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Technical climbing route up El Capitan From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Salathé Wall is one of the original big wall climbing routes up El Capitan, a 3,000-foot (900 m) high granite monolith in Yosemite National Park. The Salathé Wall was named by Yvon Chouinard in honor of John Salathé, a pioneer of rock climbing in Yosemite. The route is recognized in the historic climbing text Fifty Classic Climbs of North America and is considered a classic around the world.[1][2]
| Salathé Wall | |
|---|---|
Southwest face of El Capitan from Yosemite Valley with the Salathé Wall route marked in red | |
| Location | California, USA |
| Coordinates | 37°44′02.4″N 119°38′13.2″W |
| Climbing area | Yosemite Valley |
| Route type | Aid climbing, Free climbing |
| Vertical gain | 2,900 ft (884 m) |
| Pitches | 35 |
| Rating | 5.13b (free) or 5.9 C2 (aid) |
| Grade | VI |
| First ascent | Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, and Chuck Pratt, 1961 |
| First free ascent |
|
The first ascent was in 1961 by Royal Robbins, Tom Frost, and Chuck Pratt. After climbing about a quarter of the route, they retreated to re-supply, leaving four fixed ropes in place. Quickly returning, they jumared back up the ropes and totally committed to climbing the upper wall in a single push, which they did in 6 days using only 15 bolts total. The route was about 25% free climbing with sections of run-out at grade 5.9, and the rest being aid climbing which was also difficult at grade A4. A year later, Robbins and Frost returned and did the route in a single push from the bottom.
In 1972, Peter Haan became the first to aid climb the route alone as a rope solo, using pitons for aid and protection. It was his first big wall climb.
In 1975, Kevin Worral and Mike Graham, starting from the Nose route, traversed left a bit to join this route and free climbed pitches 4 through 10 of Salathe Wall Route up to Mammoth Terraces, adding three pitches of 5.11. A little later, John Long, and John Bachar free climbed pitch three (5.11b) making all 10 pitches free.[3] These ten free pitches, often free climbed as a standalone multi-pitch climbing route in its own right, are known as Freeblast (5.11c).[4]
In 1979, Mark Hudon and Max Jones, climbing from the ground up, led all but 250 feet of the route free, adding three pitches of 5.12 and 5 or 6 of 5.11.[4][5]
In 1988, Todd Skinner and Paul Piana made the first free ascent by free climbing all the sections (each climber free climbed only about half of the route, with 2 hanging belays for resting) during a nine-day push, after thirty days of working the route, and gave it a grade of 5.13c.[4] The Salathe Wall was the first major route on El Capitan to be fully free climbed, and was the first-ever free ascent of a big wall route in history at the grade of 5.13b (8a).[5][6]
In 1995, Alexander Huber became the first individual to free climb all the individual pitches, leading every pitch free himself in two pushes (with one hanging belay for a rest), and using an easier variation avoiding one of the cruxes, and assigned a grade of 5.13b.[4][5][7][8]
In 2005, Steph Davis made the first female free ascent, with the grade at 5.13b.[4][9]
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