with Lynn Hill but couldn't do the great roof...

In reply to Mick Ryan: no women on your list?

In reply to mike kann:

Which Vickers? Do you mean Ian? In which case you are wrong - it was Simon Nadin.

In reply to mike kann:
Wasn't that Simon Nadin?

Chris

In reply to Chris Craggs:


Bingo!


CC

In reply to tobyfk: Fair play - memory is going a bit at the moment - overloaded with useless info about conveyor sections