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Connor Herson Free Climbs The Nose in 9.5 Hours, No Falls
Connor Herson has freed The Nose on El Capitan in 9.5 hours with no falls. Herson first free-climbed The Nose in 2018 at the age of 15. Yesterday, we reported that Herson also just made the first free ascent of Triple Direct on El Cap – read about it here.
About his send, Herson said on Instagram, “Three days after getting down from Triple Direct, I freed the Nose in 9.5 hours with no falls! The day was supposed to be a “free as can be” recon mission, but when I sent the Great Roof around 8:00 am, I thought that it might be game on. Still, though, I could never have guessed that I’d fire off Changing Corners first go, and that it would feel the easiest it’s ever felt!”
The first ascent of The Nose was in 1958 after 47 days of effort by Wayne Merry, Warren Harding, and George Whitmore. Fast forward to 1993 when Lynn Hill made the first free ascent at 5.14, she returned the next year and freed it in under 24 hours. The next free ascent came in 2005 when Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden spent four days swapping leads. Caldwell returned and climbed it all free in less than 12 hours. He returned again and freed it in 11 hours, linking it with Freerider all free in under 24 hours.
The next free ascent of The Nose was in 2014 when Jorg Verhoeven, who spent three days on it. Then in 2018, Keita Kurakami became the first climber to rope-solo free The Nose. It was shortly after Kurakami’s ascent that Herson freed it at 15 years old. Less than a year later, three more climbers freed it: Seb Berthe, Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher. In 2023, Alex Waterhouse and Billy Ridal added their names to the list. Follow Herson below for more climbing.
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