Free climbing El Capitan has been a goal of mine ever since I started climbing but one that I assumed wouldn’t happen for years to come. Most people aren’t aware that 99% of the people who climb El Cap don’t even attempt to free climb it, since such an endeavor was historically only accomplished by the elite of the climbing world.

Two days after linking up El Cap and Half Dome in a day, I partnered up with Lance Coley and we set our sights on a route called Sunkist left of the Shield Headwall on the Southwest Face of El Cap. My friend John Bolte had first told me about the route, and we had talked about potentially climbing it wall style over multiple days.