The Swedish climber Hannes Puman managed to free climb the Nose (8b+) via the Schnaz variation. This difficult alternative to the Changing Corners pitch has probably never been free climbed before.
Hannes Puman crowns his first Yosemite trip with an impressive success on El Capitan: He succeeds in what is believed to be the first free ascent of the Nose (1000m, 8b+) on the Schnaz Variation. He spent a total of six days on the wall for this daring feat together with Jamie Lowther. Fun fact: just a few days earlier, the 26-year-old had already free climbed Freerider (1000m, 7c+).
The Schnaz Variation is a very demanding bouldering section that avoids the infamous Changing Corners pitch. This variation, which was bolted during the free ascent of the Nose, has been attempted in the past by well-known climbers such as Alex Honnold.
He and his crew spent the first week of their Yosemite trip mainly training on classics such as Peace, Love, Astroman, Rostrum, Separate Reality, Ahab, Moby Dick and Generator Crack in order to get used to the peculiar style of the Californian climbing mecca. The "acclimatization" should have been completed by the time they climbed Book of Hate (8b).
Together with fellow countryman Jakob Östman, he repeated Wet Lycra Nightmare (9SL, 8b), Todd Skinner's test piece from 2004. "We climbed all the pitches within one day on the first or second attempt," says Puman. Later, with the same climbing partner, he managed to free climb the Huber route Freerider (1000m, 7c+).
That might interest you
- Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher free climb The Nose on El Capitan
- 10 year-old climbs The Nose at El Capitan
- Record: 15 year-old Connor Herson climbs The Nose at El Capitan red dot
+ + +
Credits: Cover picture Hannes Puman