Climbers break speed record on El Capitan, just days after setting it

El Capitan.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Over the span of just a few days, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell set a record for fastest climb up the Nose route of El Capitan, then broke that record, then broke that record.

On Wednesday, Honnold, 32, and Caldwell, 39, were able to scale up the Yosemite National Park rock formation in just 1 hour, 58 minutes, and seven seconds. On May 30, they had set a new record of 2 hours, 10 minutes, and 15 seconds, and on Monday, shaved off even more time, climbing it in 2 hours, 1 minute, and 53 seconds. Honnold told The Associated Press he was astonished when he realized they were about to set another record on Wednesday, and said he was "pretty proud we saw it through."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.