French big wall and trad expert Soline Kentzel pushes her own limits with her three and a half day solo ascent of the Nose on El Capitan.
In 2022, the then 21-year-old Soline Kentzel with her commission of Golden Gate (1.000 m, 8a) was one of the youngest women to free climb a route on El Capitan. Now the Frenchwoman, who also climbed the trad test piece about a year ago, The Journey (E10, 7a) in Annot, struck again in Yosemite: Kentzel climbed the famous route The nose on El Capitan – freed more than 30 years ago by the American Lynn hill.
What was special about the ascent: The 24-year-old climbed the approximately 1.000-meter-long Nose solo, i.e. without a climbing partner and with self-belay. Kentzel spent three and a half days alone on what is probably the most famous Big Wall traveling the world.
Solo climbing as an expression of self-efficacy
In recent years, Soline Kentzel has spent a lot of time with her Belgian climbing partner and mentor, the big wall expert Sebastien Berthe, on the way. After their joint ascent of Golden Gate They climbed the Nose together in under ten hours.
I know now: I can manage perfectly well on my own.
Soline Kentzel
Your solo adventure on El Capitan The strong Frenchwoman, who has been climbing for less than ten years, deliberately chose it as a personal challenge. "I wanted to build new self-confidence on the wall," Kentzel writes on Instagram. The 24-year-old says she used to have trouble trusting in her own abilities, even in tricky situations.
With her rope solo of the Nose, Soline Kentzel successfully pushed her mental boundaries: "The longer I was on the route, the calmer I felt."
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Credits cover photo: Sebastien Berthe