10/1/13 - Libby Sauter and Mayan Smith-Gobat have shattered the female speed record for the Nose of El Capitan. The two climbed the route in 5 hours 39 minutes on September 29, two days before the federal government shutdown closed Yosemite National Park.

The two women took more than 1.5 hours off the old record of 7 hours 26 minutes, which Smith-Gobat and Chantel Astorga set last fall during a sub-24-hour link-up of the Nose and the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome. That record was in turn nearly three hours faster than the previous women's speed mark, set by Quinn Brett and Jes Meiris.

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Smith-Gobat, a 34-year-old from New Zealand, has set extraordinary goals for this fall in Yosemite, including free-climbing the Nose, linking El Cap and Half Dome all-free, and breaking the overall speed record, male or female, for climbing the Nose. However, the federal government shutdown that began today has closed all national parks during prime Yosemite climbing season.

Source: MayanClimbs.com, New Zealand Herald