Skip to main content

Vertical Street View of the world’s most iconic rock wall: Yosemite’s El Capitan

Today we’re launching our first-ever vertical Street View collection, giving you the opportunity to climb 3,000 feet up the world’s most famous rock wall: Yosemite’s El Capitan. To bring you this new imagery, we partnered with legendary climbers Lynn Hill, Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell. Read more about the project from Tommy Caldwell, who completed the world’s hardest climb in Yosemite in January of 2015. -Ed.

“That is awesome. I definitely have to be a part of that.”

Maybe it was the sheer exhaustion from being in the middle of a 19-day climb of the Dawn Wall, but when the guys at Google Maps and Yosemite National Park asked if I wanted to help them with their first-ever vertical Street View collection of El Capitan in Yosemite, I didn’t hesitate. Yosemite has been such an important part of my life that telling the story of El Capitan through Street View was right up my alley—especially when it meant working with the Google engineers to figure out some absurd challenges.

Climbing is all about flirting with the impossible and pushing the boundaries of what you think you can be done. Capturing Street View imagery 3,000 feet up El Capitan proved to be an extension of that, especially when you take a camera meant for the inside of a restaurant and mount it thousands of feet up the world’s most iconic rock wall.
Brett Lowell and Corey Rich capturing Street View of Alex Honnold on the King Swing

Doing anything thousands of feet high on a sheer granite face is complicated, but everyone up there had spent years of their lives on a rope and knew exactly what they were doing. After some testing, we used our tried-and-true climbing gear like cams and ropes to make sure the camera wouldn’t fall to the ground in the middle of our Street View collection.

Once we figured out how to keep the camera on El Cap, we created two sets of vertical Street View. First, we collected Street View of legendary Yosemite climbers—and my good friends—Lynn Hill and Alex Honnold in iconic spots up the sheer vertical face.

Lynn Hill’s ascent of El Capitan changed the paradigm of climbing, and she had an extraordinary effect on my climbing career. I’ll never forget when she became the first person, man or woman, to free-climb (using only her hands and feet) “The Nose” back in 1993. Now, you can see her navigate these epic moves— like climbing sideways on tiny holds of the Jardine Traverse, inventing a “Houdini” maneuver on the Changing Corners and traversing under the Great Roof.

Any story of El Capitan had to include my good friend Alex Honnold. He holds the speed record for climbing the Nose at 2 hours and 23 minutes - most people take 3-5 days. His unwavering confidence in himself is contagious; when I’m with him, I feel like the mountain has shrunk to half its size. As you make your way around Yosemite in Street View, you’ll see Alex doing what he does best: chimneying up the “Texas Flake,” racing up the bolt ladder, or getting dinner ready in the solar-powered van he calls home.

You’ll also see a glimpse of yours truly on the Dawn Wall. I spent some of my rest days during my January climb of the Dawn Wall testing out the Street View technology the Google team had sent me that month. El Cap is an intimidating environment for experimentation, but years of setting ropes proved pretty helpful in figuring out how to get the equipment rigged and ready to collect Street View.

Then, we really put Alex to work to collect the second set of Street View: the entire vertical route of “The Nose” on El Capitan. One of the few people that could do this efficiently and quickly, Alex took the camera and pretty much ran 3,000 feet up with photographer partner Brett Lowell. Now, anyone can get the beta (climbing speak for insider advice) before they climb the entire route.

Lynn, Alex and I also helped create a new Yosemite Treks page, where you can take a tour up El Cap and learn more about climbing, from what a “hand jam” is to why we wear such tiny shoes. And as a father, I’m excited kids will learn more about Yosemite when Google brings students to the park through NatureBridge later this year as a part of this project. Plus, its pretty awesome that students who can’t make it to Yosemite yet will be able to go on a virtual reality field trip to the Park with Google Expeditions.

Yosemite’s driven so much of my life that I’m excited to be able to share it with the world through my eyes. These 360-degree panoramic images are the closest thing I’ve ever witnessed to actually being thousands of feet up a vertical rock face—better than any video or photo. But my hope is that this new imagery will inspire you to get out there and see Yosemite for yourself… whether you travel up a rock wall or just down the trail.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

gadgets that promise to make flying better

The worldwide display of gadgets - like these Apple Watch smartwatches on display in Shanghai, China - is set to decline in 2015 for the first. Hooked to the closed tray table on the back of the passenger seat, the portable gadget is said to support any electronic device up to 7.5 inches he drying time is eternal and inspecting the shriveled treasures feels less like cooking, more like collecting beetles. We talk a lot about essential gadgets that we can't live without and useless gadgets to toss in the Goodwill bin, but we rarely talk about the ones  If you're headed to the beach or any other weekend getaway, don't forget these “essential” gadgets . Of course, no technology is Now that it's been established that Apple actually does check its social media mentions and is even capable of making major changes to its. If you're looking for a way to beef up your bicycle with gadgets that make each journey more enjoyable, keep reading. A lot of smartphones in re

vadina tho modhati anubhavam hot story

                 వదిన తో తొలి అనుభవం నా పేరు హరీష్ అప్పుడు నేను ఇంటర్మీడియట్ సెకండ్ ఇయర్ చదువుతున్నాను , ఇంట్లో నేను చిన్నవాడిని, మేము మొత్తం ముగ్గురం , ఫస్ట్ మా అన్నయ్య తరువాత మా అక్క , నాకు మా అన్నయ కి (brother ) దాదాపు 10 ఇయర్స్ తేడా ఉంటుంది, మా అన్నయ్య కి పెళ్ళయి 7 ఇయర్స్ అయ్యింది , పిల్లలు ఇంకా లేరు , పిల్లలు కలుగాడటం లేదని ఎప్పుడు భాధ పడుతూ ఉంటుంది , నేను వదిన కి బాగా క్లోజ్ గా ఉండే వాడిని , నాతో అంతా చెప్పేది , నేను కూడా వదినకి దే ర్యం చెప్పేవాడిని .  ఒక రోజు మా అన్నయ ఫ్రెండ్ మ్యారేజ్ కి వెళ్ళాల్సి వచ్చి ఆఫీసు లో అర్జెంటు పని వాళ్ళ నన్ను వదినతో వెళ్ళమన్నాడు , మేము ఉండేది హైదరాబాద్ లో పెళ్లి విజయవాడ లో .  మా ఇద్దరిని బస్సు ఎక్కించి అన్నయ వెళ్ళిపోయాడు అది  నైట్ జర్నీ , బస్సు లో ఇద్దరం పక్క పక్క సీట్ లో కూర్చున్నాము, వదిన, నేను చాలా సేపు కబుర్లు చెప్పుకున్నాం , బస్ లో డ్రైవర్ లైట్స్ ఆర్పేసాడు , కాసేపటికి వదిన నిద్రలోకి జారుకుంది , నేను కూడా పడుకుందామని నా సీట్ లో ఒరిగాను , అప్పుడే సరిగ్గా వదిన చెయ్యి నా ప్యాంటు మీద పడింది , నేను ఉలిక్కి పడ్డాను , వదిన పడుకొనే ఉంది , నిద్రలో  వెసి

Jaipur Pink Panthers, Abhishek Bachchan, Pro Kabaddi League, Kabaddi

Jaipur Pink Panthers' owner Abhishek Bachchan said his wife and actress Aishwarya Rai is not just an avid follower of the Pro Kabaddi League side as well as Indian Super League football franchise Chennaiyin FC that he owns but also offers him valuable inputs which aids his functioning as a franchise owner. Raider Jasvir Singh got four points for the Panthers from a single raid with 10 minutes left when he got a touch on the last two Mumba players standing to pack the rivals off for a second lona and two additional points. Things went neck to neck in the initial stage, the highlight being U Mumba captain Anup Kumar taking three rivals out to help his side take a 4-2 lead before the Panthers caught up and then jumped ahead to a two-point lead (8-6). For U Mumba, the points tally in raiding was expectedly led by captain Anup Kumar(11) but what swung the game the Panthers way was superior defending through which they secured 13 points as compared to their rivals'. Stout defe