A Tahoe City Climber Makes a Record Accent to the Summit of Yosemite’s El Capitan

Earlier this month, Emily Harrington from Tahoe City became the first woman to free-climb Yosemite’s famed El Capitan in record time, 21 hours 13 minutes and 51 seconds. In her fourth attempt, the climber started at 1:30 a.m. and completed the first 2/3 with Alex Honnold, who’s free-solo climb was documented in the award-winning film Free Solo.

According to the New York Times, “she became the fourth person, and the first woman, to scale El Capitan via the Golden Gate route in under 24 hours by free-climbing it — pulling herself upward with her hands and feet and using ropes and other gear only as a safety net.

“El Capitan, known as El Cap, is a 3,000-foot-high granite edifice that draws thousands of climbers to Yosemite each year. Climbers typically take around four to six days to reach the top, using a variety of routes. Only a few elite climbers, Ms. Harrington now among them, have done it in less than a day.”

You can read more about her historic climb here.