UKC

Here is a small sample from what will become a feature film by BigUp Productions. It shows Tommy Caldwell doing Pitch 15, one of the crux pitches of the Free Dawn Wall.
Previously this pitch has been given ~9a, but judging from this video, it seems they decided it's slightly easier than...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/item.php?id=69452

In reply to UKC News:

As hard as Hubble?

In reply to JLS:

Less powerful but more technical I suppose.

I didn't know until now that he is missing half of his left index finger - wow.

In reply to Jimbo C:


DIY accident.

The hand holds don't *look* like razerblades but in combination with the smeary footholds I guess the may feel like it.

In reply to Jimbo C:

He pointed at mrs num num who took offence

In reply to JLS:



A good armchair observation John

In reply to UKC News:

Well I thought it was ace, thanks for sharing.

In reply to Ricardo:

Well... Watching that style of climbing I'm half expecting an old Bleusard to come up behind him, whack some poff on to those foot holds, float across the pitch and make some comment in French about how juggy the so called "razorblades" are and it being the same as 4c in the Forest.

In reply to UKC News:

Never mind the climbing the camera work is very impressive especially that far up on a traverse!

I didn't know until now that he is missing half of his left index finger - wow.

They say that people who lose a finger gain increased sensitivity in their remaining fingers.

In reply to UKC News:

Well I've got a couple of questions about this and the following pitch:

At the end of the vid showing TC on the 15th he arrives at a hands off stance (he makes a show of letting go with both hands) above and to the right of the belay - he reaches down to touch the belay from here. Why is the belay down to the left when the obvious place for it would surely be at this no-hands stance?

Secondly this belay is very close to the corner that the 16th pitch climbs (maybe you can even stretch out and reach it...?) So why does the 'Loop Pitch' that avoids the dyno, exist - as I understand it (probably wrongly) to do the loop you traverse back along the 15th then down climb, traverse left under the belay and climb back up the lower part of the corner (you can see chalk in this in the photos) preumably passing just left of the balay to arrive where the sideways dyno comes in from the right. What am I missing/misunderstanding?

In reply to jon:

Q1 dont know

Q2 I think Tommy was so not 100% on the dyno, he had the loop as a 100% free option.

In reply to jon:

I see your point about the loop pitch - I guess you realise that the dyno pitch doesn't go directly leftwards from the belay, but climbs diagonally up a little way before the 8 foot dyno http://www.yosemitebigwall.com/free-dawn-wall . My totally uninformed guess would be that at the level of the belay the holds in the corner are enough to allow hard upward climbing, but would not enable a climber to hang a sideways dyno.

Incidentally, the film clearly shows two bolts at the belay, and a third bolt some way further left - I assume this is where Caldwell belayed after the loop pitch.

In reply to jon:

Hi Jon and Rick

While it's all supposition and guesswork, one or two things spring to mind as possibilities.

The video shot as Caldwell touches the belay bolts is taken looking past him into the corner, and therefore probably foreshortens the distance. A straight-on shot - as from Tom Evans, for instance - probably gives a better idea; in his picture showing a coiled rope hanging from the belay I would say it looks a couple of metres out from the corner. If we reckon that the hands-off position is another metre right of the bolts, and the intervening rock lacks sufficient holds, it could require an even bigger dyno than "the dyno" to actually get into the corner at that level.

It's possible that belay bolts were already there; there's an optional belay on WOEML (which comes up the corner) somewhere in that area. Bolted belays on aid walls often extend sideways for several feet; it makes organisation easier, especially if it's used as a bivvy site. Whether or not any bolts required renewal it would make sense to use an existing belay within reach rather than create a new one a few feet away. As I said, though - supposition.

Rick - I think that Jon's point was that if you could actually get into the corner at that point you would have already effectively by-passed the dyno (which gains the same corner a bit higher up), thus rendering the loop superfluous.

In reply to Ian Parsons:

Yes, that was it exactly. So, as John implied, do we assume that the line of razorblades that the dike provided for two whole pitches run out just over an arm's length short of the corner and that the holds in the corner aren't big enough to jump on to?

Hmmm, I guess you could be right about the belay, though I wonder why he didn't add a more conveniently situated one at the no-hands stance, given that it would be completely independent of the aid line at the end of the free pitch. I wonder also if he could climb down to that belay and find a no-hands stance there or if, having touched it, he deemed it OK to swing down and take a hanging stance on it (as in both of the two variations that follow, you set off back rightwards)?

In reply to John2:


I've never quite understood the location of belay #16 on that topo - assuming it is a 16 (slightly blurred) rather than a 15 slightly relocated to belay the next bit. While it would make sense to belay the upper part of the pitch (ie above the dyno) from the same position, one would have thought that, strictly speaking, "belay #16" would mark the point at which the pitch was split at a hands-off stance - ie higher up, just above the dyno.
I queried this at the time - http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2559428&msg=25594... - but it seems to have escaped attention; or maybe I just seemed like a mad person!

In reply to Ian Parsons:

I see your point - they did seem to be attempting to belay in spots where hands off rests were available. Maybe it's just a protection bolt.

In reply to Ian Parsons:
If you look at the high res version of that topo, it shows that no matter whether you do the dyno or the loop, you use the same belay 16, ie the single bolt left of the double bolt at the end of 15. This means if you do the dyno you then climb down to 16? Or have I misunderstood and do you miss 16 out and go directly to 17 (do not pass go; do not collect $200...)

In reply to John2:

Of course, to actually create a belay at the position above the dyno would most likely involve adding bolts - which they would be very reluctant to do as it's mid-pitch on an existing route (WOEML); hence actually doing the belaying from #15 lower down.

In reply to UKC News:

I know its already been said, but, wow, that guys only got 9 fingers.........why didn't they mention that on the today programme.

Impressive. Not sure with that exposure it will ever be soloed......

In reply to jon:

Yes, if you do the dyno you carry on up pitch 17. Jorgeson actually did the dyno on the day he first attempted it, then reached a hands off rest but did not complete the pitch. He then returned later and led the whole thing in one. So Caldwell climbed two pitches where Jorgeson climbed one.

In reply to John2:

In fact, if you do the loop, as it's all (mostly) on top rope, and you in fact end up two inches from the belay that you've just left, you could conceivably just continue up to 17 without stopping at 16...!

In reply to John2:

<where Jorgeson climbed one.>

Is this entirely clear? There doesn't seem to be a definite confirmation in the narratives either in Jorgeson's blog or ElCap Report day 15 that he finally linked the dyno with the upper section to belay #17 in one push, and the photos seem to suggest that he didn't. I might have missed something.

In reply to Ian Parsons:

The el cap report clearly states he didn't repeat the dyno (captain tom clarifies in the comments #7 here) http://www.elcapreport.com/content/elcap-report-1102015-special-dawn-wall-e...

In reply to jon:


Which might have been what Caldwell was intending, but then split the pitch just above the dyno. It was dark, of course, which might have been a factor; I can't imagine climbing in the dark, as you're probably aware....

In reply to mal_meech:

Yes - well spotted; it never occurred to me to read the comments! There's also a slight opportunity for confusion when Tom talks of afterwards moving the belay up to the top of 17 for Jorgeson to follow that pitch. He's still talking about the "old" pitch 17, before they split pitch 16; on the updated (ie current) topo that's now pitch 18.

In reply to mal_meech:

This is really confusing. Photo number 6 on that link clearly shows Caldwell belaying at the start of the pitch, and runners are in place before the dyno.

In reply to Ian Parsons:


Hmmm, tell me about it....!

In reply to Ian Parsons:


Have a look et KJ's photo on 10 Jan on his Facebook thing https://www.facebook.com/kjorgeson - it really looks like you could almost fall into the corner!