[turnipturned]

Anyone know what the ‘British‘ nose speed record- must be a full British team I.e. not Ullrich and Mason.

[Johnny Brown]

There was a thread on UKC earlier in the year. Not much would seem to have been recorded.

[teestub]

There was a thread on UKC earlier in the year. Not much would seem to have been recorded.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rock_talk/british_nose_speed_record-716678

[Will Hunt]

When Randall is done pissing about in the Lakes then surely he and PWitt could smash whatever all Brit record there might be out of the park.

[teestub]

It would be funny if the fastest British time was actually Pete’s rope solo.

Edit:
Also a good opportunity to give Duncan some props for getting the record before it was cool!

[duncan]

It seems Brits only do speed climbing when they’ve got Swiss or Americans spurring them on!

TomR says he doesn’t feel very comfortable up on El Cap. - and has a business empire to run - so I think we need to find a better partner for PW. Speed correlates well with comfort soloing E3/4 so Caff would be a good shout if he could be persuaded to row across the Atlantic.

Are you thinking of having a go Dan?

[teestub]

Speed correlates well with comfort soloing E3/4...

...Are you thinking of having a go Dan?

 

Was thinking maybe someone with some more big wall experience like Cal Coldwell Storry would be in with a good shot but not sure he'd be interested in a speed record outside of the lakes

[northern yob]

2 brits together.... now that’s a tough one, I think Leo has the international record as discussed in the Ukc thread, maybe Dyer and Miles... I seem to remember them casually running a lap quite quickly. Good question

[A Jooser]

This thread could do with some solid times, dates, data and sources... I feel a UKB list coming on!

While defering to the greater knowledge of the above posters , and/or those mentioned in the list below, I Asked Jeeves^TM to kick things off:

All British Ascents of the Nose:

13hrs 26min - Pete Whittaker (solo) - 9th Nov. 2018 (source: this BMC page says timings on El Cap were 1.23pm-2.49am * time excludes warm-up on Half Dome)
22hrs - Chris Bevins (solo) - 16th June 2013 (source: UKC article)
...
120hrs (approx.) - Mick Burke and Rod Wood - 1st-5th July 1968 *first British ascent? (source: https://www.speedclimb.com/yosemite/thenose.htm)

It's not easy to find much info on British team ascents of the Nose.

Speed Ascents of the Nose by a Brit and Hans Florine (mostly)

6hrs 1min - Kevin Thaw and Hans Florine - 1992 (source: http://www.speedclimb.com/yosemite/el-capitan)
7hrs 2mins - Jason 'Singer' Smith and Leo Houlding - May 2001 (source: http://www.speedclimb.com/yosemite/el-capitan)
9hrs 30mins (approx.) - Duncan Critchley and Romain Vogler - 1984 (source: https://www.speedclimb.com/yosemite/thenose.htm which says it was the 'summer solstice' so 21st June?)
12hrs - Hazel Findlay and Hans Florine - 30th October 2013? (source: #54 from Hazel Findlay's blog in this UKB blog comPiler thread)

Corrections welcome, and more info/additions greatly received - there must be a fair few British teams who have done NIAD, so take it away...

[turnipturned]

Speed correlates well with comfort soloing E3/4...

...Are you thinking of having a go Dan?

 

Was thinking maybe someone with some more big wall experience like Cal Coldwell Storry would be in with a good shot but not sure he'd be interested in a speed record outside of the lakes

Asking for Cal, as he is so useless he can only use UKC.

But just because of Stubbs reaction, I might just prove him wrong!

[A Jooser]

All British Ascents of the Nose:

...22hrs - Chris Bevins (solo) - 16th June 2013 (source: UKC article)...

Slight correction:

22hrs 45mins - Chris Bevins (solo) - 16th June 2013 (source: UKC article and his blog post: https://chrisbevins.blogspot.com/2013/12/niad-solo-diaries_10.html)

...bit of rounding up and down involved in what's mentioned on UKC; and in that vein...

Speed Ascents of the Nose by a Brit and Hans Florine/Mason Earle (mostly)

11hrs 45mins - Mason Earle and Pete Rhodes - 2007 (source: the UKC thread and the list of ascents on Pete Rhodes' old website dug out from the Wayback Machine

I'll leave it to others who have first-hand knowledge, or are better connected to ask, to add solid timings and details to the other ascents mentioned on the UKC thread, Ullrich, Bransby, Dyer and Perkin, etc.

Can anyone name any all British team NIAD ascents? I went to a Noel Crane slideshow in the mid-90s when he spoke about his NIAD ascent, I think that was with an American but possibly remember he may have done it more than once. What about Adam Wainwright? Airlie Anderson did some El Cap ascents, were any of those on the Nose?

Chris Bevins in his blog says Andy Kirkpartick was aiming for a sub-24-hour Nose solo, he must have some quick times?...

 

[Johnny Brown]

As I recall Adam Wainwright put in a good time on the Triple Direct, climbing with Rolando Garibotti. Edit: 8:20 according to speedclimb.com

My recollection was that on The Nose, Bransby/ Tresch were in the ~9 hr ballpark, Dyer/ Perkin in the 10-11 hr. . As I said on UKC, it would be interesting if Neil and Miles had set a British record as it didn't seem to be on anyone's radar at the time. I will dig out my diary from the trip which may have more info but I'm sure it was quicker than P Widdy's solo.

Likewise it's interesting that Ben and Jvan seem now to be regarded as having set a record on Freerider that trip (which is undoubtedly more significant anyway) - they just wanted to both free it in a day, i.e. leading and seconding, which isn't how anyone speed climbing operates.

I think Airlie tried to solo Zodiac. Not sure how it went but I think she backed off. Edit: from AK's blog "when I climbed Zenyatta Mondatta with Airlie Anderson she kept calling down for “mouse beaks”.

[T_B]

Article in OTE back in the day by Andy Hyslop IIRC?

Adam Wainwright had the speed record for The Shield (?) at one point, but don’t think his partner was a Brit.

Lots of Brits of course hook up with folks in Camp 4. I climbed the Nose with Nate Beckwith who went on to become an A5 wad.

[Johnny Brown]

Adam Wainwright had the speed record for The Shield (?) at one point, but don’t think his partner was a Brit.

Same trip. A lot slower than they were on the Triple:

The Shield

10:58! Cedar Wright and Chris McNamara. August 1999

~2nd -18:05 Greg Murphy and Hans Florine. July 1996

~3rd -18:15 Rolando Garibotti and Adam Wainwright. 1994

[Johnny Brown]

Had a look at my diary but it stopped halfway through the trip when socialising took over. But found for Freerider:

* 4th? FA - Ben Bransby, Jvan Tresch, 10/02, 13:50

Suggests this was 4th ascent, but another source suggests 4th free-in-day. I think they'd already done it all free in a push over several days.

[northern yob]

On an all British front Leo and I had the leaning tower record for quite a while at 1hr 59. Before Honnold and possibly Tommy halved it!😳 Its definitely a pro British one to attempt. Lots of free climbing,very basic aid, and also loads of fixed gear.its also considerably less involved than ElCap which makes it a great one to learn/practise the systems involved.
On an early trip up there to check out the free climbing potential and to try some of the “speed climbing”that was all the rage at the time, we were  accompanied by the big wall pirate Ammon McNeely who said something along the lines of the bottom line when speed climbing is not to fall, and then proceeded to take a 40 footer. I’ll ask Leo for confirmation of his fastest time on the nose.

[i_a_coops]

Jacob Cook and Pete Whitaker  did freerider in a day in 2016. Took 16h4min

[duncan]

Some great nerdery as usual! 

CCS has had a great all-round Yosemite record over the last decade. Who will be his partner?  An able team should be able to smash whatever the current record is. 5-6 hours is a warm-up time in a modern context and he should be thinking significantly less than this.

[Johnny Brown]

I'm actually quite heartened that no one even seems to have attempted a British nose speed record. The speed 'records' we have seem mostly to be from pairs just trying to climb efficiently rather than chase records, which is how I'd prefer it to be rather than the tail wagging the dog as it does now.

OTOH, CCS FTW!

(If he's not past it.)

[T_B]

 

Unless you were an ex-pat I can think of a lot of things I’d prefer to do in the Valley than climb the Stoveleg cracks very quickly and pull on ‘draws across the Great Roof. Sure, doing it IAD on a single 60m with a light pack would be cool, but speed records on the Nose... a challenge for locals surely? Like SteMac doing Mecca x 10 on the trot or whatever. Leo doing the Prophet rather than chasing speed records says it all.

[northern yob]

 

The techniques are interesting because being able to move at speed and cover that kind of ground is appealing. The prospect of running laps over and over to get it super fast (and the risk involved to do it at top speed) is considerably less so! There’s so much more to do in the valley than run laps on the most popular routes. At the time we were always slightly bemused by the speed climbing scene. Whilst I can see the appeal and the options it opens up to people like Tommy and Honnold in the big mountains it’s a pretty niche thing even in the states.

[SA Chris]

Ding Dong / Miles P did it in 14 hrs

[duncan]

JB/TB/NY: for the vast majority of folk I'm sure you’re absolutely right.  A 12 hour alpine-style ascent - a little aid on the crux pitches and bolt ladders - is one of the best long rock routes anywhere and isn't much more sketchy than doing a load of E1-E5 trad. pitches in a row. You start and finish in the light, have an amazing day - assuming the route isn't rammed, and still get to the pizza deck before it closes.

CCS is a bit of an anomaly in UK climbing in that he’s engaged with nearly all facets of Yosemite climbing: bouldering, hardish crack climbing, El Cap. free routes, and properly hard aid routes. The only ‘discipline’ he’s not made his mark in is speed climbing so I can see why he might be interested.

[northern yob]

Leo’s best time was 6hrs something! Which in his words was off the couch.... it consisted of his bloc( the easier bottom one) taking 4hrs + and stanley doing the top one at a half speed. No specific time as they were just running a lap. It was around the time stanley was building up to the record!
I reckon any onsite time under 10 is still pretty impressive and an all British ascent in under 6hrs would be a really good effort. I can’t think of many sub 8hr times that haven’t had at least one member being considered a local. I do remember two Swiss brothers blitzing el cap one season, loads times of impressive in a push ascents! Not sure if they did the nose though.... Anthamatten brothers I think.

[Johnny Brown]

Saw Bransby last night. He can't remember the time, but said they didn't need headtorches.