Lynn Hill and the video of The Nose, El Capitan, Yosemite

We've talked much about The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite recently, thanks in part to the free repeat by Dutchman Jorg Verhoeven, but also thanks to the fact that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the first one-day ascent at the hands of America's Lynn Hill.

The climb began at 22.00 on 19 September and ended at 21:00 the next day, was light years ahead of its time and came about thanks to the (just as historic) first free ascent carried out the previous year, in 1993.

The key to success was deciphering two pitches in particular, The Great Roof and the one shortly afterwards, Changing Corners. While the roof was unlocked and freed together with England's Simon Nadin (winner of the first Lead World Cup in 1989), the smooth corners were courted together with Brooke Sandahl.

Writing about this experience for the American Alpine Journal at the time, Hill explained "Climbing it free would involve an ingenuity and technical finesse that I rarely, if ever, encountered on any other route." She's referring to delicate smears and the most unimaginable moves on "a unique expanse of rock that almost seemed custom-designed for someone of my body dimensions and background in climbing."