26 May Ueli Steck Nearly Onsights Golden Gate
Swiss climber Ueli Steck – in Us for two months hollydays – free-climbed Golden Gate (5.13b, 41 pitches) and fell on only a single pitch, onsighting the rest of the climb.
Together with his wife Nicole, belaying, he spent 4 days on the wall, leading every pitch, and slipped on wet rock on a relatively easy pitch, the 5.11c crack off the top of El Cap Spire. Golden Gate is 41 pitches, one of 8a, 2 of 7c+ and five between 7b and 7c.
"For me it was a great dream climbing El Cap free. It was stupid to have this fall on an easy pitch, but on the other hand I am so happy that I could climb the route in this style—ground up and not trying the pitches several times or checking out the sequences before. It was a very, very strong experience for me.” said Ueli.
No one until now on-sighted Golden Gate, not even the local specialist Tommy Caldwell that in 2007 climbed it in 20 hours with 2 falls. Ueli did astonishing speed records on the north faces of the Eiger, Grandes Jorasses, and Matterhorn and he is as well a very talented free climber.
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source: climbing.com