What It’s Like to Free Climb El Capitan in One Day

On November 1, rock climber Will Moss became the fourth person ever to free climb The Nose on El Capitan in a day, joining Tommy Caldwell, Connor Herson, and Lynn Hill. In free climbing, climbers can only use their own body to propel them upwards—ropes are only there for protection. Moss, 20, told Outside what it was like. 

The final 12.c pitch on The Nose was causing me problems. I had fallen four times. The sun had come out, it was a cloudless California sky, and I was getting really hot.

I untaped my finger and went for it a fifth time. I made it through one move and had to grab a crimp, which felt extremely sharp. I got my left foot elevated, which forced me to crimp even harder. I felt the skin on my finger split.

I looked over and my finger was bleeding everywhere. Luckily, I had tape in my pocket. I was standing on this tiny flake in the middle of the pitch. I stopped, grabbed the tape, and wrapped it around my bloody finger. Blood was leaking everywhere, but the tape helped, and I managed to make it through the hardest part.

I enjoy doing climbs you can complete in just one day, because you don’t have to haul your gear and deal with that. And the Nose is so special—it is stacked with 30 of the best pitches in the world. These would all be five-star pitches at any other crag, and to be able to do them one right after the other sounded amazing.

And yeah, I wanted to be up there with the other climbers who have done it, alongside the legends. But really, it was about wanting to have an insanely fun day.

I was sleeping in my Honda CRV when my alarm went off at about 11:30 P.M. I ate breakfast, got dressed, and met Tanner Wanish in the El Capitan meadow. We walked to the base of El Cap and scrambled up to the start at about 1:15 A.M. We were the only ones there. I got some music going on my phone—I think it was some classic rock—and did the countdown.

For the first five pitches I would climb the rope length, pull our gear through, and fix Tanner. I would start climbing the next pitch as he was coming up, so we’d be moving at the same time. We made really fast time and got to Dolt Tower at about 3 A.M. That’s when we realized just how crowded the mountain was.

There were two different sleeping parties on the ledge, and more above. We kept going past Camp IV to the Great Roof (pitch No. 1 of 31) and saw even more groups sleeping. It was the most crowds I’d ever seen on El Cap.

It took three and a half hours to get to the base of the Great Roof, which is almost two-thirds of the way to the top. Since we were so ahead of schedule, we chilled and ate breakfast.

I had gotten this far a few days earlier, but the rock was wet from a rainstorm, and I didn’t make it to the top. On that ascent, my skin was wrecked by the time I got to the Great Roof. But this time, my skin was feeling incredible and the rock was dry. My forearms were tired—I had throbbing that wasn’t going away. I wasn’t feeling great, but I was feeling confident.

We were climbing past a lot of aide climbing parties. They were stoked to see us, and we got a lot of cheers.

The first 5.11 crack we hit was wet. I was cold and my feet were getting numb. I threw a hard move down at the beginning of the Great Roof and I fell. It wasn’t great. But Tanner told me I’d get it the next time. I rested a bit and then things went much better.

The next few pitches weren’t too bad. The Glowering Spot, another pitch, felt hard and insecure. Another aid party was there, and there were two ropes that were dangling down, which complicated things a bit. I had to climb around some bags.

We had to wait at the pitch Changing Corners for an aide climber to get through. We got there at around 10 A.M. and I wanted to get going, because I knew it would get the sun on it around 11:30 A.M.

The crowds made things a little stressful. Belays were more complicated, and they added a higher level of nervousness because we were trying to stay on a tight time schedule.

In the end we got really lucky. Yeah, we had to climb through the ropes of other parties. But everyone we encountered was chill. People were nice and let us pass.

I sent Changing Corners on the first try. It was all going so well. We got to the base of the final push at around 10 hours and 15 minutes.

I thought, I’ll free the Nose and then do Freerider in the same day. My friend, Andrew, began texting friends asking if anyone would climb Freerider with me. But then, on that final 12.c pith, I fell four times.

I love climbing with music. I just play it on my phone speakers in my pocket. Whenever I start to struggle, I think I probably need to change the playlist. 

I played classic rock until the Glowering Spot, and then I threw on Michael Jackson. I sent the Great Roof to Smooth Criminal. After that, I put on a rock playlist with Tyler the Creator and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

After I fell on the final hard pitch, I threw on Katy Perry. That’s what I play when things are getting desperate, and to be honest, her music had worked in hard spots a few times before.

I played Last Friday Night and California Girls. And I did it.

When I got to the top, I was so tired. I realized I didn’t have it in me to do Freerider. 

We were at 11 hours and 48 minutes. It was great. I called my dad and my girlfriend and told them I’d done it.

As told to Frederick Dreier. This interview was edited for space and content.