The two students featured in the story below would first like to address the fact that climbing is an inherently colonial endeavor, rooted in the notion of conquering the land. They acknowledge that the land where the events of this story occurred is the home of the Miwok. They also pay respects to the Ute, Apache, Arapaho, and Comanche Peoples, whose home is the land where they spent most of their time preparing for this climb.
Block Breaks have always been a time to rest, play, and possibly embark on a small adventure. During the first Block Break in the fall of 2023, two CC juniors, Savian Czerny and Wiley Holbrooke, decided to take this third option to the extreme.
“It began with a wild idea freshman year,” says Holbrooke. “I told a friend, ‘I think I want to try and climb El Cap in a Block Break.’ And he told me, ‘there’s only one person on this campus who can do that with you.’” Czerny was soon introduced to Holbrooke and planning began.
The idea was based on Nose in a Day (NIAD), the goal of reaching the nose of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley in one day. Many consider it one of the best rock-climbs in the world and the goal has become an increasingly popular challenge. But could Czerny and Holbrooke get from campus, do the climb, and make it back all in one Block Break?
“The joke was always eighteen hours out, eighteen hours up, eighteen hours back, with about eighteen hours to spare,” says Wiley. And, as with life, it didn’t go exactly to plan.
They set off Wednesday morning at 10:30am, with Czerny doing the majority of the drive due to the fact that Wiley was sick. They camped in their car in the middle of Nevada Wednesday night and arrived in Yosemite Thursday evening. The original plan was to do the climb on Friday, but due to Wiley’s illness, they gave themselves an extra day.
This extra time also allowed them the opportunity to meet Hans Florine, the rock-climber who holds the record for the number of ascents of El Cap and has held the speed record for the nose climb at eight different times in the past, while resting in the valley. A fortuitous meeting as Florine offered to have water for them at his stop a third of the way up the cliff so they didn’t have to carry so much.
The duo started their climb at 3:55 on Saturday morning.
“It was our first time ever on the actual rock, and it’s in the dark,” says Czerny. Czerny was in charge of leading the first half and Holbrooke led the second half.
“The climb is physically challenging, but more importantly it’s extremely logistically challenging,” says Czerny. The pair had spent the entirety of Block 1 running through systems and memorizing the route. “I’ve never been more prepared for a climb in my life and it’s because of Savian,” says Holbrooke.
Their goal was twelve hours but they had planned for fourteen.
“We did a good job at mitigating and managing the risk,” says Czerny. “Not just climbing it dangerous because we could climb it dangerous.”
Sitting on a small ledge, three thousand feet up, it hit them. “Oh my god, we’re about to do this.” And, when they saw the famous tree at the top, they knew they had made it.
“I started to cry,” says Holbrooke. And then what did they do?
“Yeah, we FaceTimed our moms,” says Czerny.
From start to finish, it took the pair ten hours, forty-nine minutes, and thirty seconds. They had done it and done it faster than they originally thought possible.
“We just wanted to climb it,” says Czerny. “We had to do it fast because of the time allowed by the Block Break. But we just wanted to climb it.”
Two hours later, they were in the meadow below sharing a charcuterie board with friends and swimming in the river. The perfect end to a perfect day, in their minds.
“It was a really special way to end our time in Yosemite,” adds Czerny.
“I think a lot of time we lose sight of how silly it is,” says Holbrooke. “Climbers are so focused on individual achievement, that we forget to see how silly and fun it is. It’s about experiencing a beautiful place with a wonderful partner with tons and tons of people backing us up.”
They started the return drive Saturday and made it back to campus on Sunday night at 10:30pm, for a brief but well-earned rest.
Holbrooke and Czerny send a special thanks to all the people of the amazing climbing community who helped them with prep and gear beforehand and support during the climb.
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