On October 13th I climbed for the first time with Alex Honnold. (the young man featured on 60 minutes a month ago http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7383158n ) We climbed The Nose route in 4:37. On the way to the base Alex said: "you don't get out that much, you can lead me up the whole thing if you want." I lead the route to camp four and Alex led the second half.

One week later, October 20th, we climbed The Nose again and made it in 3:16:30. I led to the Boot Flake and Alex led to the top.

On November 1st we climbed The Nose in 2:37:30. Same deal, I led to The Boot and Alex led to the top. Interestingly we both led for about 1:18. This was just 45 seconds slower than the existing record and 25 seconds slower than my best time set in 2008 with Yuji Hirayama.(Sean and Dean have the best time right now)

We've been starting the route anywhere from 8am to 11 am in the morning, depending on our schedules and the temperatures. Temps are as low as 50 in the valley floor but always above 60 or 70 on the wall where we start the climb.

You can see an article on our attempt here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/11/02/2600120/yosemite-climbers-attempt-speed.html or see facebook posts here: http://www.facebook.com/hans.florine

The weather looks like it has decided it for us. - We'll have to let the record stand for another 7 to 11 months. The route is too wet and likely won't dry out until May or later.

I believe now I have the season updates now included in the following pages. http://speedclimb.com/yosemite/compare.htm and here: http://www.speedclimb.com/yosemite/Elcap.htm

Give credit where it is due! If you or someone you know has climbed NIAD, make sure they are on the list.

In case any of you want to train with me in person I'm often at www.Diablorockgym.com (I manage the place) Just last week I did 68 challenges in a single day. see link There is a ton of fitness things we can all do to stay sane during the "dark days of winter."

Hoping you all got in your Fall Climbing goals or better yet are still getting after them. (like me)

Speed be with you.

Hans