Photo: Corey Rich/Aurora Photos

On January 14, as the sun set in Yosemite National Park, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed what is arguably the most difficult ascent in the history of rock climbing. The duo remained on the wall for 19 days, climbing 3,000 vertical feet along widely spaced, razor-thin granite holds. Their prize: the first free ascent (using ropes only to catch falls) of El Capitan’s Dawn Wall. With cell service throughout their climb and a team of photographers and filmmakers including Corey Rich Bligh Gillies , and Brett Lowell tagging along, the pair generated a media buzz rarely seen in the climbing world. With athletes this determined, images this good, and a backdrop of one of America's favorite locations, the ingredients add up to history on the Dawn Wall.Climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson relied on a network of rigged ropes to move from their portaledge camps before tackling the next pitches. Each afternoon, they would leave their camps as the sun would dip around the corner and use mechanical ascenders to position themselves for the night’s climbing, when they did much of their ascending.