Caldwell climbing the Loop Pitch (5.14a), his variation of pitch 16 on the Dawn Wall (VI, 5.14d). Photo by Corey Rich/Big Up Productions/Novus Select
Unlocking the Dawn Wall
Heralded as the climb of the century, it never would have happened without a radical solution to an impassable crux
Halfway up the absurdly sheer 3,000-foot southeast face of Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, its porcelain-smooth granite disappearing into the darkness, Tommy Caldwell faced a dilemma. It was January 2015, the final push on his attempt to free climb the Dawn Wall, and he had just floated through the two hardest pitches—fourteen and fifteen, probably the two most difficult pitches of free climbing in Yosemite Valley, the big-wall capital of the world. His partner, Kevin Jorgeson, was stuck on the second of the two, a baffling gauntlet of 5.14d traversing that required El Cap-specific technical wizardry and intact fingertips, unlike the shredded skin that hung from his hands after failing and falling on the pitch day after day.
If Caldwell and Jorgeson could succeed, the ascent would be far and away the most futuristic big-wall free climb in history. The drama of Jorgeson’s epic struggle to send pitch fifteen and Caldwell’s resultant dilemma—should he wait for Kevin or climb ahead and claim the Dawn
1,700 words to go
You’re just getting to the good part.
This story — and 42 issues of them — opens with a subscription.
Either one picks up right where you left off.
Join 7,000+ readers · Independently owned · Since 2008
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Adventure Journal — Print Quarterly
Stories like this, in your hands four times a year.
42 issues. 11 years. Independently owned. Printed on 70lb uncoated paper with a soft-touch cover, solar-powered, and shipped in a brown paper envelope. Free domestic shipping.
