Never before in the history of human endeavor has there been a demonstration of such natural skill, perseverance, and daring — all in the name of sport:
On the 19th day of their climb, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, both now bearded, reached the summit of El Capitan’s Dawn Wall, completing a quest that included years of planning and that many considered the most challenging rock climb in the world.
It was the first ascent of the 3,000-foot Dawn Wall in a single expedition with the use of only hands and feet to pull climbers up — a challenge long considered impossible. Ropes were merely safety devices to break the occasional fall.
(New York Times, January 14, 2015)
To get a better sense of this, imagine climbing a building that is twice the height of the world’s tallest, relying only on gripping your fingers and planting your toes in crevices (shallower than those you’d find on a brick building) to get to the top. Imagine further that, instead of climbing straight up, you had to climb in zigzag fashion. Hell, I get queasy just recalling how seized with fright I was when I first looked over the edge of a 3-meter diving board….
Frankly, the difference between this climb up El Capitan and treks up Mount Everest is the difference between swimming the English Channel and rowing it. And, if you know anything about all Everest expeditions, you know that sherpas and ropes are to trekkers as boats and paddles are to rowers.
Yes, one does not climb Mount Everest; one treks it. This compels me to note that not enough is being made in the media about the seven years of unsung and unseen training it took to accomplish this feat….
For what makes this climb so laudable is the pure athleticism and mental toughness it displayed. Which is so refreshing – given that some form of cheating or corruption taints practically every sport in the world these days.
Of course, many of you are probably wondering what motivated Caldwell and Jorgeson to climb this mountain. But I suspect they can offer no better answer than the famous one English mountaineer George Mallory gave … before he died trying to summit Mount Everest in 1924:
Because it’s there.
Congratulations guys!
