On January 14, after a two-and-a-half-week journey, elite rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson hauled themselves over the lip of Dawn Wall, a 3,000-foot-tall sheer rock face on the east side of Yosemite鈥檚 iconic El Capitan peak. It was the first time in history that the route has been free climbed in a single push.
The pair had been planning the climb for nearly a decade before embarking at the base of the wall on December 27. Caldwell, 36, of Esetes Park, Colorado, and Jorgeson, 30, of Santa Rosa, California, joined forces in earnest in 2009 to begin mapping a route up the 32-pitch wall, and to prepare physically. Pitch 15, a sideways traverse with little to hold, proved an enormous challenge for Jorgeson, who stalled on the section for several days.
Dawn Wall, named because it鈥檚 the first surface to get sunlight from the East, is widely considered El Capitan鈥檚 most dangerous route and one of the most difficult climbs in the world.
Caldwell and Jorgeson aren鈥檛 the first pair to make the climb鈥擶arren Harding and Dean Caldwell completed it in 1970鈥攂ut they聽are the first to do it with ropes used only to prevent falls, not to aid the ascent.
鈥淲hat makes the Dawn Wall so special is that it鈥檚 almost not possible,鈥 renowned free-solo climber Alex Honnold . 鈥淭he hardest pitches on the Dawn Wall are harder than I鈥檝e ever climbed.鈥
