“I guess Jake Whisenant must have beat Alex Honnold’s record free climbing assent on El Capitan.”
That was my question. Did he beat Honnold’s record?
Alex Honnold’s record was climbing the Freerider route (5.13a) in 3 hours and 56 minutes.
Jake Whisenant’s record was climbing the Lurking Fear route in just 2 hours, 55 minutes and 32 seconds.
Wow.
Records are made to be broken. Once somebody breaks the record, others follow...
I’d guess he at least tied the record for speed descent.
There are several different climb routes. From a Brave search:
Whisenant and his partner Brant Hysell completed the Lurking Fear ascent on October 27, 2024, in a time of 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 32 seconds. This achievement broke the previous record of 3 hours and 4 minutes, which had been held by Yuji Hirayama and Nick Fowler since 2003.