El Capitan
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A former hiking guide reveals his favorite trails in and near Yosemite National Park, with views of enormous waterfalls, El Capitan, and wildlife
Our national parks are celebrating the season (aren’t we all?) with fun and immersive special events. We've mapped out our favorites, from photo classes to great music to getting dirty helping on a trail day.
Friends pay tribute to an icon of the Yosemite climbing scene
Josh Ourada fell 200 feet while free-soloing in Yosemite this spring, and lived to talk about it
Despite their differences, climbing’s most famous besties get along because they share the same convictions, support each other’s harebrained schemes, and, of course, engage in some good-natured smack talk
When Sanni McCandless started dating legendary climber Alex Honnold, she never expected that millions of people would soon be watching her relationship on screen
“For me, the climbing community was not a barrier to coming out. That community is what made it possible.”
The climber talks about the scary falls that actually enabled her to make it to the top of Yosemite's iconic big wall
This year the famous outdoor film festival is going virtual, with thrilling tales of climbing adventures and profiles of charismatic conservationists
After the achievement of a lifetime, a few very important details got lost in translation
One of the best boulderers of the 1990s is climbing into her fifties
What could have been a fatal fall is just a stepping stone on Harrington's path to become the first woman to free climb one of El Cap's hardest routes in a day
What happens when you find yourself on El Cap with a badly injured partner? Former Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) worker Josie McKee and climber Quinn Brett found out.
Pearl Johnson is now the youngest person to ascend the 3,000-foot rock face
Yes, your palms will get sweaty
She's the youngest person in history to climb the iconic 3,000-foot route
If you haven’t seen the Oscar-winning film chronicling Alex Honnold’s historic rope-free ascent of El Cap, you can check it out (or see it again)
Dierdre Wolownick gives us an inside look at what it was like to raise the 'Free Solo' climber in 'The Sharp End of Life'
How a father-son trip to Yosemite conquered my fear of hiking, bears, and falling off chairlifts
It's the first climbing film to receive such broad mainstream acclaim
Tim Klein and Jason Wells were weekend warriors. They were also two of the best climbers to ever ply their trade on Yosemite's most iconic wall. So the climbing world was stunned when they died on some of its easiest terrain.
From big-wall climbers to surf champions, these are the most dedicated, successful athletes of the year
Connor Herson makes sixth all-free ascent of the world's most famous big wall
Finally, the Czech climber shows us that he might be human after all
Has being the subject of arguably the best climbing film ever made changed him? Absolutely.
People are worried. But, naturally, it's usually about the wrong things.
Five favorite books from the Dawn Wall pioneer and aspiring environmentalist
In their new film, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin capture Alex Honnold’s historic ropeless El Cap climb and the emotional toll it took on everyone around him
Filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi doesn’t climb, but her determination to shine a light on what drives extreme mountaineers produced two of the best adventure documentaries of the past decade
The world’s best-known climber describes his approach to scaling iconic rock faces without a rope
Last week, Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold set the speed record on the Nose. But even they're not sure it was a great idea.
Over the past week, the duo has made repeated attempts to climb the Nose route on Yosemite's El Capitan in under two hours. They finally succeeded.
Days after Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell broke the speed record on the Nose, two experienced climbers died on El Cap. Has speed climbing gotten too deadly?
Last week, the legendary speed climber broke bones in both legs when he fell and hit a ledge after a piece of protection popped 2,200 feet up the rock face
Wearing wild paisley shirts and bell-bottomed pants, smoking cigarettes and posing with rebellious insouciance, Bridwell and his partners created an utterly new image of the rock climber as anti-establishment biker-hippy-hardass, while sending routes harder and more terrifying than anything done before
Big-wall climber Quinn Brett fell 100 feet while climbing El Capitan. Now paralyzed, she thinks back to her accident and reimagines her future.
Rob Miller worked for seven years to develop a new line up Yosemite's tallest wall. In the end, it all came down to a few short moves.
Writer and climber Jeff Johnson was near the base of El Cap when a chunk of rock the size of an apartment building broke off above him. Here's what he saw next.
Doug Peacock, Mark Allen, Kris Tompkins, Shaun White, Lynn Hill, Lindsey Vonn, Yvon Chouinard, Conrad Anker, and Laird Hamilton reflect on their passions and their lives outside
A search and rescue veteran recounts some of the most nail-biting missions on land and water
We caught up with the climber to talk about his most essential everyday gear
Honnold is known for his minimalism, both in climbing and in life. But there are couple items he deems essential.
We all know Alex is the greatest climber of our generation. I trust him with my life. I trust him a little less with his own.
Joe Hanson, Phillip Wright, and Dominic Joyce are three lads from England who challenged themselves to climb the Dawn Wall in 2016.
The Czech climber just conquered one of the world's hardest routes in record time
In 1973 the faces of Yosemite were strikingly, male. For Lynn Hill, Sibylle Hechtel, and Bev Johnson this just became unacceptable.
On January 14 as the sun was falling in Yosemite National Park, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed what is arguably the most difficult ascent in the history of rock climbing. The duo remained on the wall for 19 days, climbing 3,000 vertical feet along widely spaced, razor-thin granite holds. Their prize: the first free ascent of El Capitan's Dawn Wall. With cell service throughout their climb and a team of photographers including Corey Rich and a crew from Big Up Productions tagging along, the pair generated a media buzz rarely seen in the climbing world. With athletes this determined, images this good, and a backdrop of one of America's favorite locations, the ingredients add up: History on the Dawn Wall.
Like any real estate choice, camping is all about location, location, location. Camping on a portaledge—a deployable, hanging-tent system—gives rock climbers locations worth bragging about: unimpeded views, no noisy neighbors, and everything from egress to big-wall climbs. In the U.S., there’s no better place for a suspension sleeping system than…
I would like to conquer Yosemite's Halfdome in September. How can I train for altitude climbing if I live near sea level? Paul Chesterfield, Michigan
Tommy Caldwell needed a challenge, so he decided to hoist his clanking gear rack and free-climb one of Yosemite's hardest routes—a punishing 5.14 called Magic Mushroom—in 24 hours or less. Matt Samet was there from start to finish to watch the planning, training, and performance of a superhuman athlete at the top of his game.
Over four days this past May, 26-year-old Estes Park, Colorado–based climber Tommy Caldwell completed what is arguably the greatest big-wall climb in history. Using only his hands and feet, he made a first free ascent—no pulling up on mechanical aids allowed—of the Dihedral Wall, an obscure route on the west…