The Yosemite Triple Crown
The Yosemite Triple Crown is a mega linkup that climbs the 3 most prominent big walls in the valley: El Capitan, Half Dome and Mt. Watkins. It is comprised of 71 pitches and over 7000 feet of vertical climbing with around 18 miles of hiking. First completed by Timmy O’Neill and Dean Potter in 2001, they set the tempo for it being done in sub 24 hours. The Triple has subsequently seen 8 ascents (assuming you count Honnold’s twice), all by people who I’ve looked up to in some form. This combined with the fact that it climbs some of the best rock in the world, makes it quite an appealing objective. As my partner Miles Fullman said, it’s sort of like the final exam for a Yosemite big wall climber being the ultimate test of climbing skill, big wall logistics/tactics, mental strength, and fitness.
This past February in El Chaltén, Miles asked me if I would be interested in climbing the Triple with him and while we had never roped up before, I had a gut feeling he would make a good partner. Fast forward many months, and I couldn’t be happier I had agreed. Miles is ridiculously fit, dialed on big walls, motivated, but most importantly, a solid human to spend time with on and off the wall.
We had discussed a few different strategies but ultimately decided that we would start by climbing the South Face of Mt. Watkins in the late afternoon, The Nose on El Cap through the night, and the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome in the morning. We spent two days climbing together in preparation, then selected the weekend of October 21st to make it happen.
My Basque brother Imanol flew out from his new home base in Colorado to hang for the weekend and it quickly became apparent he had assembled quite the support crew for our endeavor. He started off the weekend by kneading dough for a Friday night pizza party, and it was then that I realized I would be eating quite well the coming 2 days. I woke up on Saturday to a killer breakfast, a group yoga session led by some more friends and eventually linked up with Miles to hike into Watkins around noon. We intentionally walked slowly and hung out at the base for an hour because the 24-hour clock doesn’t start until we actually begin the climb. We started up the route as soon as it went into the shade just after 4pm with me taking the first block to Red Feather ledge and Miles taking us from there to the summit. Ima was insistent to meet us on top so I told him to be there at 8:00pm which I assumed would be a safe bet being that it took us around 5 hours to climb the thing during our practice runs. It turned out it wasn’t because we rocketed up in three hours and sixteen minutes. We were psyched and very much feeling in the grove. I climbed to Red Feather Ledge in 1:30 and miles climbed the entire second half of Watkins refilling gear only once. On the hike back to Tuolumne, we intercepted Ima and Jake along with a massive bag of homemade burritos, sandwiches, freshly made fries, a salad, and other goodies. We munched down as they drove us nearly an hour to El Cap Meadow.
After consuming a couple burritos on the drive down to El Cap Meadow, we exited the car, put our harnesses back on, and walked to the base of the Nose. The first four pitches of that route have always stressed me out a bit because I find them insecure but somehow under headlamp this time around, they felt smooth. We could hear the hooting and hollering of friends in the meadow and that provided even further motivation to climb at a steady pace through the night. I zoomed up to Sickle Ledge and managed to not climb up the wrong crack system at the start of the Stovelegs as I had done on my previous go on the route! Temps were hot despite being in the middle of the night and we were incredibly stoked to find a few gallons of water on Dolt Tower to quench our thirst. However, it was unfortunate to see how many empty bottles and trash were left on those ledges… sadly this was not the type of adventure where I was willing to haul them out. I led up to the great roof where Miles took over at around 1:30am. I knew the next few hours would be my time to recover so I fell into a rest-like motion of belaying and jugging. On the final bolt ladder, Ima’s headlamp appeared over the edge as he cheered us on while hanging on a fixed rope that he found on the summit of El Cap at 4:30am. Our time on the Nose was 6:40 and while it did feel like a bit of slog to climb at night, it went quite smoothly overall. We arrived at the tree on top of the route to the sight of 4 smoked salmon avocado toast accompanied by an entire liter of olive oil, a mango, and an assortment of other snacks. We quickly consumed our first breakfast and ran down the east ledges to quite the surprise in El Cap Meadow… an ensemble of more friends who had prepared a massive and elaborate second breakfast accompanied with wine… in the dark, at 5am. We of course drank some wine and sampled the various dishes before hoping back in the car to drive to Mirror Lake.
Ima accompanied us up the death slabs to the base of Half Dome along with some wine and music. We watched an insane sunrise and shortly after, witnessed a base jumper deploy their parachute directly above us. Despite all the beauty and the fact that we had stashed a rack and rope at the base, that hike really took it out of me. I got to the base of the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome feeling quite worked and grateful Miles was going to lead the first block. We drank a little wine to keep the stoke high and I simulclimbed behind to the top of the Robbin’s Traverse. I took over the lead with plenty of time to make it under the 24 hours mark, so I felt a bit inclined to slow down and keep things extra safe. As I exited the chimneys, I could hear cheering and looked up to see several heads popping over the visor of Half Dome. I scooted across Thank God Ledge as a massive cloud system rolled in to once again, find Ima hanging on a fixed rope to greet us. I turned back up the pace just a little and made it to the summit to find another assembly of friends, this time with a massive banner, champagne, wine, an entire pineapple, and charcuterie board. It was absurd and amazing. We finished with a time of 21:33, well ahead of the 24-hour mark and feeling incredibly stoked. We popped the champagne, had a summit dance party, and hiked back to the valley floor with friends and a feeling of fulfillment.
The 5.8 final pitch that always feels way harder than 5.8. Miles is in the background lowering out. I recall this is one of maybe 6 pithes on the entire triple where I self belayed. (Photo: Imanol Amundarain)
While our climbing feat is certainly something I am proud of and feel is a lifetime achievement, what made the day truly memorable was all the support we received. I was blown away by the people who showed up to cheer us on, cook for us, and celebrate with us before and after. Some were long time friends, some casual acquaintances, and others were passersby, who Ima roped into hanging out. It was beautiful and I owe a huge thanks to all those out there that participated in our Triple.
Images from our practice attempts the preceding weeks:
