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For anyone after numbers supporting the claim that this may be the worlds hardest free climb, consider this. The hardest climbs in the world (using US grading s

For anyone after numbers supporting the claim that this may be the worlds hardest free climb, consider this. The hardest climbs in the world (using US grading system) are graded 5.15c . These currently exist as isolated pitches of less than 150 feet. The Dawn Wall has 19 pitches (15 have now been completed). at least 6 of these pitches are graded 5.14 and above, and most of the remainder are 5.13 . These are all very hard pitches. The overall difficulty of a multi-pitch climb (using the US grading system) isn't really based on the grade of the hardest pitch. Completing this climb is the equivalent of doing 19 very hard climbs in a row, with 6 of them being accessible to a handful of very dedicated climbers in the world. Here's some videos from 2013 (yes, they've been working on this for a very long time) http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/exclusive-dawn-wall-project-videos-sharma-caldwell-jorgeson http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/exclusive-dawn-wall-pro...

nether 12y ago
Also, 5.10 used to be considered the hardest climb humanly possible. Today, 5.12 is achievable by many climbers after years of practice. 5.14 routes are doable by a small subset, this is where anatomy and sheer innate talent begin to elevate the elite from the hard workers. Beyond 5.14, it's the best of the super climbers who also have some amount of luck in that they had the right nerves and physical preparation to dyno a 5.15 move once, but perhaps not every time. These are the climbs that can't be consistently repeated successfully even by the best.
- steveax 12y ago
  Every grade at some point is considered the hardest, but what I suspect you're referring to is the Yosemite Decimal System [1] which postulated 5.9 as the hardest grade possible (5.1 and 5.10 are the same from a numeric point of view). I always thought the Australian system (start at one and go up) made the most sense, but the context the the British grading system [2] provides is wonderful. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Decimal_System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Decimal_System [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(climbing)#British http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(climbing)#British
ryannevius 12y ago
The Dawn Wall is actually between 28 and 30 pitches. Here's a good topo, for anyone interested: http://www.dpmclimbing.com/sites/default/files/uploads/images/Mescalito-Topo_28532.jpg http://www.dpmclimbing.com/sites/default/files/uploads/image...
- Intermernet 12y ago
  It's 28-30 pitches if you do Mescalito (The old aid route). The aid method usually limits practical pitch length. Doing it as a free climb, with 60m (180ft) ropes allows many of the pitches to be linked. Diagram of the proposed route: http://www.rockandice.com/Article-Images/News-Photos/October-2013/DawnWall.jpg http://www.rockandice.com/Article-Images/News-Photos/October... EDIT: Looking at that diagram, pitch 19 looks to be very long. I'm assuming that they'll simulclimb that section as it's "only" 5.12 :-)
  - ryannevius 12y ago
    That's an old topo. They have since revised the pitch breakdown and plan. Also, it doesn't end at 19. The top of the photo is slightly foreshortened and low-definition, but if you look closely, you'll see that the topo says 19-Top (i.e. pitch 19 TO the top). There are still quite a few pitches between 19 and the top. The topo I linked to was drawn up by the guys before they launched off for the push. It should also be mentioned that it deviates from the Mescalito aid route. This isn't pure Mescalito.
petegrif 12y ago
Well said. This is scary hard. The word 'gruelling' doesn't begin to capture it.
weaksauce 12y ago
5.12 is a grade that someone needs to be fairly dedicated and skilled to achieve. 5.13 is something that very few dedicated climbers will get to. 5.14 is elite territory and you are in the top few percent of climbers world wide. 5.15 is like climbing glass, hung at a 45 degree overhang. the dawn wall has 7 pitches of 5.13 climbing and 7 pitches of hard 5.14 climbing... plus "filler" 5.11 and 5.12 climbing for the other 20ish pitches. I have been climbing for years and have only climbed a handful of 5.12 climbs... it's really, really hard. to say that this is hard is an understatement. edit: the grades came from the YDS which was the yosemite decimal system(actually started at tahquitz before royal robbins went to yos). there are classes of climbing grades where class 1 is walking to get the mail, class 3 is some scrambling but if you slipped you'd be ok usually, class 4 is where you'd probably get really hurt or die if you fell at the wrong time but the climbing is not super hard, class 5 was subdivided into a decimal rating from 5.0 to 5.9. There were climbs in Tahquitz that were the standard of difficulty for these grades. The trough was 5.0(modern 5.4) all the way up to open book which was 5.9 and considered to be the pinnacle of human achievement. After a while humans got stronger, and the equipment got better, and technique got refined so they opened up the YDS to be open ended as it is today with grades greater than 5.9. they initially stuck with whole numbers but eventually they decided that there needed to be a finer grained approach to grading. thus every grade after 5.10 was given a letter grade from a to d. each letter grade is roughly equivalent to a number grade below 5.10(going from 5.8 to 5.9 is roughly equivalent to going from 5.10a to 5.10b in terms of relative increased difficulty) and each letter grade can take months or years to get strong/technical enough to ascend. all this was said to drive home the fact that what they are doing is amazing and defies belief. they are climbing multiple pitches of climbs that are 24 "grades" harder than what was once thought of as the hardest someone could ever climb.
- steveax 12y ago
  Yeah, and it's more than just the grade too. The Steck Salathe [1] is "only" 5.9, but I suspect it would rebuff ~60% of "5.12 climbers" [1]: http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Yosemite-Valley-Sentinel-Rock-Steck-Salathe http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Yosemite-Valley-Senti...
  - 12y ago
bmj 12y ago
I assume Caldwell and Jorgenson haven't proposed a grade for the entire climb, since they've not redpointed it in a single push. While I am excited to see Caldwell succeed on this thing, I'm probably more excited for the day when it sees a single push redpoint ascent without portaledges and haul bags....

nether 12y ago

Also, 5.10 used to be considered the hardest climb humanly possible. Today, 5.12 is achievable by many climbers after years of practice. 5.14 routes are doable by a small subset, this is where anatomy and sheer innate talent begin to elevate the elite from the hard workers. Beyond 5.14, it's the best of the super climbers who also have some amount of luck in that they had the right nerves and physical preparation to dyno a 5.15 move once, but perhaps not every time. These are the climbs that can't be consistently repeated successfully even by the best.

steveax 12y ago
Every grade at some point is considered the hardest, but what I suspect you're referring to is the Yosemite Decimal System [1] which postulated 5.9 as the hardest grade possible (5.1 and 5.10 are the same from a numeric point of view). I always thought the Australian system (start at one and go up) made the most sense, but the context the the British grading system [2] provides is wonderful. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Decimal_System http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Decimal_System [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(climbing)#British http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(climbing)#British

ryannevius 12y ago

The Dawn Wall is actually between 28 and 30 pitches. Here's a good topo, for anyone interested: http://www.dpmclimbing.com/sites/default/files/uploads/images/Mescalito-Topo_28532.jpg http://www.dpmclimbing.com/sites/default/files/uploads/image...

Intermernet 12y ago
It's 28-30 pitches if you do Mescalito (The old aid route). The aid method usually limits practical pitch length. Doing it as a free climb, with 60m (180ft) ropes allows many of the pitches to be linked. Diagram of the proposed route: http://www.rockandice.com/Article-Images/News-Photos/October-2013/DawnWall.jpg http://www.rockandice.com/Article-Images/News-Photos/October... EDIT: Looking at that diagram, pitch 19 looks to be very long. I'm assuming that they'll simulclimb that section as it's "only" 5.12 :-)
- ryannevius 12y ago
  That's an old topo. They have since revised the pitch breakdown and plan. Also, it doesn't end at 19. The top of the photo is slightly foreshortened and low-definition, but if you look closely, you'll see that the topo says 19-Top (i.e. pitch 19 TO the top). There are still quite a few pitches between 19 and the top. The topo I linked to was drawn up by the guys before they launched off for the push. It should also be mentioned that it deviates from the Mescalito aid route. This isn't pure Mescalito.

petegrif 12y ago

Well said. This is scary hard. The word 'gruelling' doesn't begin to capture it.

weaksauce 12y ago

5.12 is a grade that someone needs to be fairly dedicated and skilled to achieve. 5.13 is something that very few dedicated climbers will get to. 5.14 is elite territory and you are in the top few percent of climbers world wide. 5.15 is like climbing glass, hung at a 45 degree overhang. the dawn wall has 7 pitches of 5.13 climbing and 7 pitches of hard 5.14 climbing... plus "filler" 5.11 and 5.12 climbing for the other 20ish pitches. I have been climbing for years and have only climbed a handful of 5.12 climbs... it's really, really hard. to say that this is hard is an understatement. edit: the grades came from the YDS which was the yosemite decimal system(actually started at tahquitz before royal robbins went to yos). there are classes of climbing grades where class 1 is walking to get the mail, class 3 is some scrambling but if you slipped you'd be ok usually, class 4 is where you'd probably get really hurt or die if you fell at the wrong time but the climbing is not super hard, class 5 was subdivided into a decimal rating from 5.0 to 5.9. There were climbs in Tahquitz that were the standard of difficulty for these grades. The trough was 5.0(modern 5.4) all the way up to open book which was 5.9 and considered to be the pinnacle of human achievement. After a while humans got stronger, and the equipment got better, and technique got refined so they opened up the YDS to be open ended as it is today with grades greater than 5.9. they initially stuck with whole numbers but eventually they decided that there needed to be a finer grained approach to grading. thus every grade after 5.10 was given a letter grade from a to d. each letter grade is roughly equivalent to a number grade below 5.10(going from 5.8 to 5.9 is roughly equivalent to going from 5.10a to 5.10b in terms of relative increased difficulty) and each letter grade can take months or years to get strong/technical enough to ascend. all this was said to drive home the fact that what they are doing is amazing and defies belief. they are climbing multiple pitches of climbs that are 24 "grades" harder than what was once thought of as the hardest someone could ever climb.

steveax 12y ago
Yeah, and it's more than just the grade too. The Steck Salathe [1] is "only" 5.9, but I suspect it would rebuff ~60% of "5.12 climbers" [1]: http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Yosemite-Valley-Sentinel-Rock-Steck-Salathe http://www.supertopo.com/rock-climbing/Yosemite-Valley-Senti...
- 12y ago

bmj 12y ago

I assume Caldwell and Jorgenson haven't proposed a grade for the entire climb, since they've not redpointed it in a single push. While I am excited to see Caldwell succeed on this thing, I'm probably more excited for the day when it sees a single push redpoint ascent without portaledges and haul bags....