Between the two main faces, the Southwest (on the left when looking directly at the wall) and the Southeast, is a prow. While today there are numerous established
big wall climbing routes on both faces (for both
free climbing and
aid climbing), the most popular and most historically famous route is
The Nose, which follows this prow.
Pioneering The Nose The Nose was climbed in 1958 by
Warren Harding, Wayne Merry and
George Whitmore in 47 days using "siege" tactics: climbing in an expedition style using fixed ropes along the length of the route, linking established camps along the way. The fixed
manila ropes allowed the climbers to ascend and descend from the ground throughout the 18-month project, although they presented unique levels of danger as well, sometimes breaking due to the long exposure to cold temperatures. The climbing team relied heavily on
aid climbing, using rope,
pitons and expansion bolts to make it to the summit. The second ascent of
The Nose was in 1960 by
Royal Robbins, Joe Fitschen,
Chuck Pratt and
Tom Frost, who took seven days in the first continuous climb of the route without siege tactics. The first ascent of
The Nose in one day was accomplished in 1975 by
John Long,
Jim Bridwell and
Billy Westbay. 's 1899 photograph of El Capitan
Expansion of routes Efforts during the 1960s and 1970s explored the other faces of El Capitan, and many of the early routes are still popular today. Among the early classics are the
Salathé Wall (1961,
Royal Robbins,
Chuck Pratt and
Tom Frost) on the southwest face, and the
North America Wall (1964, Royal Robbins,
Yvon Chouinard, Chuck Pratt and Tom Frost) on the southeast face. Also climbed in the 1960s are routes such as:
Dihedral Wall (1962, Ed Cooper,
Jim Baldwin and
Glen Denny);
West Buttress (1963,
Layton Kor and
Steve Roper); and
Muir Wall (1965,
Yvon Chouinard and TM Herbert). Later ascents include:
Wall of the Early Morning Light, now known as
Dawn Wall, on the Southeast face, adjacent to the prow (1970, Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell);
Zodiac (1972, Charlie Porter (solo));
The Shield (1972, Porter and Gary Bocarde);
Mescalito (1973, Porter, Steve Sutton, Hugh Burton and C. Nelson);
Pacific Ocean Wall (1975,
Jim Bridwell,
Billy Westbay, Jay Fiske and Fred East);
Sea of Dreams (1978, Bridwell, Dale Bard and Dave Diegelman);
Jolly Roger (1979, Charles Cole and Steve Grossman); and
Wings of Steel (1982, Richard Jensen and Mark Smith). Today there are over 70 routes on El Capitan of various difficulties and danger levels. New routes continue to be established, usually consisting of additions to, or links between, existing routes.
Solo ascents After his successful solo ascent of the
Leaning Tower,
Royal Robbins turned his attention to the
Yvon Chouinard-
T.M. Herbert Muir Wall route, completing the first solo ascent of El Capitan in 10 days in 1968. The first solo ascents of El Capitan's four classic "siege" routes were accomplished by Tom Bauman on
The Nose in 1969;
Peter Hann on the
Salathé Wall in 1972;
Robert Kayen on the
Layton Kor-
Steve Roper West Buttress route in 1982; and
Beverly Johnson on the Cooper-Baldwin-Denny
Dihedral Wall route in 1978. Other noteworthy early solo ascents were the solo first ascent of
Cosmos by
Jim Dunn in 1972,
Zodiac by
Charlie Porter in 1972;
Tangerine Trip by David Mittel in 1985; and
The Pacific Ocean Wall by
Rob Slater in 1982. These ascents took 7 to 14 days that required the solo climber lead each pitch, and then rappel, clean the climbing gear, reascend the lead rope, and haul equipment, food and water using a second haul rope.
Alex Honnold was the first to free solo El Cap entirely on June 3, 2017. It took him 3 hours and 56 mins to climb via the
Freerider route.
Ascents by women Beverly Johnson successfully ascended El Capitan, via the Nose route, with Dan Asay in June 1973. In September 1973, Beverly Johnson and Sibylle Hechtel were the first team of women to ascend El Capitan via the Triple Direct route, which takes the first ten pitches of the Salathe Wall, then continues up the middle portion of El Capitan via the Muir Wall, and finishes on the upper pitches of the Nose route. In 1977,
Molly Higgins and
Barb Eastman climbed the Nose, to become the second party of women to climb El Capitan and the first to climb it via the Nose. In 1978, Bev Johnson was the first woman to solo El Capitan by climbing the Dihedral Wall. In 1993,
Lynn Hill established the first free Ascent of The Nose (IV 5.14a/b).
Hazel Findlay has made three free ascents of El Capitan, including the first female ascent of
Golden Gate in 2011, the first female ascent of
Pre-Muir Wall in 2012, and a three-day ascent of
Freerider in 2013 and 'Salathe' in 2017. The oldest woman to climb El Capitan is Dierdre Wolownick, mother to
Alex Honnold, who was 66 at the time when she first became the oldest woman to climb El Capitan in 2017, and later broke her own record and again became the oldest woman to climb El Capitan in 2021 on her 70th birthday. On June 12, 2019, 10-year-old Selah Schneiter became the then-youngest person to scale El Capitan, via The Nose route. On November 4, 2020, American
Emily Harrington became the fourth woman to free climb El Capitan in a single day and the fourth person (and first woman) to have done so via the route
Golden Gate.
Free climbing As it became clear that any non-crumbling face could be climbed with sufficient perseverance and bolt-hole drilling, some climbers began searching for El Capitan routes that could be climbed either
free or with minimal aid. The
West Face route was
free climbed in 1979 by
Ray Jardine and
Bill Price; but despite numerous efforts by Jardine and others,
The Nose resisted free attempts for another fourteen years. The first free ascent of a main El Cap route, though, was not
The Nose, but
Salathé Wall.
Todd Skinner and
Paul Piana made the first free ascent over 9 days in 1988, after 30 days of working the route (
graded 5.13b on the
Yosemite Decimal System).
The Nose was the second major route to be free climbed. Two pitches on
The Nose blocked efforts to free the route: the "
Great Roof" graded 5.13c and "
Changing Corners" graded 5.14a/b. In 1993,
Lynn Hill came close to freeing
The Nose, making it past the
Great Roof and up to Camp VI without falling, stopped only on
Changing Corners by a
piton jammed in a critical finger hold. On October 14, 2005,
Tommy Caldwell and
Beth Rodden, then husband and wife, became the third and fourth people (and the first couple) to free climb
The Nose. They took four days on the ascent, swapping leads with each climber free climbing each pitch, either leading or following. Two days later, Caldwell returned to free climb
The Nose in less than 12 hours. Caldwell returned two weeks later to free climb El Capitan twice in a day, completing
The Nose with Rodden, then descending and leading
Freerider in a combined time of 23 hours 23 minutes. On January 14, 2015, American climbers
Tommy Caldwell and
Kevin Jorgeson completed the first
free climb of a route on the southeast face of El Capitan (known as
The Wall of Early Morning Light), which they called
The Dawn Wall; the climb took 19 days and created the world's
first-ever multi-pitch climbing route at the grade of . In November 2016, Czech climber
Adam Ondra made the first repeat of
The Dawn Wall in 8 days, leading every single pitch himself. The
Dawn Wall was repeated for the fourth time by Belgian climber Sébastien Berthe in January 2025. In 2016,
Pete Whittaker became the first person to make an all-free
rope solo ascent—which means on every pitch one free climbs to an
anchor,
abseils to retrieve gear, and then
jumars up again to the high point—of El Capitan's
Freerider in one day. He left the ground at 3:02 pm on November 11 and finished at 11:08 am on November 12; a total of 20 hours and 6 minutes.
Free solo Free solo climbing is a form of
rock climbing where the climbers do not use any
ropes,
harnesses, or other
protective equipment. This forces the climbers to rely on only their own individual preparation, strength, and skill. On June 3, 2017,
Alex Honnold completed the first and only
free solo climb of El Capitan. He ascended the
Freerider line in 3 hours and 56 minutes, beginning at 5:32 am and reaching the peak at 9:28 am. The climb was filmed for the 2018 documentary
Free Solo. Speed climbing The speed climbing record for the Nose has changed hands several times in the past few years. The current sub-two-hour record of 1:58:07 was set on June 6, 2018, by
Alex Honnold and
Tommy Caldwell after two other record-breaking climbs in the days before.
Mayan Smith-Gobat and
Libby Sauter broke the speed record for an all-women team with a time of 4:43 on October 23, 2014.
Adaptive climbing In October 2016, the American disabled athlete and professional adventurer
Enock Glidden scaled El Capitan after doing more than 800 pull-ups a day to train for the climb. He was born with
spina bifida, a neural tube defect that damages the spinal cord and nerves. Glidden was carried in a rescue basket and the descent took 12 hours. ==BASE jumping==