Inside the four-year effort to create the world’s most difficult rock climb

On October 2, 2010, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson will rendezvous in Yosemite Valley to begin their final—they hope—multi-week session of joint effort on the first free climb up El Capitan’s biggest, blankest sector: the Dawn Wall. In a 2.5-hour interview at Caldwell’s home in Estes Park, Colorado, we asked Tommy and Kevin about their training, how they stay motivated, their tactics for the route, how they’ll define success on the climb, and what will happen if they don’t succeed this fall. This pair’s insight will inspire anyone who’s been captivated by a climb; their love of the game is the very model of healthy obsession.

Below is Jorgeson’s hand-drawn topo of their project. Click here to see the full-size version.

Click here to read the complete, uncut version of the interview with Jorgeson and Caldwell from Climbing No. 290 (October 2010).