Nick Ehman Breaks Alex Honnold’s Nose Speed Record on El Capitan

On Tuesday, October 10, Alex Honnold’s solo record of the Nose, set in 2010, fell quickly and quietly. By late afternoon, Nick Ehman had outpaced the prior record of 5 hours, 50 minutes, topping out after 4 hours, 39 minutes. Both climbers used a mix of aid and free climbing. 

The first Nose-in-a-Day solo was completed in 1989 by Steve “Shipoopi” Schneider in 21 hours 22 minutes. Over the past thirty-plus years, the feat has only been accomplished by a select few, including record-setting climbers Dean Potter and Hans Florine. Climbers completing the feat have used a variety of techniques, including free soloing, rope soloing, and “Metroviching”—using daisy chains to clip into two or more pieces; the term was coined by Russ Mitrovich, who used the technique on a rope-less speed-solo of Zodiac. 

Ehman, originally from Bloomington, Indiana, has worked in Yosemite Valley since 2020 as part of the Search and Rescue team. Over the last few years, he has fallen in love with the Nose, estimating that he’s completed it at least 36 times. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about [soloing] it,” Ehman says. “By getting really comfortable short fixing without self-belay … doing that for the last three years up there allowed me to feel like if I went back up to rope solo it I wouldn’t feel like I needed to do traditional systems like belaying myself with a Grigri.” Taking the Jardine Traverse enabled Ehman to use a shorter rope, which he considers key to his success. Not only did it allow him to feel light and unencumbered, but it also provided a sense of calm. “I knew that if I wasn’t feeling it, I could just fall back on different tactics that would be more comfortable. [It meant] being able to start up it with a short rope and less gear, but still have a lot of peace of mind,” he says.

On that morning, Ehman wasn’t setting out to beat Honnold’s time: He was merely aiming to spend a gorgeous day climbing some of his favorite lines. “I knew it was something that I wanted to try, but I didn’t think that morning that that was something I was going to do,” he says. “I just felt so good when I tried it…. I felt super secure and that just gave me more confidence that built throughout the route.” As Ehman went on, the smoother he felt, the more the record creeped from the back of his mind to the forefront. 

As he topped out and took his phone off airplane mode, Ehman was quickly hit by waves of emotion and an outpouring of support from friends and family. “It’s a little surreal … I had such a good time and I’m really psyched,” he says. News of his achievement quickly spread via Facebook and ElCap Report author Tom Evans. 

Honnold was congratulatory, telling Climbing, “I’d love to talk to Nick about his whole experience–he must be feeling super dialed on the Nose. No one has really been playing the speed climbing game for several years; it’s great to see someone getting after it again,” he says. 

Both climbers played coy when asked if the 4:39 mark would stand for long. “I’m content with it, but I know I could go faster if I wanted to,” Ehman says. Will Honnold ever make a return to take possession of his record once again? It’s doubtful, but not impossible. “I’m not sure if I’d ever try to go faster. It would take a lot of time in Yosemite and I’m just not there as much anymore. But it sure would be fun,” he says. 

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