Video: Impossible Invitation On El Cap

We've seen some good climbing videos of late and you can add this one to the mix. It features climber Kevin Jorgenson, who is working on climbing a new, very difficult route on El Capitan in Yosemite. This project has been an ongoing one for several years, but progress continues to be made. What makes this a great clip to watch is the subtle nature of the climbing on display. You'll get some great shots of Kevin working the wall, and you'll see just how small the hand and foot holds that is is working with are. Impressive and scary stuff.

Impossible Invitation from adidas Outdoor on Vimeo.

Video: Yosemite In HD

Shot while on a 200-mile long backpacking excursion through Yosemite National Park, this video captures some of the spectacular landscapes of that place in amazing fashion. It is a beautiful love letter to the park, loving crafted over 45 days of shooting and 10 months of editing. Simply spectacular.

Yosemite HD II from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Video: Bungee Jumping Off Half Dome

I'm not much of a bungee jumper, but this video is still kind of cool. It shows what is reportedly the first bungee jump from the top of Half Dome, the iconic rock face located in Yosemite National Park. The 8+ minute long video introduces us to the two brothers who came up with the idea, and shows us their background as both bungee jumpers and rock climbers, before getting down to the logistics of a jump off of Half Dome. Crazy stuff for sure.

Female Climbers Set New Speed Record On The Nose

The Adventure Journal is reporting that Mayan Smith-Gobat and Libby Sauter set a new women's speed record on the iconic The Nose route on El Capitan in Yosemite earlier this week. The ladies managed to slice nearly two hours off the previous record, completing the difficult 31 pitch, 5.13+ rated route in just 5 hours, 39 minutes.

Both of the ladies have held the record in the past, but with different climbing partners. In 2011, Sauter and her partner scaled The Nose in 10 hours, 40 minutes, which established a record at the time. A year later, Smith-Gobat and her partner dropped that time down 7 hours, 26 minutes. This team-up of two of the world's top female climbers was able to lower the time dramatically, although they both say there is still room for improvement.

For comparison sake, the Adventure Journal points out that the route was first climbed back in 1958 over a period of 47 days. The current men's record is held by Hans Florine and Alex Honnold and stands at 2 hours, 36 minutes, 45 seconds. Smith-Gobat also teamed with Sean Leary to set the mixed-gender record of 4 hours, 22 minutes.

Obviously this climb took place prior to the closing of the park for the government shutdown this past Tuesday. Anyone who want to challenge the record will have to wait for the park to reopen again before they can give it a go.

Congrats to Mayan and Libby on an impressive outing. Well done!

Video: Experience Your Yosemite

Today is the 123rd anniversary of the founding of Yosemite National Park, which depending on how you look at is is either the first or second national park in the world, behind Yellowstone. Due to the current shutdown of the U.S. government, the park is actually closed on its birthday. But to celebrate I thought I'd share this great video from the Park Service that is an excellent introduction to one of the best outdoor playgrounds on the planet. Enjoy!

Video: Alex Honnold In Yosemite: National Parks Epic Challenge

Watching Alex Honnold climb the legendary big walls in Yosemite never gets old. The guy grew up three hours away from the park and over the past few year he has made it his personal playground to be sure. In the video below we get to watch him scale Half Dome, El Cap and Mt. Watkins using nothing but his own talent and skill. Not a rope in sight. The man is fearless. I got nervous just watching this.

Alex Honnold in Yosemite: National Parks Epic Challenge from National Park Foundation on Vimeo.

Video: Timelapse Of Climbing In Yosemite

There is little doubt that Yosemite National Park is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, but in case you weren't already convinced of that, check out this wonderful timelapse video that was shot there by adventure filmmaker/climber Cedar Wright. It features some spectacular shots of Yosemite's iconic places including El Capitan, Half Dome and some of the beautiful waterfalls that exist within the park. Consider this your virtual escape for the day. If we can't be in Yosemite, at least we can dream about it some.

Video: Alex Honnold On Half Dome And Moonlight Buttress

Apparently free climber Alex Honnold has a new sponsor in the form of BALL Watches. The video below is a commercial for the company but mostly features Alex climbing on Moonlight Buttress iN Zion National Park and Half Dome in Yosemite of course. It's more amazing footage of Alex doing what he does best, namely climbing big walls with the use of rope.

Some of the shots are down right scary. I'm not sure how his mom lets him get away with this stuff.

Yosemite Junior Ranger Writes Adorable Letter Apologizing For Taking Sticks Home

One of the lesser known rules when visiting America's national parks is that everything within their boundaries is technically public property and as such is suppose to be left undisturbed. That means we're not suppose to pick flowers, take rocks or mess with the wildlife, although that last one should go without saying.

Recently one of Yosemite's Junior Rangers by the name of "Evie" accidentally took too sticks home with her when she left the park. When she realized she wasn't suppose to take anything at all, she immediately wrote a letter of apology and sent the sticks back to the ranger station in Yosemite. That letter, as it appeared when it was opened, can be viewed in the image below or click here to see it at full size. The rangers who received the message wrote Evie back and thanked her for her diligence and respect for nature. They promised to return the sticks to the wilderness for her as well.

This is an absolutely heartwarming story. I love that this girl was so bothered by the fact that she took the sticks that she just had to send them back. Someone promote this Junior Ranger to a full fledged ranger asap!

Video: One Day In Yosemite

I shared this video on Gadling.com over the weekend but thought that many of you would appreciate it too. Last June, 30 filmmaker descended on Yosemite National Park with the intent of pooling their resources to create a single video that captured everything that goes on in the park in a single day. Each of them shot things that caught their attention and imagination and then they turned their footage over to  Yosemite's official videographer, Steven Bumgardner, who edited everything together into the video you see below. The results, unsurprisingly, are pretty spectacular. We are, after all, talking about Yosemite here!

I hope you enjoy!

Video: Moonwalking With Dean Potter

I'm not a big fan of slacklining, but this video is simply too beautiful not to share. It features climber/slacker-liner Dean Potter as he walks a high line on Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park. That alone is pretty impressive to see but when you add an amazing full moon behind him, you get a truly magical video. This is one activity that I'm happy to admire from afar, but the images on display here are spectacular. Enjoy!

Moonwalk from Bryan Smith on Vimeo.

Kickstarter Project Wants To Digitally Restore El Capitan Movie

Back in 1968 one of the classic climbing films of all times, El Capitan was released to much acclaim. It chronicled four climbers as they spent three days climbing iconic rock face which remains one of he best known routes in the entire world. 44 yeas ago the cameras for capturing that kind of action were bulky, heavy and primitive at best. As a result, the print for the film doesn't hold up as well as it should by today's standards.

But there is a Kickstarter project underway to digitally restore the film. The team behind the project is looking to raise $25,000 by the end of October so that they can clean-up the print. As of now, they have a little over $19, 000 in pledges with just five days to go. The video below tells you more about the project and if you feel inspired to contribute to the cause, click here to visit the Kickstarter page.

Mayan Smith-Gobat and Chantel Astorga Set New Speed Record On The Nose

Climbers Mayan Smith-Gobat and Chantel Astorga have set a new speed record by female climbers on the El Capitan's the Nose in Yosemite National Park. The two women made their climb a few days ago and managed to chop a whopping three hours off the previous record, which was set just this past June.

Mayan and Chantel made a scouting run up the route last week and even though they felt they were going slow, they still managed to shave nine minutes off the old record, finishing in 10 hours, 10 minutes. But the ladies knew they could go faster and on Monday they took all of the knowledge they gained during the practice run and put it to good use. When they finished, they turned in a time of 7 hours, 26 minutes, completely obliterating the original time.

Not content with simply climbing one of the hardest routes in the world in record time, Mayan and Chantel moved on to also scale Half Dome. The completed the entire link-up in a time of 23 hours, 35 minutes and by doing so became the first all-female team to do both routes back-to-back. You can read Mayan's account of the climb on her blog, which has an excellent account of the day.

Congratulations to Mayan and Chantel on a job well done. Amazing climbing!

Video: Hang Gliding Yosemite!

There is no doubt that Yosemite Valley is one of the most spectacular and beautiful places in North America, if not the world. But the video below captures that beautify from a completely different angle – from a hang glider.

Thanks to The Adventure Journal for sharing this earlier today. Simply spectacular.



Hang Glide Yosemite from Lucas Ridley on Vimeo.

The Girls Get In On The Fun, Set New Speed Record On The Nose Too!

The boys aren't the only ones having fun in Yosemite this summer. Earlier in the week we received the news that Alex Honnold and Hans Florine broke the speed record for The Nose on El Capitan, and now another record has fallen, this time for the ladies.

Climbing.com is reporting that Quinn Brett and Jes Meiris scaled the iconic route on June 11 in 10 hours, 19 minutes. Thats a full 21 minutes faster than the previous record which was set last fall by Libby Sauter and Chantal Astorga. Brett and Meiris launched their climbing collaboration while working together at SOS Outreach, an organization that seeks to mold young people through outdoor adventure. The ladies hope to inspire others, particularly youth, through their efforts.

Congrats to Quinn and Jes on an amazing climb. Well done!

And a tip o' the hat to The Goat for sharing this story.

Alex Honnold and Hans Florine Break Speed Record On The Nose

Newsflash: This Alex Honnold kid just might be a pretty good climber.

Yesterday, Honnold teamed up with Hans Florine, another very talented climber, to go after a new speed record on the Nose, the most famous climbing route up Yosemite's El Capitan. The duo managed to complete the climb in just 2 hours, 23 minutes and 51 seconds, shaving nearly 13 minutes off the old record set by Dean Potter and Sean Leary back in 2010.

According to this story from Examiner.com, the two men did a few warm-up climbs last week to scout out the route and get accustomed to working with one another. With that work out of the way they elected to make their attempt yesterday, which also happened to be Florine's birthday. The results were nothing short of spectacular. It's going to be hard for another team to cut more time off the route in the immediate future, although we all know someone will be trying.

Honnold continues to make Yosemite his personal playground. Less than a month ago he teamed up with Tommy Cladwell to complete a free climb of Mt. Watkins, El Cap and Half Dome back-to-back-to-back. That feat is known as the Triple Crown. Not satisfied with that effort, Honnold returned a couple of weeks later and re-climbed the Triple Crown, this time solo. Now he's added a speed record on The Nose to his already impressive resume. All I can say is "wow!"

Thanks to the Adventure Journal for the tip!

Video: Alex Honnold Triple Crown Teaser

Last week rock climber Alex Honnold completed a solo climb of the Yosemite Triple Crown, which consists of Mt. Watkins, El Cap and Half Dome. Apparently a good portion of that climb was captured on video and will be turned into a climbing film that will be part of the upcoming Reel Rock Tour. A trailer of sorts has appeared online in the form of some raw footage of Honnold doing what he does best. You can check it out below.

Thanks to The Goat for the heads up on this one!

Alex Honnold Solos Yosemite's Triple Crown

Remember a few weeks back when I reported that Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell had completed a continuous free-climb of Yosemite's Triple Crown? Apparently Honnold had such a good time, he decided to go back and do it again, this time by himself.  The "triple crown" consists of Mt. Watkins, El Capitan and Half Dome, three of toughest and most iconic climbs in North America.

According to this story at Climbing.com, Honnold began his epic solo endeavor on Mt. Watkins at 4 PM on Tuesday of this week and finished up on top of Half Dome 10:45 AM the following day. That means he managed to not only scale each of the three big walls, but also travel between them, in just 18 hours of time. That shaved more than three hours off the time he did with Caldwell.

The story also says that he free climbed 90% of the route, using aid on just a few occasions. He also reportedly borrowed a chalk bag from some other climbers on El Cap after he forgot his back on the ground.

Honnold, who is unquestionably one of the strongest climbers in the world today, has made Yosemite his personal playground over the past few years. Last week he even went up the Northwest Face of Half Dome in just 1 hour and 22 minutes, shaving nearly an hour and a half off his previous record.

Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell Free Climb Triple Crown In Yosemite

While much of the climbing world has been centered around the Himalaya the past few weeks, rock climbers Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell have been making history in Yosemite. Last Friday, May 18th, the two men pulled off an impressive feat of endurance, free climbing Mt. Watkins, El Capitan and Half Dome back-to-back-to-back.

According to this report at Climbing.com the entire project took 21 hours and 15 minutes to complete. The boys started their day at 4:45 PM on May 18, going up Watkins first in just 2 hours, 40 minutes. Once at the top, they hiked for an hour to catch a ride to the foot of El Cap, which they started at 10:45 PM and climbed throughout the night. Going up the classic route Free Rider, took 6 hours, 15 minutes. From there it was on to Half Dome, which they began at 9 AM on the 19th. Scrambling up the Northwest Face required an additional five hours, and they stood on top at about 2 PM.

All three routes were free climbed in their entirety and Caldwell says that he fell two or three times on El Cap, but that Alex didn't fall once throughout the day. He also told Climbing that when they spoke the next day, Honnold indicated that he was ready to climbing once again.

Pretty amazing piece of work out of these two very talented climbers.

Video: Yosemite Range of Light

I'm home from Jordan and ready to get rolling again, but while I get my feet back under me and get back to the routine of regular posts, I thought I'd start things off this week with a fantastic video that appeared while I was away. It is called Yosemite Range of Light and features some breathtaking views of one of the best national parks in the U.S.

This is a perfect way to kick off a new week and start the day. Enjoy and I'll be back news and updates shortly.