![]() Pavel Blazek, also Czech, accompanied Ondra as his belayer he was not there to free climb, only to belay. It just goes to show that if you have that Central European grit, and you try hard, you can make anything happen.”Īnother way in which Ondra’s ascent stands out is that he is now the first person to “lead” each and every one of the Dawn Wall’s 32 pitches, meaning that he climbed each pitch trailing the rope beneath him as he climbed, risking potentially large and scary falls. ![]() “It was pretty surprising to see how quickly he adapted to El Cap. “It’s hugely impressive,” says Caldwell, who is widely considered to be the most prolific free climber of El Capitan of all time. Whereas Jorgeson and Caldwell spent seven years working on the Dawn Wall, Ondra needed less than a month. This also meant memorizing the exact locations of every handhold, some of which are the size of a credit-card edge, and every foothold, most of which are less perceptible than a dimple of a well-worn golf ball.įor Ondra, this process of rehearsal was greatly accelerated when compared to Caldwell and Jorgeson’s experience. This process involved discovering the precise sequence of hand and foot movements, as well as the precise body positions and balance, that ultimately resulted in their ability to climb an entire pitch without falling. According to National Park Service rules, those bolts must be drilled into the dense stone by hand, rather than by a cordless hammer drill.Ĭaldwell and Jorgeson also invested a lot of time working on the actual climbing maneuvers demanded by each of the 32 pitches. Located just to the east of the Nose, the Dawn Wall is the tallest, steepest, and perhaps “blankest” (i.e., most devoid of handholds and footholds) section of the entire mile-wide granite monolith.Ĭaldwell spearheaded this multi-year process with the heedful decision-making demanded by any first-ascent process, including how to best break up the route into pitches and the prudent placement of mechanical expansion bolts. Much of this time was spent swinging around on ropes on the flanks of El Capitan, trying to find a continuous 3,200-foot path upward. Even President Obama reached out to the two instant celebrities with a note of congratulations.įor Caldwell and Jorgeson, free climbing the Dawn Wall was a grueling, multi-season process that took them at least seven years. Their historic ascent, which they completed in January 2015, became a media spectacle that was covered by virtually every major newspaper and cable television news station in the world. The first free ascent of the Dawn Wall, meanwhile, took American climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson 19 days. “There’s no doubt this is the hardest big-wall rock climb in the world.” “In the end it was just as hard as I expected, but it took more time than I expected, because I was a total beginner to this style of climbing in Yosemite,” says Ondra. Just under eight days later, he reached the top, victorious. Ondra began his ground-up push last Monday, November 14, at 1:30 a.m. Free climbing is different than free soloing, which is climbing without any ropes at all.) The goal of a free ascent is to climb each pitch without falling or resorting to hanging on gear ropes and gear are used in free climbing, however, as a safety net in case of a fall. (A pitch is a rope-length of climbing, usually around 100 feet long. Ondra’s success is noteworthy for many reasons, but perhaps most impressive is the speed with which he dispatched the Dawn Wall’s 32 incredibly difficult pitches. I think it'll be a long-lasting happiness and joy due to the length and effort of the route.” ![]() “This is one of the best feelings I've ever had in climbing. “It feels amazing right now,” said Ondra, minutes after arriving on the summit. In doing so, he achieved an audacious goal of completing the second free ascent of the Dawn Wall, called the hardest, longest free climb in the world. ![]() On the afternoon of November 21, Adam Ondra, a 23-year-old world champion sport climber from Brno, Czech Republic, arrived on the summit of the 3,000-foot monolith in Yosemite National Park known as El Capitan. ![]()
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