The TrainingBeta Podcast: A Climbing Training Podcast

TBP 013 :: Hans Florine on Speed Climbing The Nose and Training for It

Oct 22, 2014

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About Hans Florine

This is from Wikipedia because I couldn't possibly sum this up any better. Hans Florine has a long and storied history on El Cap, and in particular on The Nose. Here goes:

Hans Florine (born June 18, 1964)[3][4][5] is an American rock climber, who together withAlex Honnold holds the Speed Climb World Record for climbing The Nose of Yosemite’s El Capitan in 2:23:46 (2 hours, 23 minutes and 46 seconds), set on June 17, 2012[6] which broke the previous record of 2:36.45 set by Dean Potter and Sean Leary. Hans also previously held the same record with Yuji Hirayama for El Capitan in 2:37:05 (2 hours, 37 minutes and 5 seconds), set on October 12, 2008.[2] This broke their record of 2:43:33 set on July 2, 2008, which had broken the record that was set by the German "Huberbuam",Alexander Huber and Thomas Huber.[7] The two brothers climbed The Nose on October 8, 2007 in 2:45:45, breaking Hans' and Yuji's prior speed record.[8] El Capitan is traditionally climbed in three to five days.[9]The Nose route is 2,900 ft long (880 m) and features over 31 pitches of strenuous, exposed climbing.[9] Florine thus climbed The Nose at roughly 6 minutes per pitch. On July 30, 2005, Florine also completed a solo ascent of The Nose in just 11 hours and 41 minutes.[10] Solo ascents are characterized by climbing by yourself and require one person to do all the work.

Pretty impressive, huh? I wanted to know how he trained for such crazy shenanigans, and he kindly gave his time for an interview.

What We Talked About

His seriously amazing feats as a Yosemite and competition speed climber
His badass training sessions in the gym before work
How he trains for big walls and speed climbing
What he eats before and during big wall speed ascents
Whether or not he'll attempt another speed record on the Nose
A lot more