Man first to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes, safety gear in under 4 hours

A 31-year-old man was the first person to scale El Capitan, the nearly 3,000-foot granite wall at Yosemite, without ropes or safety gear on Saturday, USA Today reported.

Alex Honnold of Sacramento started free-soloing the wall at 5:32 a.m. and completed the climb after 3 hours and 56 minutes, according to the USA Today report. Honnold and another climber set a record-breaking speed climb of the Nose route in 2012, completed the ascent in a staggering 2 hours, 23 minutes and 46 seconds.

National Geographic said the climb may be the greatest feat of pure rock climbing in the history of the sport.

This was the second time Honnold attempted to climb El Capitan – the first was in November, National Geographic said. He has been training in the U.S., China, Europe, and Morocco for more than a year.

Additionally, the climb was filmed for an upcoming National Geographic Documentary Films feature, which was led by Jimmy Chin, one of Honnold’s longtime climbing partners, and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Man first to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes, safety gear in under 4 hours."