The Shortest Straw

The Shortest Straw is a big wall aid route on the southeast face of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, running 1,800 feet over 15 pitches at A4/5.7. It sits between Zodiac and Zenyatta Mondatta, starting in a shallow corner and following mostly overhanging rock with sections of thin hooking, a crux pitch nicknamed Journey Through the Brain, and a section called the Sawblade pitch. Seeps can wet the belays and bivies lower on the route, but the climbing itself is generally safe, without the awkward, insecure moves found on some of El Cap's other aid lines. Most parties fix one or two pitches from the ground, then spend four to seven days on the wall, which is what makes a sub 10 hour push notable rather than routine.

History

Rick Lovelace made the first ascent in March 1990. The route became known as a comparatively clean, well protected A4 line by El Cap standards, with few awkward pitches, which over time made it a target for speed attempts once climbers had it wired. An earlier party, Skiy DeTray, David Allfrey and Cheyne Lempe, climbed it in 12 hours and 20 minutes in October 2002. On May 17, 2026, Taylor Martin and Oliver Tippett lowered that mark to 9 hours and 51 minutes, a time Martin described by noting the route had once taken him around five days to complete.

On film

Setting a New El Cap Speed Record (Shortest Straw) (2026) documents Oliver Tippett and Taylor Martin's speed ascent of the route. Tippett reports the pair climbed it in 9 hours and 51 minutes, and the film follows the pacing, hauling and pitch by pitch transitions that go into moving fast on a route that normally takes multiple days.