1. Hans Florine was born on June 18,1964 and is an American rock climber, who holds the record for the number of ascents of Yosemite Valley's El Capitan and is known for holding the speed record on The Nose of Yosemite's El Capitan 8 different times.
Hans Florine is well regarded in the climbing community, and pioneered many of the methods currently used in speed climbing.
Hans Florine started climbing as a teenager in 1983, and began competing in bouldering and speed competitions by 1986 at a time when competition climbing was not popular.
Hans Florine found that by speed climbing in competitions he was able to earn some gear and a tiny bit of money to fund his climbing, and by climbing quickly he could simply get more climbing in.
In 1990 Hans Florine Teamed up with Steve Schneider to Climb The Nose route in a record 8 hours and 6 minutes.
Hans Florine broke The Nose speed record with Yuji Hirayama in 2002, with a time of 2:48:55.
On July 30,2005, Hans Florine completed a solo ascent of The Nose in just 11 hours and 41 minutes.
Hans Florine has won 3 gold medals in X-Game speed climbing, in 1995,1996 and 1997.
Hans Florine won the US National championships at City Rock in Emeryville CA in 1990.
Hans Florine won two other national events in difficulty climbing, as well as 12 national titles in speed climbing.
Hans Florine won the first ever World Championships in Speed Climbing in Frankfurt Germany in 1991.
From 1991 until 1995 Hans Florine was the Executive Director of The American Sport Climbing Federation.