Ammon McNeely

Ammon McNeely (born June 3, 1970) is an American rock climber, who holds the most Speed Climbing World Records and First One Day Ascents on El Capitan in Yosemite. Other interests are: BASE jumping, wingsuiting, skydiving, surfing, skateboarding, trail running, mountain biking and snowboarding.

Ammon McNeely

Ammon McNeely, 2003
Personal information
Nationality	American
Born	(1970-06-03) June 3, 1970
Climbing career
Type of climber	Big wall climbing
Known for	Speed climbing El Capitan
Updated on 11 April 2013.

Ammon has been the conductor of many ascents on El Capitan, most of them in a day (under 24 hrs): Plastic Surgery Disaster, Wall of the Early Morning Light, Atlantic Ocean Wall, and most recent climbing one of the hardest routes on El Capitan, The Reticent Wall along with Dean Potter & Ivo Ninov in 34 hours and 57 minutes, shaving the existing time by more than five days.

He is recognized as having climbed El Capitan by the most number of different routes - 75 times via 61 routes.

McNeely is the first (Nate Brown is the only other one) to have climbed all three routes on The Streaked Wall in Zion National Park, ascending all three routes with a First One Day Ascent.

Ammon is also a slackliner and pioneered many highlines throughout the US and has opened up new BASE jumps, as well.

In October 2013, Ammon nearly lost his foot in a BASE accident in Moab that he described as: "We were with one other jumper who was new, and I voted that Andy goes first, the two new guys go in the middle, and I go last. They had perfect exits, great openings with no wind. I jumped, probably took a tad longer delay than I should have, being it was a new exit with new brake lines, and immediately had a 180-degree opening. I struck the cliff with my left foot and continued rag dolling down the cliff where I finally came to rest on a sloping ledge. I knew I was banged up, but to my utter surprise my foot was flipped on its side looking very similar to a Nalgene bottle with just a sliver of skin keeping it on." [1][2]

In October 2017, Ammon lost his right leg below the knee in a BASE accident in Moab. [3]

Some of his other El Capitan speed climbing accomplishments include:

• Lost World: 23:29 - w/Ivo Ninov July 7, 2009 (First One Day Ascent)
• Never Never Land: 16:00:02 - w/Chris McNamara - August 4, 2004 (First One Day Ascent)
• Horse Chute: 20:39 - w/Chris McNamara - Oct 8, 2004 (First One Day Ascent)
• Magic Mushroom: 55:15 - w/Ivo Ninov & Kevin Jaramillo - July 4-6th, 2005
• The Reticent Wall: 34:57 - w/Dean Potter & Ivo Ninov - July 12–13, 2006
• Wall of Early Morning Light: 23:43 - w/Brian McCray - September, 2004 (First One Day Ascent)
• Pacific Ocean Wall: 33:02 - w/Ivo Ninov - May, 2004
• New Jersey Turnpike: 14:00:02 - w/Brian McCray - September, 2002
• Atlantic Ocean Wall: 23:38 - w/Brian McCray - August 4, 2004 (First One Day Ascent)
• Native Son: 23:53 - w/Ivo Ninov - May 15, 2006 (First One Day Ascent)
• Iron Hawk: 30:42 - w/Cedar Wright - May, 2004
• Scorched Earth: 22:28 - w/Skiy Detray & David Allfrey
• Tangerine Trip: 10:24 - w/Cedar Wright - July, 2002
• Virginia: 17:24 - w/Gabriel McNeely & Ivo Ninov - July 16, 2005
• Lost in America: 18:04 - w/Brian McCray - August, 2004
• Zenyatta Mondatta: 22:56 - w/Ivo Nivov & Kevin Jaramillo - June 27, 2005 (First One Day Ascent)
• Plastic Surgery Disaster: 21:37 - w/Brian McCray - June, 2001 (First One Day Ascent)
• Lunar Eclipse: 19:58 - w/Jose Pererya & Chongo - June, 2001
• Born Under a Bad Sign: 22:22 - w/Chris Van Luevan & Eric Walden - October 2, 2001 (First One Day Ascent)
• Eagle's Way: 9:08 - w/Brian McCray - August, 2004
• On the Waterfront: 17:07 - Skiy Detray & Ammon McNeely - July 15, 2009 (First One Day Ascent - 3rd overall Ascent)
• Pressure Cooker: 23:41 - w/Ivo Ninov - September, 2004 (First One Day Ascent)
• Get Whacked: 12:49 - w/Brian McCray - June, 2001 (First One Day Ascent)