Derek Franz

More El Capitan speed records have been set since May 5 when Brandon Adams and Roger Putnam climbed the Shield in 8 hours, 55 minutes; Josie McKee and Diana Wendt set a female speed record on the Salathe, climbing the route in 16:24 on June 1; David Allfrey set the solo record of 10:52:50 on Zodiac on June 2; and Alexa Flower, Jane Jackson and Gena Wood completed the fastest all-female ascent of Zodiac in 16:20 on June 15. Meanwhile, Libby Sauter, who set the female record on the Nose with Mayan Smith-Gobat in 2014, has pulled back from speed climbing and shares her thoughts about the risks people are taking.

Chantel Astorga and Anne Gilbert Chase made what is likely the first female ascent, and only the ninth ascent overall, of the Slovak Direct (5.9 X M6 WI6+, 9,000′) on Denali (20,310′). They summited June 5 after starting the climb June 2.

After the two fell to their deaths in a mysterious accident while climbing fast and light on El Capitan June 2, friends remember Tim Klein and Jason Wells as talented, compassionate family men.

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