Nose Speed Record
A Conversation with Austin Siadak
The Nose speed record has been the focus for many great Yosemite climbers, from the first ascent of the route by Warren Harding, Merry Wayne, George Whitmore and Rich Calderwood to the first one-day ascent by Jim Bridwell, John Long and Billy Westbay. Hans Florine held the speed record eight times. Last fall Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds stunned the climbing world by bringing the record down to 2:19.44.
Accomplished photographer, filmmaker and alpinist Austin Siadak spent this past summer filming Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold when they brought the record of 2:19.44 down to 1:58.07. I spoke with Siadak about filming the sub-two-hour climb.
What was it like to be on El Capitan when they broke the record?
It was a pretty cool thing to witness. I remember when Honnold ran over the edge to the finishing tree and was heaving. You can tell that he was gassed. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. Honnold is a rational person, like hyper-rational. He doesn’t tend to show emotion. He had this moment when you could see it in his eyes. Honnold was like, “Oh my god.” He yelled down, “Tommy, c’mon.” Caldwell pulled over the edge, ran and dove for the tree.
How long did the documentation take for a project this size?
From start to finish, it was almost a month that we were in Yosemite. They climbed it around 14 times. Caldwell even had speaking gigs throughout, so he only stayed in the valley for roughly 20 days. He climbed The Nose 14 times in 20 days.
What did a typical day of filming the speed attempt look like?
Every day was different. Some days I’d go up with a rigger to fix lines, and other days we’d jug up to get in position. We filmed every attempt, though we didn’t always get on the wall. Only
three attempts were filmed from the ground or on top. We just wanted to get as much coverage as possible, since we knew we’d be condensing for the film. The overall process was a very collaborative effort between Brett Lowell, Samuel Crossley and me. I was usually the one shooting the bottom half of the climb because I was the fastest jugger. I wanted to be in position at least 15 minutes before them. We’d wake up around 3:30 a.m. and drive to the meadow. I’d walk to the wall with my jugging kit and camera gear, then climb a thousand feet in darkness.
Did you or any of the team run into any issues with getting in the way of Caldwell and Honnold?
There was only one time when I was in a position and had to spread my legs super wide, pushing off the wall so that they could climb underneath me. There was a fun moment under the Great Roof when I was filming. Honnold ran into a group of Spanish women aiding the roof, and he attempted to use what little Spanish he knew while Caldwell came up to the belay. All of a sudden Caldwell dropped his jumar and just had to improvise.
Did either Honnold or Caldwell take a big whipper?
Caldwell took a huge fall. He was leading and waiting as Honnold swung over. Honnold then took Caldwell off belay to deal with the rope for a few seconds. Caldwell, right as Honnold had taken him off, slipped on easy 5.9 terrain. He took a monster fall, nearly 100 feet onto a piece that he was short-fixed to. It was scary, but everyone was OK.
Was it nerve-racking to watch?
I have a pretty high tolerance for risk, especially shooting stuff like that. I’ve gone out and shot Honnold soloing, and I wasn’t too worried about it. However, as the process went on, I started to see the record in a different light. They’re not putting the same amount of concentration into it. They’re trying to move as fast as possible, and they’re less calculated than if they were climbing at a casual pace or soloing. It resulted in lapses of concentration which could have been dangerous for them.
They wanted to break the record feeling somewhat in control, not hanging it out there as much as Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds did when setting the previous record. They were trying to keep the safety margin higher. But over time, as they started going faster, the whole thing got a lot more serious. By the last few attempts, I finally saw them exert themselves. This was after beating the previous record and then trying to go under two hours.
From your view, do you ever think the 1:58.07 record will be broken?
I would never say it couldn’t be done. Honestly, I don’t envision anyone breaking the record for at least a decade. It would take athletes with nearly the same fitness, ability and experience as Honnold and Caldwell. Honnold said that if they wanted to, they could go down to sub 1:45. However, it wasn’t worth the risk to continue. Everything else aside, I think The Nose climbing record is kind of stupid. It’s not worth the inherent dangers involved.
“He took a monster fall, nearly 100 feet onto a piece that he was short-fixed to. It was scary, but everyone was OK. … Everything else aside, I think The Nose climbing record is kind of stupid. It’s not worth the inherent dangers involved. ”