A couple people have written me and suggested that the Huber brothers will not get the record on The Nose because they are short fixing while Yuji and I were simul-climbing most of the route. The premise that simul-climbing is faster.
I say it's a wash. When you are SECURELY anchored in the short fixing method you can really push for speed with far less worries of fallingly. And while SMOOTHLY and SAFELY simul-climbing you do not have to stop and undo anchors, nor switch from jugging to belaying.
I've experienced climbing The Nose with leading and belaying virtually every pitch in "normal" style, in under 7 hours with numerous partners. I've seen the Huber Brothers get 1/3rd the way up the wall in 50 minutes,- that would yield an overall time of 2 hours and 30 minutes. They also HAVE completed the route in 3 hours and 14 minutes while "stopping" to work out the last pitch or two of the route.- They stopped because they saw they didn't have the record in hand, - I suspect on that attempt they could have easily gone under 3 hours.
I'm looking forward to seeing them turn in some fast attempts this fall.
Hans
ps. are you or someone you know missing from this list: www.noseinaday.com