Rock & Ice caught up with Sam Elias after he and Mike Kerzhner did the 3rd free ascent of PreMuir (5.13+) on El Capitan in Yosemite, CA:
He fired it [the crux stem corner pitch]. Then, so did I. It wasn’t romantic. It was a nerve-racking nightmare. It required all my physical strength, as well as my mental resolve. This pitch always haunted my thoughts, and I felt that if we could get through it, we’d have a really good chance. We easily dispatched the next 5.13a pitch, and when the day was over, we were psyched.
