UKC

Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson are making headway on their 6-year project the "Dawn Wall." Having climbed all of the pitches in November 2014, the route was proved climbable and the pair are currently on the wall attempting to free the route in its entirety.

All pitches up to and including the 14th - the crux traverse of the route - have now been freed by both climbers and the duo are looking set to finally complete this mammoth climb in one push.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=69410

In reply to UKC News:

Don't forget Day 4: vimeo.com/115807807

In reply to UKC News:

and day 5 vimeo.com/115859284

In reply to lostpixel:

andy day 6!
vimeo.com/115913601

In reply to henwardian:

Since then it's been reported on Facebook that Tommy sent the second of the three 9a pitches and Kevin narrowly failed to sent it.
I wonder what they'll do now? Will Tommy wait until Kevin sends and possibly jeopardise finishing the route?

Tommy was planning to miss-out the next 9a dyno pitch by instead doing the "loop pitch" at around 8b+ to circumvent it and so really, his hard hard climbing is behind him and the light at the end of the tunnel must be getting quite bright.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tommy-Caldwell/180070212030430?fref=nf

In reply to UKC News:

As a media event this is done a bit like the first attempts of famous mountains like the N Face of the Eiger. The news is rolled out each day and gives a quasi-live reporting on what has happened.

Unfortunately the video footage is not as good or spectacular as it could have been given the fact this is Yosemite. Having a remote controlled drone camera up there with them would've been the way to go and with a sponsor like adidas I'd have thought that would be within their budget of this project. Oh well, next time maybe.

In reply to stp:

I expect there is better video to come. But even so, I agree, it shows how "on a shoestring" professional climbing really is when the most historic event in years can't generate much more coverage than a few short video clips, a few Facebook posts and a bit of blogging.

I'm surprised how long news of yesterday's pitch took to reach the UK. I expected to read about it in the morning UK time but it took till tea time before TC posted on Facebook ie the next morning Yosemite time.

Anyone got links to quicker sources of news than what has so far appeared on UKC?
I sort of expected there would be a real time Supertopo thread...

In reply to JLS:

This Instagram post...

http://instagram.com/p/xchmAAQktT/?modal=true

...suggests that last night Tommy was on the "loop pitch" pitch 16 and Kevin was having another go on pitch 15.

So that answers my question about the immediate plan. I've no idea how they got on, yet.

In reply to UKC News:

There's a NY Times article now:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/sports/on-el-capitans-dawn-wall-two-climb...

In reply to UKC News:

http://www.elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-132015-special-dawn-wall-ed...

In reply to UKC News:

Day 8: vimeo.com/115974154

In reply to UKC News:

I don't understand the ethics of their ascent of this route. It seems they are attempting to have both climbers lead every difficult pitch individually. However, the earlier (easier) pitches were split and Tommy is making no attempt to lead or TR the dyno pitch 16 by opting to complete the easier loop pitch to avoid it. Apparently they are now waiting for Jorgeson to complete pitch 15 (which Tommy has already completed) and the dyno pitch 16 (which Tommy will not complete) to make the ascent valid. I'm confused...

When we saw Dave Macleod and Tim Emmett complete the multipitch route, Usual Suspects E9 6c, it was deemed acceptable that only Dave led the hardest pitch, which Tim couldn't even follow on TR. If these are ethics are valid for multipitch ascents then Jorgenson should bypass pitch 15 and complete the dyno pitch 16 directly, creating the full route in the simplest acceptable fashion.

Good luck up there guys! Hope you send it soon!

In reply to Alejandro S:

They're clearly both trying their best to lead as many of the hard pitches as possible (understandably), rather than doing just enough to 'qualify' for an acceptable team ascent. Good on them too. If Kevin succeeds on the dyno pitch there will be two variations established as well, giving possible repeaters even more choice.

In reply to Alejandro S:

Yeah, it is a little confusing. I would guess individually they each want to feel that they have climbed the dawn wall for themselves, rather than that it was a "team send" (though obviously they are still working as a team). Even then though, it seems ambiguous because there are several other 13d pitches that are still very hard buy they didn't both lead... Maybe at the level they are at 13d doesn't qualify as being "hard" anymore.
I don't know. Maybe they will explain why they chose this style when they get down. Knowing the climbing community, they will certainly be asked and then their answer dissected and examined in minutae

In reply to stp:


It doesn't get any more mainstream than having John Long reporting on this on the Today programme on R4 this morning!

In reply to Dave Garnett:
Anyone know what happened yesterday? Did any pitches get done?

In reply to Max factor:

I was about to ask the same question.
Corey Rich (on Facebook) mentioed Tommy going to be trying the "second half" of P16???
I thought Tommy had P16 in the bag.
KJ was going back on P15.

In reply to Max factor:

Just appeared on FB...

Tommy - Tonight was definitely bittersweet. I managed to redpoint the final 5.14 pitch. Keven battled hard on pitch 15 late into the night but came away with another hole in his finger and no send. Tomorrow is a new day. Lets all send Kevin good skin healing vibes.

In reply to JLS:

Thanks.

The obvious question now is how long does TC hold on for Keven to do 15 and 16 before he starts to compromise Tommy's chances of doing this thing. Expect the same thoughts are going through Keven's mind, and ultimately it will come down to his decision.

Good luck guys.

In reply to Max factor:

Yes, it must all be getting a bit intense.