Tommy Caldwell e Alex Honnold liberano una nuova via su El Capitan, Yosemite

I fortissimi climbers statunitensi Tommy Caldwell e Alex Honnold hanno salito in libera una nuova linea su El Capitan, nella Yosemite Valley. Attualmente non ci sono molti dettagli, ma la nuova via segue grosso modo la linea di New Dawn poco a destra di The Nose. La realizzazione, in qualche modo, conclude gli sforzi iniziati da Leo Houlding 18 anni fa. All’epoca, infatti, il climber britannico era riuscito a scovare una linea in libera fino a El Cap Tower prima di chiamare il suo tentativo Passage to Freedom.

Caldwell e Honnold, per circa tre settimane, hanno provato la via insieme a Kevin Jorgeson. In quell'occasione Caldwell ha dichiarato che la linea offre un’arrampicata altamente spettacolare. Risale solo a qualche giorno fa, invece, la salita in libera degli stessi Caldwell e Honnold.

Superfluo ricordare che Honnold, Caldwell e Jorgeson sono tra i più forti climber attivi su El Capitan in questo periodo. A Caldwell si devono le prime libere di West Buttress (2003), Dihedral Wall (2004) e Magic Mushroom (2008), nonché di Dawn Wall, la big wall più difficile al mondo completata nel gennaio 2015 insieme a Kevin Jorgeson. Nel 2017 Alex Honnold aveva effettuato la prima free solo di El Capitan, salendo la via Freerider senza corda, mentre nel 2018 Honnold e Caldwell erano riusciti a stabilire un nuovo record di velocità su El Capitan, salendo The Nose in meno di due ore.

Info: IG Tommy Caldwell, IG Alex Honnold, La Sportiva

View this post on Instagram

We’ve been keeping things kinda vegue this season as to not make too much of a spectacle. But @alexhonnold and I, with @austin_siadak and @kjorgeson finished a pretty legit new free route on El Cap a few days ago. It primarily followed the aid climb New Dawn and has some of the most spectacular climbing I have found. It’s a continuation of a free route that @leo_houlding established half way up the wall 18 years ago called Passage to Freedom. That route was ahead of its time and a work of art in itself featuring El Caps first sideways Dyno. Leo also bolted a Alfa Romeo hood badge to the wall which he used as a handhold to get past a section he believed was impossible without. (We found a way around). After a few weeks of work, having not tried many of sections of the climb, Alex and I went for kind of a Hail Mary attempt. Miraculously we pulled it off! Life complications kept Kevin away for too much of the Toiling and working of the route for him to feel ready for the Hail Mary. Wish you could have been with us buddy. There are many great stories and photos from @austin_siadak. So I’m going to try and share a few in the coming days. Last photo in the reel is Leo back in the day and was taken by Andrew Mcgarry.

A post shared by Tommy Caldwell (@tommycaldwell) on Nov 3, 2019 at 10:34am PST

View this post on Instagram

I’ve been playing around up on El Cap with @tommycaldwell, @kjorgeson and @austin_siadak recently. This is Tommy styling one of many 5.13 corners, though this one was originally freed by @leo_houlding 20 years ago. Good times back on the wall...

A post shared by Alex Honnold (@alexhonnold) on Oct 23, 2019 at 5:41am PDT