A 30-year-old climber who made headlines for racing up Yosemite’s famed El Capitan in record time has died in an accident in the Sierra Nevada. 5 Yosemite speed climber Jake Whisenant, who set a record for scaling El Capitan, died in a Sierra Nevada accident. El Capitan, the massive granite monolith rising thousands of feet above Yosemite Valley, is particularly renowned among big-wall climbers. 5 Whisenant’s record-setting El Capitan effort came after he had already completed the same route in just over four hours two days earlier. Whisenant had also successfully completed the Nose route at El Capitan an impressive two times in one day.