Jorg Verhoeven, born in a small valley among the huge mountains in Holland, has become the first European to free climb The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite, first done by Lynn Hill in 1993.
Yeeeaaaaah! I freeclimbed the Nose!!! In three days time I managed to grab the 4th ascent of this iconic route. I sent the Great Roof first burn on day #2 and Changing Corners after two falls the next morning. So incredibly glad I pulled it through. A lot of respect to Lynn Hill for freeclimbing this route 20 years ago! At least the male/female statistics are equalized now Feels like a big chapter has come to an end. PSYCHED!!!
The hardest pitch of the ~900m/30+ pitches route, The Changing corners, is now given ~5.14a/8b+, but was originally given 5.13b/8a by Lynn Hill... that's quite an upgrade!
The Nose has previously been freed by Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden.
Jorg prepared for this free climbing marathon by repeating several really pumpy boulder problems in the RMNP recently. Apparently that's all you need.
Stay tuned for more about this!
Jorg is sponsored by: La Sportiva, Marmot and Petzl
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