



Click here to read more about Tommy and Kevin Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed the first free climb of the Dawn Wall route on 3,000-foot El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Considered one of the most ambitious ascents ever attempted, the more than two-week climb required careful choreography. Hear Caldwell and Jorgeson talk about what it took to make the historic climb and how they felt when they finally reached the top.

Tommy Caldwell

When we met in Yosemite, I gave him a 75 pound pack and made him hike up this ledges he got to the top and threw it in the ground and said “Yeah, that felt good.” I was like “this guy is gonna be good probably”



For all those 6 years I had this whinging beacon that I was heading towards and made me wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning super psyched to pursue this dream. Could this actually exist? Its really improbable. This ncredibly blank steep wall. Even the last season, I didnt know what was gonna happen.



Kevin Jorgeson

It was very possible that we didn’t do it this year, maybe we would never do it, and that had to be OK.



Tommy Caldwell

We ended up having to climb up during the winter, because the conditions were the best for doing high climbing but that also meant there was some ice fall.



Kevin Jorgeson

I never had like a pumpkin size piece of ice go right by me before. I was…my helmet is in the portal edge I can go anywhere I’m stuck to this fixed line it’s either gonna hit me or is not and I was like ”this sucks.”



Tommy Caldwell

We were both prepared to fail, but we got in a roll.



Kevin Jorgeson

Key pieces started to fall into place. It was clear that the only thing left to do is a push.



Kevin Jorgeson

There’s major cracks in the feature system. One in Mescalito and one in the wall of Morning light and we have to connect the 2 and there’s nothing in between.



Tommy Caldwell

Then it came down to this incredibly technical style of climbing. Kevin’s expertise really was key because he was so good at analyzing everything, you know, the slightest variations in body positions, the angle that you step in this tiny ripples. We had to choreograph the whole thing down to a perfect science. Sand off any ridges in our shoes, sand off any ridges in our fingertips so we could make contact with the wall and then that only got us half way over there, what it came to at then it was building a belief that we could do it.



Kevin Jorgeson

There was a ton of pressure, I didn’t wanna hold up our ascent and I wanted to do it. We dedicated 6 years of our life, to doing this, coming down to this one pitch. It was like the most competitive and intense an emotional roller coaster over those 7 days battling with that 15th pitch



Tommy Caldwell

I was like, I can’t imagine going to the top of this thing without Kevin, we’ve been working in this together for so long. We started joking a lot more I was like, if I can just seem that I’m totally contempt to be up here and wait it out as long as possible that was gonna help take pressure off Kevin.



The fact that I dropped my cellphone off the wall and didn’t have to deal with email anymore I was like, “this is fun, this is a moment in life I’m never gonna forget and if it lasts a bit longer, that’s a great thing.” That battle that Kevin was going through was really extraordinaire to watch You see this great moments in sports history that are kind of legendary and I was the only one there to witness it.



Kevin Jorgeson

Grabbing a down pulling shelf and man sling on top. Just felt like all of the stress and desire and the focus that had been applied over the last 19 days just fall away and I was like weightless and there was nothing else to do.



Tommy Caldwell

My mind could not really comprehend what was going on completely I think I was at a point where I didn’t totally find care wether I finished it or not, I was that much into the process. Actually now that its gone I’m kind of worried about my life a little bit. Like this climb became so much bigger than us.



Kevin Jorgeson

To think that theres some kid out there that is totally inspired, who knows what that will lead you to, but that’s the good stuff, that’s its not what it makes it all worth it, cause I would be happy if only our friends and family followed along and knew about it, but if that’s gonna be the by product, I mean how cool.







