El Capitan
This article describes El Capitan in California. For other meanings, please see El Capitan (disambiguation).El Capitan is a 3,000 foot vertical rock formation in
Yosemite Valley and
Yosemite National Park. It is one of the most popular monoliths with
rock climbers in the world.
The name "El Capitan" was a translation from the
Native American name "To-to-kon oo-lah", which was named after "To-to-kon", a
Paiute chief of the natives of the area.
The top of El Capitan can be reached by hiking out of
Yosemite Valley on the trail next to
Yosemite Falls, then proceeding west. For climbers, the challenge is to climb up the sheer granite face; there are dozens of named
climbing routes, all of them long and difficult.
The most prominent part of El Capitan, the "Nose", was first climbed in 1958 by
Warren J Harding,
Wayne Merry and
George Whitmore after 47 days of actual climbing spread over seventeen months. The team used rope,
pitons and expansion bolts to make it to the top, using
aid climbing much of the way. The route was repeated in 1960 by
Royal Robbins,
Joe Fitschen,
Chuck Pratt and
Tom Frost, who took seven days.
[ The first ascent of the Nose in one day was accomplished in 1975 by John Long, Jim Bridwell and Billy Westbay.]
Efforts during the 1960s explored the other faces of "El Cap", including the North America Wall on the southeast side. As it became clear that any face could be conquered with sufficient perseverance and bolt hole drilling, some climbers began to eschew the use of bolts and attempted to find El Cap routes that could be climbed either free or with a minimal use of aid. Even so, the West Face was not free climbed until 1979 (Ray Jardine and Bill Price), the Nose was first free climbed by Lynn Hill in 1993. It did not see a repeat until 1998, when Scott Burke free climbed it after 261 days of effort.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier opens with a shot of Captain Kirk scaling El Capitan.
El Capitan is also a circuit in the Playstation 2 games Gran Turismo 4 and Tourist Trophy.* Yosemite - Long Hard Free Climbs, a list of long free climbs in Yosemite, including on El Capitan.
