UKC

It has been reported that Thomas and Alexander Huber got a $2 million grant from the German government to aid their record breaking speed ascent of the 870m (2900') Nose route on El Cap, last October.

They sped up this big wall classic, normally done in 31 pitches, in a remarkable two hours and 45 minutes (2:45:45), beating the previous 2002 record by Yosemite local and speed evangalist, Hans Florine and Japanese climber Yuji Hirayama by three minutes (2:48:55).

But Florine and Hirayama are hungry to take the record back and in the last week have made three attempts to do so.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=06&year=2008#n45026

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: Han's speed tips are hilariously bizarre. I particularly like putting away the dishes whilst listening to NPR. I do most things in life whilst listening to news programming from various worldwide public broadcasters - Hans would be proud of me, although my wife hates it.

And who reported the Germans got two million from the government? That seems incredibly unlikely.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

also newsworthy that Ben and Lee Cossey made a 6hr 45min onsight of the route recently:

http://www.chockstone.org/Forum/Forum.asp?Action=DisplayTopic&ForumID=1...

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Impressive.

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=6188

In reply to TobyA:


I think you'll find that's the liberal propoganda machine at work (see supertopo threads ad nauseum)




If Mick is referring to this: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=621695&msg=62264... it seems a plausable film budget.

'Am Limit' was funded by a variety of sources including the Austrian film institute and German public broadcasters: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0959282/companycredits

Mick implies that the Hubers had direct government support which is a misrepresentation unless he can support his statement.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Surely you mean:
"...and they were shy of the record by 2 1/2 minutes..."

rather than:
"...and they were shigh the record by 2 1/2 minutes..."

Impressive stuff anyway, although I have to admit that I never really 'get' speed climbing - a big part of climbing for me is to appreciate the surroundings and the situation and I'm sure there can't be time for that.

I hope they succeed on Wednesday though.

In reply to duncan:


I don't read Supertopo so can you give me the gist? Are they still debating whether NPR does or doesn't have a liberal bias? I thought it was well accepted now that, as Jon Stewart I think said - "truth has a well known liberal bias".

In reply to TobyA:

Nothing terribly exciting. As the supertopo demographic is Harvester to UKC's Yates Wine Lodge, off-topic talk tends to be politics and religion rather than sex (or the politics and religion of sex, sample title: "Gays got married, and God didn't smite CA". I think you can guess the other 800 posts). As another cloistered in liberal academe, some of the attitudes revealed are quite an eye-opener.

In reply to duncan:

They certainly are. You catch that thread on whether it was OK to shoot burglars in the back? The general opinion seemed to be that it was a burdensome civic duty.

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Burglars who are in the yard leaving your property, that is. Obviously actual housebreakers are to be liquidated by any means possible.

jcm

In reply to TobyA:
This is a great post:

>>My understanding is that Yuji is doing most, if not all, the climbing.

I think you mean leading? Well, as they do it, the Nose is only a one-pitch climb after all, so yes, Yuji leads the first pitch and Hans follows it .

But I don't think you don't understand how speed ascents and simul-climbing work. Hans actually jugs only a tiny portion of the route and simuls most of it.

They are both playing to their strengths. True, Hans can't do what Yuji does (onsight 5.14b on his best day), but Yuji can't do want Hans does (climb fast while keeping track of 17 things).

Yuji said there is nobody else he could do the record with, because Hans is literally the only one he trusts to
1. Keep things moving fast while at the same time
2. Keep things safe.

That lets Yuji think about blasting up while letting Hans worry about ropes, belays, etc etc., all while climbing the Nose in under three hours.

When simul-climbing, the second absolutely, positively should not fall, so Hans aids or jugs a lot more than he would if he were leading and Yuji takes more risk than he would if he were seconding. It's sort of backwards from climbing when pitching everything out.

I've climbed with Hans a little bit on some easy climbs. When we went up the East Buttress of Middle, I led most of the way. Trust me, it wasn't because Hans can't lead those desperate 5.7s, it was that I can't manage 100 feet of slack, around obstacles while climbing, cleaning and belaying and keeping up with a partner who's not stopping to let you sort that stuff out. I was trying to watch to see why things never got snagged up, but I still don't know how he does it even after climbing with him.

I think it's one of the cool things about their partnership - they are both so amazing at one thing, but not the other. Two Yujis or two Hans would be much slower than one Yuji and one Hans. I think that's a really cool partnership to watch.

To me, speedclimbing is a "modern" pursuit, like sport climbing and competition climbing, but unlike those two, it harkens back to climbing of yore because it's the team that matters. The reason that Hans and Yuji have a different strategy from the Hubers is that they have a different team. And yet both of those teams work so well together. Again, take either of the Hubers and team him up with Hans or with Yuji and I bet that as a team they would struggle to break three hours. And yet two Hubers together or Hans and Yuji together and it's just awesome.

In reply to pmot:

Well, thank you kindly sir.

...

I don't think you understand how the reply to function works because I was discussing NPR whilst doing the washing up and haven't said any of the things you said I was saying!?!?

Or are you just quoting the Supertopo thread?

In reply to TobyA:

>Or are you just quoting the Supertopo thread?

Nicely worked out.

jcm

In reply to TobyA: i draw your attention to the question
"I don't read Supertopo so can you give me the gist? "

i henceforth quoted an excellent post from the aforementioned Supertopo forum which i thought was of great interest and talked a lot of sense.

In retrospect and for the avoidance of doubt I should have made that fact clearer, for which i sincerely apologise.

In reply to pmot: But the Supertopos thread I was asking about was about listening to NPR whilst shooting burglars in the back, or something, not the technicalities of speed climbing. Unless you can shoot evil doers and smite sodomites whilst speed climbing - now that would be multi tasking.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Is it me, by the way, or is your supertopo link to a pulled thread?

Maybe this one?

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=621695

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

The Cosey one is here:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=618814&tn=0

In reply to TobyA:

what's NPR stand for again?

In reply to Morgan Woods: National Public Radio - it's sort of the American Radio 4. It has nothing to do with Yosemite speed climbing, it was just because I looked at Hans' "doing things very quickly" website.