Wings of Steel

Wings of Steel is a contentious big-wall line established on El Capitan’s southwest face in 1983. Known less for a particular climbing style than for the ethics debate it provoked, the route’s ascent history drew accusations about drilling and bolting practices that left it unrepeated for decades. The wall is blank and technical, and the climb’s notoriety centers on whether the original parties’ methods fit Yosemite’s traditional standards rather than on conventional metrics of difficulty or style.