In this week's Ticklist, we have a free ascent of El Capitan in a day, two new Font 8Cs and a rare repeat of a French sport climb. On y va!
Golden Gate in a day by Emily Harrington
Emily Harrington has made a free ascent of El Capitan's Golden Gate (5.13) in 21 hours and 13 minutes. Known as one of the harder free routes on the granite monolith, it has only been previously free climbed in a day by Tommy Caldwell, Brad Gobright and Alex Honnold. In 2015, Harrington climbed all 41 pitches free over six days.
Harrington attempted to free the route sub-24 hours last year, but took a fall which left her hospitalised with injuries to her neck. This time around was slightly more successful, thankfully. She was belayed by Alex Honnold who said: 'From being a world champion competition climber to summiting Mt Everest, Emily has always been one of the most versatile climbers out there. By free climbing Golden Gate in a day Em has once again shown that she's one of the most capable climbers out there.'
New Font 8C for Dai Koyamada
44-year-old bouldering legend Dai Koyamada has climbed a new Font 8C in Hiei, Japan. He called the line Amenohabakiri and it follows and overhanging prow which leads to a highball finish.
According to 8a.nu, Koyamada has now climbed more than 20 Font 8C first ascents.
Seb Bouin repeats France's first 9a
Seb Bouin has made a rare repeat of Fred Rouhling's Hugh, France's first 9a at Les Eaux Claires. Climbing the route was part of Bouin's Vintage Rock Tour where he's aiming to explore the history of climbing in France by repeating iconic routes.
Hugh is a desperate 20m pocketed route first climbed by Rouhling in 1993. It's received little attention over the years and has possibly only received 4 repeats, including one from Stevie Haston!
Font 8C for Carlo Traversi
American climber Carlo Traversi has made the first ascent of Equanimity (Font 8C) in Kirkwood Lake, California. Writing up his ascent on Instagram, Carlo said: 'The most difficult series of moves I've done in a while. Such a crazy tech power style. Transitioning through a series of bad laybacks with shit smear feet followed by an off-balance top section way off the deck. So good!'
Comments
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54877897
Oh dear BBC. Now scrambled to "First woman and fourth person ever to free climb el capitan in a day"
Have they corrected it and it's still wrong?!
The Guardian's write up is surprisingly accurate and detailed, but with a note saying they corrected an earlier version with incorrect info supplied by an agency...
Ah, they've amended it and taken out the stuff about her being (now one of the few) the first and added a paragraph about Lynn Hill at the end.
To be fair, if I was a reporter who knew nowt about climbing and somebody told me that she was the "first woman to free climb el cap via this route in a day" I'd probably cock it up and leave out one of the details that then makes it not true....