The Nose

 mountain, cliff, climbing area

Warren Harding, Wayne Merry and George Whitmore made the first ascent via the Nose in 1958 using what was then the most up-to-date tools and techniques of the alpinist. It took them 47 days.
As of 2 July 2008 the record for this climb has been reclaimed by Hans Florine and Yuji Hirayama, with a time of 2h43'33".
2,900 feet in 32 pitches.
Their previous record of 2h48' in 2002 had been beaten by the Gebrüder Huber (Alexander & Thomas) in 2007 with a time of 2h45'45".
Florine has held the record for speed climbing the Nose of El Capitan several times since 1992. Every time some one bests his record, he comes back and tries even harder. Florine also holds the record (2005) for doing this route solo: 11h41'.
(En passant: His wife Jacqueline is the only woman who has done this route solo.)
Thirteen have fallen to their deaths since 1973 while attempting to free climb El Capitan. Total known fatalities on El Capitan since 1905 are 24.

Photos by John McChesney.