EDITION 03 - MARCH 25, 2025
Your window into the stories, history, and ongoing work to preserve Yosemite’s climbing legacy.
A Note from the Editor
This week, we chat with Yosemite (and beyond) big wall soloist Taylor Martin. Her standout accomplishments in the park include a sub-24-hour solo ascent of the Nose and a sub-24-hour ascent of Lurking Fear, both on El Capitan. She also completed two big wall first ascents—both solo—one on the Camp 4 Wall and another on the Yosemite Falls Wall. This year, Martin is joining YOSAR (Yosemite Search and Rescue).
Next week, we profile Yosemite big wall first ascent climber Kevin DeWeese. He shares insights on his mentorship with Steve Bosque—whose first ascents span decades—and discusses the dozen-plus first ascents and attempts he’s made around the Valley. These days, DeWeese says, he’s having more fun than ever.
The following week, we speak with Yosemite big wall free climber Sonnie Trotter, from Canmore, Alberta, about his upcoming book, Uplifted: The Evolution of a Climbing Life. The book will be released May 13th through Patagonia Books. Trotter will present at this year’s Yosemite Facelift and sign copies of his book.
To read the latest Gripped story on YCA founder Ken Yager, click Rockfall on the South Face of Half Dome: Ken Yager’s Closest Call.
Chris Van Leuven
Editor, Yosemite Climbing Association News Brief
YosemiteClimbing.Org
Photo: Taylor Martin solo on The Shortest Straw, El Capitan. Courtesy Martin collection
Valley Local Taylor Martin on Soloing El Cap in a Day
She breezed up Lurking Fear in 18:46 and, later, the Nose in 22:21
“I feel like rope-soloing the Nose in a day, the style I did it in, was almost too much risk,” Taylor Martin tells me from the ski resort Alta in Utah. “There’s no real margin for error—like, if anything happens, you’re just toast.”
During this past season in Yosemite, Martin—who divides her time between Utah and California—soloed El Capitan five times, Washington Column three times, and Leaning Tower once and also established two big wall routes solo. Additionally, she completed several El Cap routes with partners. As a precursor to her solo ascent of the Nose, which she completed in 22 hours and 21 minutes on May 28, she soloed Lurking Fear in 18 hours and 46 minutes on May 17.
In the past two years, she’s climbed El Cap 11 times via six different routes.
In-a-day solos of the Nose are rare. Steve Schneider was the first to achieve this feat in 1989, completing the route in 21:22. In 2016, Miranda Oakley became the first woman to solo the Nose in a day, doing it in 21:50. In 2014, Chantel Astorga came close to being the first, topping out in 25 hours and 40 minutes (read my story on her ascent here).
For Lurking Fear, Martin began the route at 10 p.m. on May 17, climbed through the night and into the following day, completing it in 18 hours. The 2,000-foot route (19 pitches) is rated 5.7 C2.
On the morning of May 28, she hopped on her bike in Curry Village, rode to El Cap Meadow, looked up, saw three parties on the wall, and started up the Nose (5.9 C2, 3,000 feet/31 pitches) alone.
Martin back-cleaned and linked pitches with her 80-meter rope to save time. Sometimes, she kept the rope away, mixing free and aiding climbing.
She quickly passed the first two teams and climbed alongside the third above Sickle Ledge, heading into the Stovelegs (pitches 6-9). She says, “It was stressful knowing they were watching me climb in such a sketchy way—something I had never experienced before and was just accepting for this one climb.”
“I did a lot of daisy soloing,” she continues. "On Pitch 5 above Sickle Ledge and on Texas Flake (Pitch 13), I had a few cams—probably a #1, #2, and a 0.75—attached to a daisy, and there were a couple of pitches below El Cap Tower (Pitch 12) where I climbed the fist crack using a #4 cam on a daisy.”
“I would plug them in, do a little aid move, then transition to a free move. There wasn’t a rope involved in that, which feels a bit weird in hindsight. The Stovelegs were pretty similar—I just kept bumping up two pieces. In hindsight, I think it would have been a lot more fun if I had just pitched it out.”
During her Nose ascent, she described on Instagram that she was glad she brought a triple set of cams: “Funny enough, I got a cam welded in every size... and had to leave them behind. I was happy to shed the weight. You only need two cams to bump up a uniform splitter crack, right?!”
“My main concern was doing the King Swing in the dark. I’ve never actually done the swing, and it was pretty wild running sideways with all my stuff. The added weight made it tough but not impossible.”
Once past the Gray Bands, she linked the Great Roof and Pancake Flake and kept the rope out for the remainder of the route. “The whole upper section was incredible. Just knowing the rope was out made it so much better.”
Later, Martin soloed West Buttress in two and a half days over June 16-21 during her weekend away from her Curry Village Bike Rentals job.
“It was kind of scary, actually,” she says. “I had to pull on thistle stalks to get through a muddy chimney. It had a lot of mandatory free climbing.”
Mountain Project describes the 2,100-foot/21 pitch 5.9 A3 route as “a burly classic featuring many excellent pitches like the gold ribbon 5.8 layback, the Jungle Chimney, the steep headwall crack reminiscent of the Salathé headwall and finally the Grand Traverse to the comfort of the well-traveled Lurking Fear.”
Martin went light for her climb of West Buttress, bringing a medium-sized haulbag and eschewing a portaledge, opting for an emergency hammock instead (in case she didn’t reach a natural ledge). She used it on pitch 10, at the base of a flaring crack that required a mix of strenuous aid and free climbing. Anticipating that it would take hours, well into the darkness, she rested up for the morning.
She pulled out her hammock, strung it between two bolts, and settled in for the night. “Honestly, it was one of the coolest places—so steep, and no one was around, and the sun was setting in a really beautiful way. I just felt like, you know... Royal Robbins.”
Martin’s ascents of El Cap over two years include the following in order: Zodiac (solo), Lurking Fear (with a partner and solo), Nose (two in-a-day ascents, once solo and once with a party of three), Shortest Straw (solo over four and a half days), Iron Son (with a partner), and West Buttress. She also established two new routes: Infinite Now on the Camp 4 Wall (5.9 A4, 12 pitches) and Dirt Worm (5.9 A3, 12 pitches) on the Yosemite Falls Wall.
In April, Martin will return to Yosemite, and instead of heading back to the Curry Bike Stand, she’ll be working on Yosemite Search and Rescue. “I’m stoked about that,” she says.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Professor Maggie Sogin high on the North Face of the Rostrum. Photo: Chris Van Leuven