The Nose (El Capitan)
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The Nose is a big wall climbing route up El Capitan. Once considered impossible to climb, El Capitan is now the standard for big wall climbing. It is recognized in the historic climbing text Fifty Cla
The Nose on El Capitan
Billy Westbay, Jim Bridwell, and John Long after the first one-day ascent of the Nose in 1975 that used aid climbing techniques (e.g., not full free climbing)
View down the face of El Capitan from the belay stance at the top of pitch 20 (also known as Camp IV). The vertical drop from this point to the valley floor is about 2,000 feet (610 m).
Great Roof as seen from the standard belay stance. With a climber at the end of the lens flare.
Tommy Caldwell
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Tommy Caldwell is an American rock climber who has set records in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and in big-wall climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several major routes on El Cap
The Nose (El Capitan)
…In 1998 Scott Burke summited after 261 days of mostly free climbing effort, leading all but the Great Roof, which was top-roped. On October 14, 2005, Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden became the third and fourth people (and the first couple) to free climb The Nose. The husband-wife team took four days on the ascent…
Caldwell in 2015
El Capitan in Yosemite
Caldwell pictured in 2019 with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and climber Sasha DiGiulian