Mt. Evans Cycling Record Smashed!

Tom Danielson, who earlier this year crushed the Mt. Washington ascent record in New Hampshire, annihilated the previous record for the Mt. Evans Ascent. In the annual race on July 24th, Danielson won by almost 9 minutes and broke the previous record by 4m10s. The record now stands at 1h41m20s!

See this article for more info.

Mt. Toll Speed Record Broken!

Stefan Griebel had a quick run up the North Ridge of Mt. Toll on July 25th. He ran in from the trailhead and soloed the 3-pitch, 5.6 North Ridge, onsight (!), in 14 minutes. He made the roundtrip in 2h06m, breaking Buzz Burrell's record of 2h19m.

SMSC Tour de Flatiron Race Series is under way!

The only scrambling race series in the world is under way in Boulder, Colorado. See here for more information and race schedule and results:

SMSC Tour de Flatiron Race Series

Armstrong wins l'Alpe d'Huez Time Trial at Tour de France

Lance won by 1m1s over Jan Ullrich with a time of 39m41s. This wasn't the fastest time that I had for the climb, but I'm sure the start locations were different, as this must be the fastest time since the other time (by Marco Pantani) was done at the end of a very long stage while this was an individual time trial and only 15.5 kilometers long. This ascent gains about 3800 vertical feet.

As a side note, Lance will most likely go on to win the Tour a record six times!

Bill

Women Speed Ascents - corrected

Heidi Wirtz and Vera Schulte-Pelkum teamed up this June and climbed The Nose in 12:15, Half Dome in 5:25 and Leaning Tower in 5:15. They had both been up The Nose once prior in 16 and 12 hrs respectively and would have broken 12 if not for a loop of rope getting caught around the stem of a fixed Camalot 2 pitches from the top. I believe it is the fastest Half Dome ascent for any all-female team.
 
Heidi climbed Half Dome last year with Micah Dash in 4:30.

New Record on Ypsilon's Blitzen Ridge!

Chris Hayhurst ran/climbed Blitzen Ridge on July 11th in 4hr 21m car to car! Outrageous! This is 5000 vertical feet and Blitzen Ridge is 5.5/6. This is outrageous fitness and broke the old record of Justin Dubois by over 40 minutes!

Fast female time on the JMT

Jacqueline Florine did the JMT in bad weather in 8 days and 30 minutes. She did a 40-hour push the last bit as the storm was too cold and altitude too high for her to stop.

Steph Davis makes fastest female free ascent of El Cap

Steph Davis freed Free Rider (a Salathe Wall variation that avoids the final headwall via a 5.12 traverse over to Excalibur, which was first freed by Alex Huber) in 22h15m. Davis is the wife of free climbing, speed climbing phenom Dean Potter, but he wasn't her belayer. Heinz Zak was her partner. See more
here.

The only other one-day free ascent of El Cap by a woman (neglecting the West Face and the East Buttress routes) was by Lynn Hill in 1994 and she did it in 23+ hours.

Phil Gruber flashes free ascent of Half Dome in 9.5 hours!

Freeing the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome is still a very uncommon feat, despite its relatively tame rating of 5.12a. On of the reasons for this is that the route is probably harder than that. The consensus grade for the final ZigZag pitch is settling at 5.12b/c, but still a relatively moderate rating for high-end climbers. The route has some devious sections to avoid two bolt ladders and a very difficult 5.12 slab finish.

On June 26, 2004, Phil Gruber flashed the entire route free. I believe this is only about the sixth or seventh free ascent and the first time it has been flashed. Not only that, but Phil climbed the 23-pitch, 2000-foot face in only 9.5 hours, possibly the fastest free ascent as well. Technically, Phil had seen the route before since he had previously climbed it with aid while linking it with the Nose in under 24 hours (this is also a pretty rarified feat). Phil had never seen the Higbee Heedral before, one of the 5.12 cruxes. Phil called the final 5.12 slab the crux for him since he hadn't been climbing slabs at all. In fact, he trained by working 60-hour weeks in the office!

Phil's from Boulder, Colorado and had just zipped out to Yosemite for a few days of climbing. He also owns the speed record on the Naked Edge (with Josh Wharton).