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!