Two Retired Comp Climbers Pull Off a Rare Free Ascent of ‘the Nose’

This article originally appeared on Climbing

"We convinced ourselves that El Cap was probably just a series of comp slabs," Billy Ridal said of his decision to attempt the Nose with Alex Waterhouse. "Polished granite is basically one big dual tex hold."

The Nose (VI 5.14a) follows the 2,900 foot prow in the middle of Yosemite's El Capitan. First climbed by Warren Harding in 1958, and first free'd by Lynn Hill in 1993, the historic granite big wall has for seven decades stood as a crucible for climbers worldwide. The 31 pitch route follows a series of lower angle hand cracks to roughly two thirds heights, where the pin scar underclings and technical smears of the Great Roof (5.13c) thwarts many free attempts. After that the climbing steepens and hits the even harder Changing Corners (5.14a), seven meters of Houdini style stemming and pressing up the sheer granite wall.

But the Nose proved to be a relatively casual affair for Alex Waterhouse and Billy Ridal, both 26 years old, both from Sheffield, England, who recently freed the route together, each redpointing the crux two pitches. Over their 33 day trip to Yosemite, they spent 19 days on the wall, culminating in their seven day push.

Waterhouse and Ridal are two ace competition British climbers who began competing with each other at twelve years old. This spring, they both decided to retire from the World Cup circuit, where they'd been frequent semifinalists. "For everyone there comes a point where [competitive climbing] will demand more from you than it is giving back, and I got there," Ridal said. They began looking for something different to do in climbing.

"The Nose seemed ridiculous to begin with but it's probably a good choice for a top end sport climber," Waterhouse said of the objective since it's got bolted anchors, reasonable escape options, little blue collar wide climbing, and only two pitches 5.13 or harder. Ten other climbers have freed the Nose in the last thirty years, with Lynn Hill freeing it a second time in a day and Tommy Caldwell freeing the route three times, twice during linkups with other hard free routes.

Still, there was a steep learning curve. Waterhouse had just a little crack climbing experience, Ridal even less. "There's two routes in the UK with pin scars and I've not tried them," Waterhouse said. However, he had made the second ascent of Tom Randall's Kraken (V13), a 40 foot roof crack boulder in Devon, England, that has approximately one jam of each size from donut fingers to wide fists, providing plenty of experience for Waterhouse. In preparation he also climbed Ariana (5.12a) on the Diamond of Long's Peak, quickly learning that his super soft shoes worked great for 10-move comp problems but failed to provide the stability he needed for longer routes. In late September, Ridal arrived in the states after a bit of whimpering on the London Wall (an iconic E5 crack at Millstone Edge in the Peak District) and bouldering in Rocklands where he sent Get Railed (V14) and Book Club (V14), which arguably prepared him for Yosemite since the latter boulder has "finger locks galore at the top." The pair began their preparation for Yosemite by climbing The Naked Edge (5.11b) in Eldorado Canyon and then heading to Indian Creek, where in between climbing 5.11 and 5.12 cracks, they fought with Bellyful of Bad Berries (a 5.13a off-width) with Waterhouse flashing the route and Ridal making a quick ascent. After nine days of climbing together in the US, they made their way to the Nose.

What the pair lacked in traditional climbing experience, they made up for with the strengths built by their comp climbing background. "In sport climbing or bouldering, you can always come back, but in big walling you have a limited envelope of time," Waterhouse said, noting that the same is true in comps. After Ridal fired off The Great Roof, for instance, Waterhouse knew that he had to flip the switch and perform. Even trying the pitch the next morning would mean less water and more time exposed on the wall, which would enhance the even greater difficulties that still lay above; plus there was a looming flight back to the UK for Ridal. "I just have to do this now," Waterhouse said. "It's a mindset you develop for comps."

Waterhouse pulled it together and made a scrappy ascent of the pitch. "His power screams at the end of the roof sequence made it sound touch and go, but he willed his way through the pitch," Ridal said of Waterhouse's send.

"The style is very compy," Waterhouse said of the intricate body positioning of El Cap climbing. The bread and butter of comp climbing involves connecting weird features, similar to granite wall climbing. "When it gets hard it becomes much more about trusting your feet, understanding body positioning, being able to pull on shit holds, keeping your head through sustained, stressful situations, all fundamental skills of a competitor," Ridal said. The style helped them when they reached the Changing Corners, though they faced another difficulty.

Often in climbing, the success falls solely to the leader. In comp climbing, it's even more extreme where there can be only a single winner, creating a tense atmosphere. But even free climbing El Cap with a partner is uncommon. Of the twelve free ascents of the Nose, only Tommy Caldwell and Beth Rodden's 2005 ascent and Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher's 2019 ascent involved both climbers freeing the route. More often, a single partner frees the route and the second supports. But Ridal and Waterhouse were committed to a team ascent.

"This whole thing was a team endeavor, we had each another's lives in our hands, we were pouring all of our energy in to this single task, celebrating and suffering together," Ridal said. "We were totally happy with the possibility of failing as a team, but neither of us wanted a half success."

After Waterhouse sent the Changing Corners pitch, he was ecstatic but the pressure increased exponentially for Ridal. After numerous failed attempts, and with a waiting aid climber chomping on their heels to pass, Ridal gave the pitch a third and final attempt of the day, fighting to hold tension on the slick granite feet. "I didn't think I would find the same intensity in rock climbing as I searched for in competition, but that was it," Ridal said of sending the pitch.

The feelings were compounded by the team aspect. "When Billy sent [the Changing Corners], I was more excited than when I did," Waterhouse said. "It's one of the best feelings I've had in climbing."

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