UKC

... Introduction claimed he was the 'first Briton to climb el capitan'

Seems unlikely. But should be interesting now he's talking rather than the interviewer...

Edit: well that was brief. Still, interesting to hear his thoughts, worth a listen on i player. Shame it wasnt longer...

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

He was the first Briton to free climb El Capitan as far as I know.

In reply to Mr. Lee:

Ok - I didn't know that. I assumed it would have been done earlier. May go and read a bit more about it...

In reply to Mr. Lee:

So are we just to ignore Hazel Findlay in 2011: Hazel's ascent was the first free ascent of El Cap by a British woman and the first female free ascent of Golden Gate. Think the definition of Leo's 'first' needs some clarification.

In reply to CasWebb:

http://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_2002_files/AJ%202002%2050...

In reply to CasWebb:


Why? Leo climbed El Nino free on El Cap with Patch Hammond in 1998.

In reply to seankenny:

That article misspells Conrad Anker's name. Not very polite.

As far as the claim 'the first Briton to free climb El Capitan', what does that actually mean? Is the East Buttress no longer considered to be on El Cap, for example?

In reply to CasWebb:


In reply to Big Lee:


What I said above. He free-climbed it without aid, first person from Britain, male or female. In 1998.

...As far as I know (disclaimer).

In reply to seankenny:
Fair enough, my fault for believing the Daily Mail headline http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2171522/Leo-Houlding-British-climbe... which says 'has become'.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

My my someone got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.


Cut Houlding some slack. He was an 18-year-old rockrat penning an article with a strange American name in it. Professional journalists make worse mistakes.



The East Buttress just isn't a "full" El Cap route, is it? I've done it, and I wouldn't say I've climbed El Cap.

In reply to seankenny:


It was really a comment on the editing of the Journal. Very lazy not to have picked that up.


Well it's a route on El Cap. Full stop.

In reply to Rob Parsons:


There are plenty of "routes on El Cap" that aren't "El Cap routes", if you get my drift - all the one and two pitch things at the base.

In reply to seankenny:

The East Buttress goes from the bottom of the cliff to the top; it's a proper route.

I'm also fairly sure that Big Ron did 'West Face' (5.11) free in 1980 - one year after the FFA by Jardine and Price. (Someone here might be able to confirm or deny that - if so please do.) Whether you consider that a 'real El Cap route' is up to you; I certainly do.

I know what you mean of course, but saying that somebody is the 'first Briton to free climb El Cap' either means what it says, or it doesn't.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

Big Ron's autobiography (with Ed Douglas) says for 1980: "West Face of El Capitan (5.11c) with Gill Kent, free, in six hours."

In reply to rlrs:

Is it too late to ring radio 4?

In reply to Mr. Lee:

Well, Supertopo says of the West Face:

"Is it a "true" El Cap big wall route? It's definitely more of a wall than the East Buttress, but not nearly in the league as other El Cap routes. That said, who cares!? "

Then they say some other things.

Yosemitebigwall.com has a first free ascent list for El Capitan with the West Face being the earliest listed (1979). The next is the Salathe in June 1988 by Piana/Skinner. It was another 5 years for Lynn Hill on the Nose and another 5 again for the Huber brothers on El Nino and Freerider.

Back to Supertopo on the East Butress: "The first ascensionists, in fact, never regarded their line as “climbing El Cap, knowing that the real challenge began just a few yards left of their route.” The first ascensionists were Allen Steck, Wili Siri, Dick Long & Willi Unsoeld in June 1953.

In summary, Radio 4 will likely be happy to be left in peace.

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:
Don't panic folks, I've just listened to it and it's not the El Cap we're all thinking of - it clearly states "the first Briton to climb El Capitan in Yellowstone."!

I thought R4 might get their basic geography right.

In reply to Rob Parsons:




According to SuperTopo: "Free Rider is currently the easiest and most popular way to say proudly "I have free climbed El Capitan". (You can't proudly say you have free climbed El Cap if you do the West Face or East Buttress because these routes are so far to the sides on much smaller sections of the wall)."

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06gqx6j

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Really good that, thanks for the heads up.

In reply to seankenny:


It's a bit arbitary, West Face is not that much shorter than The Prophet or Secret Passage, but I don't think anyone disputes ascents of those as 'not free climbing El Cap'. But hey, anyone who knows anything about it knows the difference, and anyone who doesn't know anything about it will a) think 'free' means 'solo', and b) not care very much, so it really doesn't matter.