Jernej Kruder accomplishes the hardest Slovenian free ascent in El Capitan...

Jernej Kruder has accomplished the hardest Slovenian free ascent in El Capitan.

Slovenian sport climber Jernej Kruder, former overall World Cup winner and European bouldering champion, has been making his mark in alpinism in recent years – most recently in one of the largest and most famous walls in the world, the Californian El Capitan. Between 5 and 8 December 2024, he free climbed the 1000-metre route El Corazon, graded 8a on the French scale or 5.13b on the American scale. This is the first Slovenian free repeat of the route El Corazon, and the most demanding rock free ascent by Slovenians in El Capitan to date.

Slovenian free climbing of big walls in El Capitan began in 2003. Matjaž Jeran and Miha Valič were then the first Slovenians and the seventh team overall to free climb the route Freerider (5.13a or 7c+, 1000 m). A few days later, Matevž Kunšič climbed the route, but free climbed the hardest pitches with a top rope. Despite multiple attempts by numerous Slovenian teams in this monolithic wall, it was not until 2015 that Gašper Pintar and David Debeljak succeeded in the second Slovenian completely free ascent of El Capitan – they climbed the route Freerider in seven days. The third free ascent, the most demanding one, was achieved in December 2024 by Jernej Kruder, who climbed the route El Corazon (5.13b, 8a, 1000 m) in just four days with German climbing partner Dirk Uhlig. Free climbing is a style of climbing in which the climber uses only their own strength, skill, natural features (holds, footholds, cracks) and the friction provided by the rock or wall for progression. Technical aids such as pitons, quickdraws, cams, butterflies etc. serve exclusively for protection.

The Slovenian-German team travelled to the USA on 26 November and, after a few demanding routes as “warm-up”, entered the famous route El Corazon in the renowned granite monolith on 5 December. The 1000-metre route consists of 32 pitches ranging from 20 to 60 metres in length. The most difficult of these, named Beak flake and Roof traverse, are graded 8a French or 5.13b American, three are rated 7c+ or 5.13a, five 5.12 or seventh grade, the rest lower.

“Finally the time had come for our main project – El Corazon 5.13b in El Capitan. We prepared all the gear, food and drink and hauled it up fixed ropes to Mammoth Terraces. After a day of rest we entered the route very early to avoid climbing the slabs in the sun. We progressed quickly and successfully to our base camp (Mammoth Terraces). We did not take the gear with us as we descended in the evening and slept at the same spot. Before descending we quickly completed the remaining easier pitches, and I wanted to climb the first hard pitch of the route on the first day. The sun made my onsight attempt difficult and after a few moves I was already hanging in the harness on one of the rarely placed bolts in the entire route. I took some time to carefully study the remaining moves and lowered back to the belay. The sun had set behind the horizon, but the wall was still radiating heat. In the second attempt the well-studied moves finally overcame the heated granite. So for my birthday I received the gift of Beak flake,” Jernej Kruder (ŠPO PD Celje Matica) recalls in his report, having climbed himself the best birthday gift: “The hardest part was convincing Dirk to finally enter the route. He didn’t know I was celebrating on the fifth, so I was very happy when he agreed to go into the route that day. That rum was also much sweeter than usual. And of course the ascent of Beak flake, the 17th pitch of the route and also the hardest.”

The second day involved jugging 170 metres – the distance they had descended into the dark the previous evening to base camp – and hauling the rest of the gear, which weighed at least 50 kilograms, taking a lot of energy and time. Therefore they climbed the next five pitches in the scorching sun, in a section of the route that was harder to navigate, with poorer quality rock and less than ideal protection. Kruder fought through the crux onsight, fell above it, lowered to the belay and climbed it on the second attempt. During the entire ascent he fell in the wall only twice; all other pitches he climbed first try.

They spent the night on a hanging ledge in the wall; the third day they climbed all day in the shade – thanks to the chimneys that inspired awe but which they successfully climbed. The cherry on the climbing cake was still waiting: “The belay was not the most suitable for bivouacking and there was little energy left for climbing. Only one, the hardest pitch of the route – Roof traverse, 5.13b – separated us from the junction with the Golden Gate route. Again I could not resist the beautiful colours of the sunset and the tempting traverse that winds 30 metres towards the tower Tower to the People. I hung the gear on my harness that I thought would be sufficient for protection and entered the pitch, which immediately put my hands to the ceiling. I quickly progressed leftwards. The holds were getting worse and so was the protection. The angular crimps did not cause me too much trouble, but the poor protection played a little with my psyche. Fortunately towards the end of the roof the crimps became slightly better, so I could catch my breath. The difficulties were not over. The exhausted body still had to be moved over the roof. Again I tried with force, but the wall defended itself with my foot slip. I hit my face against it but did not give up. I climbed a few moves back, rested a little and returned once more to the crux. This time I won! At that moment Dirk was already quite tired, so he joined me on the ledge via the fixed rope. Again we ate well and almost celebrated my successful ascent, as from here only familiar terrain awaited us.”

The next morning they were in no hurry; the final pitches awaited, again requiring some inner calm. The last evening on the summit of El Capitan after four days of climbing was the most beautiful for them, marked by a good dinner, comfortable bivouac and the last sips of birthday rum. “Honestly, the hardest was keeping my head in the right place. Many pitches were mentally demanding due to poor protection and poorer rock quality, so several times I had to forcefully erase doubts from my mind to continue. Of course the most beautiful moment was when I climbed onto the ledge Tower to the People after a successful onsight ascent of Roof traverse. From here I also knew the route, so it was easier mentally,” the 34-year-old from Celje relives the climb after returning home and adds: “Many climb the lower part of the route, descend to the ground and often sleep on the ground too. When they return to the route they climb that part on ropes and continue with free climbing. Some even try the harder pitches with descent from above. Dirk and I uncompromisingly decided on the ascent in four days plus one day for the descent. We were driven only by the knowledge that we were capable of free climbing the route. Of course good energy helped with the relaxation that is so important.”



“For me El Cap is just a thousand connected boulders. And I have climbed quite a few of those in my life,” Jernej Kruder vividly describes. He was the overall World Cup winner in bouldering in 2018, in 2014 he won the world vice-champion title in bouldering – the first Slovenian medal at World Championships in boulders – and in 2020 he became European champion in the discipline. He has always climbed on rock as well. He has climbed numerous boulders, the hardest graded 8C, and numerous sport climbing routes, the hardest graded 9a+. He completed the first repeat of Chris Sharma’s legendary DWS route Es Pontas. In the last decade, even as an active competitor, he began climbing multi-pitch routes, soon also very serious and the hardest alpine rock routes. His impressive list includes routes such as Spomin (8c) in Paklenica, Lepotica in zver (8b, 800 m) in Rjavina, Korenina (17 h, 1000 m) and Ulina smer (IX) in Triglav, Bellavista and Panorama on Cima Ovest, the Fish route on Marmolada and many others. “El Corazon is completely different from the others. The grade is not high, but the route demanded a completely different approach from me. You have to constantly switch focus between climbing, protecting, finding the line, hauling the haul bags and setting up the portaledge for sleeping. In addition, the Roof traverse pitch represents my hardest onsight ascent with on-lead protection placement,” Kruder concludes.

“Jernej Kruder has always pulled hard on boulders and has become a legend in the climbing world. He entered alpinism in the last decade, partly also due to injuries that are common in sport climbing at the highest level and could heal with ‘easier’ climbing. The potential of someone who has a boulder graded 8C and a sport route graded 9a+ on his tick list, and thus power in abundance, can be enormous in alpinism. He almost effortlessly completes routes that are one after another at the top of the lists of the hardest rock alpine routes, the wet dreams of every ambitious alpine rock climber. This time he succeeded in El Capitan. He climbed the route El Corazon (5.13b, 8a, 1000 m) with Dirk Uhlig; they needed four days. It went quite smoothly; among other things Jernej onsighted the famous Roof traverse graded 8a. Impressive!” enthuses top alpinist and mountain guide Tomaž Jakofčič, also the author of Alpinistične novice.

The full report of the alpine expedition El Capitan 2024, co-financed by the Alpine Association of Slovenia, can be read on the PZS website; more photos are available in the photo gallery.



More about this outstanding ascent can be heard in the latest PZS podcast V steni: Jernej Kruder: Climbing, boulders, competition successes and the transition to the hardest alpine routes. There was also a feature about the ascent on Pop TV.