The Nose 5.14a (free)

The Nose follows the prow of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley for 31 pitches and roughly 2,900 feet of granite, the most famous big-wall route in the world. Climbed free, it is graded 5.14a (8b+), with the crux concentrated in two sections high on the wall: the Great Roof, a set of pin-scarred underclings and technical smears at 5.13c, and Changing Corners, a delicate corner sequence at 5.14a itself. Free climbing the whole thing means linking that sustained upper difficulty onto thousands of feet of lower-angle crack and face climbing below.

History

Warren Harding, Wayne Merry and George Whitmore made the first ascent in 1958 using siege-style aid climbing over roughly 45 days, a landmark in the era before modern gear made El Capitan routine. Lynn Hill made the first free ascent in 1993 over four days, after nearly freeing it the year before and being stopped only by a jammed piton at Changing Corners; she returned in 1994 and freed it again in under 24 hours, in 23 hours total. Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden became the third and fourth people, and the first couple, to free the route in 2005, swapping leads over four days; two days later Caldwell freed it alone in under 12 hours. Jorg Verhoeven spent three days freeing the route in 2014, becoming the first European to do so. Connor Herson set the fastest confirmed free ascent, 9.5 hours, in 2025, while Caldwell and Alex Honnold hold the overall speed record of 1:58:07 using a mix of aid and free techniques.

On film

Jorg Verhoeven Free Climbs The Nose | Full Documentary (2023) covers Verhoeven's October 2014 attempt, roughly 30 days in Yosemite Valley working toward a free ascent, following his preparation and repeated attempts on the route's hardest pitches.