Derek Franz

After steadily improving their time on each speed ascent over the past several weeks, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold have achieved their goal of climbing El Capitan’s Nose in under two hours–1 hour, 58 minutes, 7 seconds, to be exact.

Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell set a new speed record on the Nose of El Capitan this morning, May 30, climbing the approximately 3,000-foot route in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 15 seconds. The previous record of 2:19:44 was set last October by Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds, who bested a record of 2:23:46 set by Honnold and Hans Florine that held since June 2012.

Brette Harrington and Rose Pearson completed a new route on Mt. Blane–Life Compass (IV 5.10a M4+ 80 degrees, TD+, 980m)–in Alberta, Canada, in a 21.5-hour car-to-car push on April 25. They named the route for the series of life events that brought them together and the solace that Harrington sought in the aftermath of a heavy loss.

The Access Fund and American Alpine club are gathering once again in Washington, D.C., this week with a host of high-profile climbers to lobby Congress on a handful of national issues affecting public lands, the environment and outdoor recreation as part of the third annual Climb the Hill event. The list of participants expected to attend this year includes Quinn Brett, Majka Burhardt, Tommy Caldwell, Sasha DiGiulian, Caroline Gleich, Margo Hayes, Lynn Hill, Alex Honnold, Bethany Lebewitz, Mikhail Martin, Maricela Rosales, Chelsea Rude, Libby Sauter, Forrest Shearer, Geoff Unger, Jessica Yang and Alina Zagaytova

Doug Chabot, Danika Gilbert, David Roberts and Jeff Jackson are to be honored at the American Alpine Club’s Excellence in Climbing Celebration in Denver on June 2. Tickets are now on sale for the event, which includes a dinner, auctions, live music and more, with all proceeds supporting the AAC Library and the Bradford Washburn American Mountaineering Museum.

Tom Livingstone and Uisdean Hawthorn went to Alaska’s Revelation Range at the end of March, intent on trying a new route on Jezebel’s north face. After several runout pitches on poor snow, they reached a dead end: a giant chimney filled with vertical snow that had no apparent cracks. Consequently, they abandoned their attempt and turned their attention to the mountain’s east face, where they completed a new route called Fun or Fear (AI 6 R M6+, 90 degrees, ca. 1200m) over two days in early April.

A team of four Sherpa alpinists completed the first ascent of Langdung peak (6357m) in December 2017. Dawa Yangzum Sherpa, the team’s only woman and Nepal’s first IFMGA guide, was instrumental in organizing the ascent, which included Dawa Gyalje Sherpa, Pasang Kidar Sherpa and Nima Tenji Sherpa. Here is the story of their climb and an interview with Dawa Yangzum about what it’s like to be a woman in the mountains.