Photo: Ammon McNeely and Rich Copeland on the Pinnacle of Hammerdom, during the second ascent of Hole World on El Cap. Photo: Tom Evans

Ammon McNeely, fresh from his second ascent of El Cap's Wings of Steel (VI A3+ 5.10+), see most recent issue of Rock and Ice for the Wings feature, has repeated Eric Kohl's 1990 line Hole World (A4).

Hole World, named by Kohl after the large amount of drilling he used to link features between Lost World and West Buttress, was one of El Cap's last independent lines, and reportedly quite hard—Kohl's routes have the reputation of being difficult, dangerous, and understated.

McNeely began the route soon after this summer's ascent of Wings, with big-wall aspirant Clif Jordan, but two pitches up, Jordan had had enough, a fact confirmed by a core shot on the lead line that forced the duo to retreat.

A week later, McNeely, with wall veteran Rich Copeland headed back up. On the second day, a thunderstorm trapped the two in a waterfall where they were pummeled by rockfall, but they pressed on. The middle pitches four through seven, writes McNeely, "has thin technical nailing and even the straight forward cam placements resulted in a couple of falls because of, onion-skin-thin, flakes peeling off on either side.

The 8th pitch boasts a steep overhang called “Spooge Central,” one of the slimiest pitches I’ve ever been enveloped in, ending in a corner that had so many bushes that it was hard to find the crack underneath it all. The route eased up once we got to the “Grand Traverse” and the next few pitches took us to one of the coolest features on El Capitan, “The Pinnacle of Hammerdom.”

The second ascent took McNeely and Copeland seven days, "although we were taking it easy and enjoying the experience."  The 15-pitch route has 158 holes, but McNeely and Copeland agree that the route's name doesn't do the climb justice, and offered the replacement name Burl World. McNeely reports that Hole World is a more natural line than Wings of Steel, but has "quite a few straight-out rivet ladders," and eight to 10 enhanced hooks. He also reports that Wings is a "more problematic" climb, but that Hole World is definitely more dangerous.