Over the weekend, two Utah climbers claim to have set a new speed record for the Yosemite Triple Crown, besting the previous record for one of the world's most technical trifectas by 35 minutes.
On Monday, Maxim Ropes announced that their athlete Tanner Wanish had smashed the record along with partner Michael Vaill in just 17:55. Details were sparse, but the following day, Wanish confirmed the feat on Instagram, writing:
"A perfect day in the park. Will share some fun details and stories later, for now we’ll smile and sleep."
The Yosemite Triple Crown links the park's three biggest walls – El Capitan's The Nose, the Northwest Face of Half Dome and the South Face of Mount Watkins. That's 77 pitches, 8,032-feet of vert and 11 miles of hiking. Just to add insult to injury, climbers need to complete it in under 24 hours.
Photographer Evan Carpenter captured a breathtaking timelapse video of the climbers' 5:25 ascent of El Cap through the night, which you can watch below, and writes that this was the second leg of their adventure.
Maxim Ropes describes Wanish, 32, as a "relatively new" climber who loves ridge traverses and single-day linkups of big walls.
"While he's already logged some seriously impressive days in the mountains, the fact that he's only a bit over 4 years into his climbing journey suggests even bigger days ahead."
Even less is known about Vaill, but on his Instagram page he reports that the pair decided to "go for it" even though each has barely completed a 5.12 before this. Though these climbers aren't exactly marquee names, it seems likely we'll be hearing more about them in the future based on this performance.
Sports Illustrated reports that the previous record of 18:20 was set by Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds in 2017. Other notable priors include, naturally, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell, who did the first free ascent of the Triple Crown in 2012 in 21:15. Honnold also soloed the route in 18:50 later that same year.
