Man climbs Yosemite's El Capitan without ropes, safety gear

Alex Honnold became the first person to scale El Capitan, the 3,000-foot granite wall in California's Yosemite National Park, without the assistance of ropes or other safety gear Saturday.

It took the 31-year-old just under four hours to complete the ascent, which is higher than the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

"It's like walking up glass," he told National Geographic's Mark M. Synnott.

A team of filmmakers, including Honnold's longtime climbing partner, Jimmy Chin, was on hand to capture the feat for an upcoming National Geographic documentary feature.

Photo by @jimmy_chin | Renowned rock climber @alexhonnold climbs Yosemite’s El Capitan on Saturday making the first rope-free ascent of the iconic 3,000-foot granite wall. It is arguably the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport. He ascended the peak in three hours, fifty-six minutes, taking the final moderate pitch at a near run. Under a blue sky and few wisps of cloud, he pulled his body over the rocky lip of the summit at 9:28 a.m. PDT. A team of filmmakers, led by @jimmy_chin, one of Honnold’s longtime climbing partners, and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, captured the ascent for an upcoming National Geographic Documentary Films feature. You can read Mark Synnott’s exclusive account of the climb, which was more than a year in the making, on nationalgeographic.com or by swiping up on our Instagram Story. #history #elcapitan #yosemite

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Jun 3, 2017 at 12:18pm PDT

@alexhonnold composed and casual free soloing (sans cord) 2000ft above the deck on the Enduro Pitch of Freerider yesterday. Alex's process to prepare for his dream of free soloing El Cap has been an incredible, and sometimes stressful, journey to witness and be a part of over the last two years while filming him for a feature documentary (co-directed by @mochinyc). In some ways I expected (and prayed for) nothing less on his big day but it was still mind bending to see how relaxed he was in the final days leading up to the climb and of course during the climb - as seen here locked off reaching full extension with mere finger tips in contact to granite, feet smeared on nothing. What I've learned over the last 10 years about Alex is he isn't the kid that shows up to do well on the exam. If it counts, he's there to ace it, knock out the extra credit questions and finish early. I'd say he aced his final exam yesterday with extra credit for style and composure. When he got to the top, he looked at me and said "I'm pretty sure I could go back to the bottom and do it again right now." Congrats bud. You crushed. It was historic, it was brilliant, it was moving beyond words. Thanks to all of Alex's climbing partners who supported along the way and especially to one helluva film crew for staying committed through thick and thin doing some of the best work I've ever seen. So so proud of everyone. See the @natgeo link in my bio for more.

A post shared by Jimmy Chin (@jimmy_chin) on Jun 4, 2017 at 9:01am PDT

HEADLINES

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox

Email address

Man climbs Yosemite's El Capitan without ropes, safety gear

HEADLINES

Daily Newsletter

MORE STORIES

Daily Newsletter