Lara Neumeier, Nemuel Fuerle repeat El Niño via Pineapple Express on El Capitan in Yosemite

On Sunday 10th of November, German climber Lara Neumeier and Austrian climber Nemuel Fuerle made a rare free ascent of El Niño – Pineapple Express (800m, 5.13c) on the North America Wall of El Capitan, in Yosemite Valley, California, USA.

Originally established in 1998 by Alex Huber and Thomas Huber, El Niño is one of El Capitan’s most demanding routes, with 27 pitches and a grade of 5.13c. The Pineapple Express variation, climbed in 2018 by Sonnie Trotter, finally ‘freed’ El Niño in its entirety, by circumnavigating eight-meters of blank granite to the left of ‘Big Sur Ledge’ with a new 3-pitch variation, avoiding the Huber’s 'man-powered rappel'. The variation includes the infamous ‘La Niña’ pitch, which is route’s hardest section.

Neumeier and Fuerle adopted a ground-up approach for their ascent, pre-practicing only the first three crux pitches during the week prior to their push. On November 4, they pre-hauled supplies to the Calaveras Ledges, setting the stage for their five-day ascent. Swinging leads on the easier pitches, both climbers individually led and sent all of the key crux pitches, including Black Dike, The Missing Link, Galapagos, La Niña, Black Cave, The Dolphin and Lucy is a Labrador.

Speaking after the ascent, Lara shared this report: "After climbing El Corazon on El Capitan with Babsi Zangerl last year, I got psyched to try another bigwall on El Capitan. At the end of October this year, I returned to the Valley with ‘El Niño’ in mind. After climbing on some Valley classics the first week, I spontaneously decided to team up with Nemuel Fuerle, a super strong young climber from Austria. Even though we’d never climbed together before, we were psyched to go on the wall and try El Niño together.

On Nov 3rd, when a great weather window opened up, we decided to prepare for a push and then go for it two days later. November 4th was our prep day, where we got food and water in the morning and packed everything up. At midday we went to the wall and pre-hauled one haulbag and the portaledge to the Calaveras Ledges.

Day 1: we started climbing at 5am with headlamps, sending the first crux pitches in the shade. We both led the first three crux pitches on that day (‘Black Dike’, ‘The Missing Link’, ‘Galapagos’). As we had checked the first two crux pitches the week before the push, they went down quite smoothly. As I had also tried the third crux pitch before, I knew the beta and sent it straight away. Nemo hadn't checked this pitch before and made an impressive flash send of the ‘Galapagos’ pitch. After sending those three pitches, we moved on and by noon, we reached the Calaveras Ledges and then pushed on to the Big Sur Ledges, setting up our portaledge just before sunset.

Day 2: the alarm went off at 5.15am. The goal of the second day was La Niña, the hardest pitch of the route. We wanted to climb it in the early shade to avoid the sun, which heats up the dark rock very quickly. At first, we struggled a bit with getting over the crimpy crux, but after a few attempts I managed to get over the slippery holds, which were covered in bat shit. We both tried it once in the morning and the skin was already getting thinner. As the sun came, the rock quickly became too hot, so we chilled in the portaledge the whole day, waiting for the evening shade to return. In the late afternoon, Nemo went first and tried the pitch again, but still hadn't found a good beta for the crux sequence. I tried after him and to my surprise managed to send the pitch second go! After I climbed it, Nemo was super motivated to try again with my beta and sent it straight away too. With this success, we went to bed super relieved and ready for the next day.

Day 3: that day, we climbed some challenging 5.12s up to the next crux pitch, the Black Cave. It was my turn to go on this one first and I fell on my first attempt only a few moves before the anchor. After brushing it and checking the beta, Nemo flashed it smoothly and I also sent it on my second go, right before it got dark. We climbed one more pitch in the dark and then set up the portaledge on a small ledge.

Day 4: we made slower progress that day as there were some tricky pitches and the rope got stuck on the Dolphins Chimney. Nevertheless, it was a great day and we got closer to the top! By evening, we reached Lucy is a Labrador, the last crux pitch, but decided to save it for the next day.

Day 5: just like every morning, we woke up at 5.15am, motivated to start climbing in the shade. I quickly checked out the moves of the last crux pitch ‘Lucy is a Labrador’, and then sent the pitch. Now it was Nemo’s turn, and he once again flashed it!! From here, we only had a few easier pitches to the top, and by 2pm we were standing on the summit of El Cap. What a feeling to top out on El Cap after spending several nights sleeping on the wall!

We’d planned for seven days on the wall, so we had loads of food and water left over, and enjoyed a well-deserved lunch at the top of El Cap. The descent was exhausting, but the thought of a hot shower, delicious food, and a comfortable bed waiting for us down in the Valley kept us going."