Connor Herson Free Climbed Yosemite’s El Capitan with Tommy Caldwell

This past fall, Connor Herson decided to take a four-month break from his studies at Stanford University to go rock climbing. Herson, 21, is pursuing a degree in engineering, but his studies have often butted up against his desire to climb the toughest ascents in the country.

For the past three years, balancing college and climbing has meant squeezing as much of the latter as possible into winter, spring, and summer breaks—plus the occasional weekend trip to Yosemite during the school year. At age 15, Herson became the youngest person to free climb the Nose route on El Capitan.

“I’ve always balanced school and climbing but it’s gotten a lot trickier as I’ve gotten deeper into both worlds,” Herson told Outside. “I really wanted to see what I could do in a full season of Yosemite climbing.”

Herson made the most of this most recent break from class. In November, he free climbed one of the hardest routes up 3,000-foot El Capitan alongside famed American climber Tommy Caldwell. The ascent—which only a handful of other climbers have done before as a free climb—cemented Herson as Yosemite’s next great star.

“Connor is part of this super young generation that’s incredibly strong from having been brought up in modern-day climbing gyms,” Caldwell told Outside. “But he’s also an outlier among people his age in that he’s chosen to apply that strength and skill to big-wall climbing, which is so awesome to see.”

On El Capitan, Herson and Caldwell free climbed a route known as the Heart, one of the most technically difficult lines up the granite behemoth. Of the Heart’s 31 pitches, a whopping eight of them are at the 5.13 level.  

The Heart was first free climbed in 2015 by Mason Earle and Brad Gobright, following five years of planning and attempts. Free climbing is a style that requires climbers to rely on ropes and equipment only for safety—they cannot haul themselves up the route with gear. Other than Gobright, Earle, Caldwell, and Herson, the only other person to have successfully free climbed the Heart is Alex Honnold, in 2023.

Herson and Caldwell spent three days ascending the Heart, hauling their food, water, and portaledges as they went. Herson told Outside that free climbing on El Capitan with Caldwell was the realization of a lifelong dream.

“He was one of my heroes growing up,” Herson said. “Of all the El Cap legends, no one stands out as much as Tommy Caldwell.”

Herson grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. His parents were avid climbers, and they brought Herson and his sister, Kara, to the local climbing gym from the time they were toddlers. Herson started participating in competitive climbing events in middle school, and holds three national titles in sport climbing at the youth and collegiate levels.

He and his family also regularly traveled to Yosemite on weekends, and they took vacations to classic crags all across the U.S. Herson learned to trad climb (short for “traditional”) on these trips, placing his own gear for protection on the rock. His parents also introduced him to big-wall climbing—multi-pitch routes that cover thousands of vertical feet. Herson was just 12 years old when he first climbed Yosemite’s 2,000-foot Half Dome alongside his dad, Jim, who is a robotics engineer.

“My parents give me a lot of support with life in general and in climbing,” Herson told Climbing in 2022. “They have made a lot of sacrifices. There are times when we go to crags which might not have the best routes for them.”

Herson’s classes in engineering at Stanford don’t leave him as much time as he’d like to devote to big-wall climbing. He prepared for what he called his “gap quarter” this fall in Yosemite by cramming in a weekend of climbing there with Alex Honnold in May. Among other projects, the two completed the second free ascent of a route called New Leaf. Afterward, Herson had to hurry back to school for a midterm exam.

“Being in physical shape is one thing,” Herson said. “But more for me is the mental stress of school assignments or just anything school-related.”

He added, “Even if I’m not overtly thinking about that while climbing, it’s in the back of my mind.”

Herson spent the spent the past two summers in Canada’s climbing capital of Squamish, British Columbia, a world-renowned destination with multiple big walls. By the time he roped up with Caldwell for the Heart, Herson was already in very elite company, having ticked off all of the hardest single-pitch trad climbs in both Squamish and Yosemite, including Squamish’s iconic Cobra Crack. His preparations paid off on El Capitan.

“He was the most solid person I’ve ever seen climbing up there,” Caldwell said. “He’s also very level-headed and safe—like he wore a helmet all the time.”

Caldwell also started climbing big walls in Yosemite as a teenager with his dad. But that was 30 years ago, when rock climbing was much more of a fringe sport. “He’s just so much more advanced than I was,” Caldwell said.

Still, some things never change. Big-wall climbing comes with logistical challenges, particularly how to haul your food and supplies up the route. Herson was eager to learn Caldwell’s best practices. “There are a lot of small tactical strategies that he’s such a master at,” Herson said. “It was so cool to be able to climb with him and leverage that, and just learn so much from him.”

One of Herson’s biggest takeaways from the experience is that even Caldwell struggles on El Cap. “He doesn’t struggle that much, but when he does, and it was something I struggled on too, it’s just really validating,” said Herson.

Herson plans to resume his studies at Stanford in January, following the holiday break. In the meantime, he’ll continue climbing in Yosemite until the snow starts to fall. After the Heart, Herson told Outside that he would like to try every free-climbing route on El Capitan. “Not all in one season or anything,” he said. “Just slowly working away at trying all of them.”

“The combination of challenges on El Cap, of placing your own protection to keep it safe while at the same time pulling moves that are close to your limit, really speaks to me,” he added.

Caldwell can’t help but wonder what Herson would be able to accomplish in Yosemite if he pursued climbing full-time. “Up on the ledge [on El Cap], we mostly discussed how many semesters to take off from Stanford to climb,” Caldwell said. “As a parent, I’m in this weird position because I’m sure his parents don’t want him to drop out of school.”

Caldwell added, “But I’m also like, you could change climbing forever.”