Alex Honnold is an indelible name in Yosemite climbing, but he may need to make room for Wanish (34) and Michael Vaill (32), who completed the Triple Crown in 17 hours and 55 minutes this past weekend. This new mark bests Honnold’s prior speed record by just over an hour.
Not only was the speed record broken, but the feat is especially astonishing as Wanish and Vaill have only climbed big walls for 3 years. Additionally, Wanish has only rock climbed for around 5 years.
The way they met as climbing partners only adds to the story. The duo randomly connected on Mountain Project, a crowdsourced route guide.
Yosemite Triple Crown
Linking El Capitan, Half Dome, and Mount Watkins involves about 7,000 feet of climbing, 77 pitches, and 18 miles of hiking. To our knowledge, this feat has only been accomplished nine times in under 24 hours.
Dean Potter and Timmy O’Neill were the first to complete a one-day Triple Crown in 2001.
Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell did the first free ascent of the Triple Crown in May of 2012, finishing in 21 hours and 15 minutes.
Honnold returned the next month to establish the first Triple Crown done alone. He free-soloed 95% of it, setting the bar at 19 hours.
Details surrounding Wanish and Vaill’s new Yosemite Triple Crown speed record are scarce. GearJunkie will update this post when more information becomes available.
