First free-climbers reach Yosemite's El Capitan peak
January 15, 2015
Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson became the first to free-climb the monolith El Capitan's rock formation Dawn Wall, a feat that many had considered to be impossible. They relied only on their hands and feet to scale the 900-meter (3,000-foot) vertical wall, using ropes and safety harnesses to catch themselves in case of a fall.
It took the two US-citizens 19 days to climb the world's largest monolith, as they dealt with constant injuries and falls. During that time, they lived on the wall itself, eating and sleeping in tents fastened to the rock thousands of meters above the ground.
There are roughly 100 routes up the rock El Capitan. The first climbers made it to the top in 1958. Even El Capitan's vertical Dawn Wall was scaled in 1970, but the climbers used ropes and countless rivets. Thirty-six year-old Tommy Caldwell and 30-year-old Kevin Jorgeson were the first to make it to the summit in one continuous free-climb.
US-President Barack Obama congratulated Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson on his Twitter account, saying they "remind us that anything is possible."
das/kms (AP, dpa)