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As a former wall climber (Squamish, UBC Varsity Outdoors Club) I've been laughing all day at the coverage of this. The reporters cannot get their story strait.

As a former wall climber (Squamish, UBC Varsity Outdoors Club) I've been laughing all day at the coverage of this. The reporters cannot get their story strait. This isn't a first assent. This isn't even a free climb by some standards. And the ropes are definitely not "only for safety". Ropes are everywhere on a big wall, from hauling gear to hanging belays. They catch falls, but often also hold people to the wall (belays/rests/sleeping ect). Dawn Wall was first ascended in 1970. This is a first "free" assent as in it is the first non-aid assent. The various forms of assent range from "getting to the top by whatever means" through "betas" to a true "on-sight" and even the ridiculous "free solo". There are plenty of records still to be set on this route. An on-sight is pretty much inconceivable on a big wall (no prior knowledge, just show up and climb) but clean assents (no falls on any pitch) will happen one day. The history of the Yosemite decimal system speaks to the increased ability of modern climbing. A 5.10 free route was once considered the hardest thing humanly possible. Now we have 5.14 as 5.10, with modern rubber, is easy. I've seen noobs do 5.10a top-rope (no fall risk) on their first day. Not everyone can, but most noobs can battle their way up a 5.8 once they get the hang of things. A 5.10 near the ground is a totally different beast than the same pitch up on a wall, but concepts such as "exposure" danger and distance are not part of the yosemite decimal system, only technical difficulty. If you really want to scare yourself, look at aid climbing standards. Aid climbing is where you use devices to actually pull yourself up the rock. This is how Dawn Wall has been tackled since the 70s. Aid pitches are graded from A0 to A6 based not so much on difficulty but fall danger. A0 is basically a 5.xx route with some pulling on gear. A3 means many not-solid pieces in a row, resulting in 10-20 meter fall potential. A5 means only the belay will hold a fall, so you could go 70+meters before the rope catches. Basically, A4 and above means fall = hospital. The legendary A6, which I doubt exists, means even the belay stations won't hold = certain death. Oh, and "big wall" means climbing that could/should involve sleeping on the wall. But elite climbers regularly flash up well-traveled yosemite walls in hours, They are still big walls.

brazzy 12y ago
Psst, it's "ascent", not "assent"...
the_imp 12y ago
s/assent/ascent/g
sliverstorm 12y ago
The legendary A6... Ever seen this photo? Dale Bard arrives at the belay station... http://www.mountainproject.com/images/85/55/106368555_large_c48104.jpg http://www.mountainproject.com/images/85/55/106368555_large_... Though in reality it was a tongue-in-cheek setup :)
thaumaturgy 12y ago
I'd be a little surprised if newbies were pulling 10a on their very first day of climbing; do you mean gym rats on their first day outside? The proliferation of gyms have helped a lot of inexperienced climbers get a lot of practice with the moves and training for the right muscle groups before ever touching real rock. And eh, news coverage is the same ol' story. Articles are written by people with no expertise in a field, so things are wrong. Most readers don't really care anyway, and Rock & Ice or Climbing should have a good article out about it next month if they do. You're right that the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) doesn't really say much about risk or exposure (although there's the "r" and "x" indicators on some climbs) ("r" for "runout", if you should expect long sections without solid protection, and "x" for "you will hit something if you fall"), but that doesn't really mean a free climb can't be butt-puckering. Personally, I never did become a fan of flaring chimneys. But yeah, aid is pretty much an exercise in staying calm while your brain screams at you, "you 'bout to die!" (ed: I only ever did aid once, practicing with a salty old trad climber I used to follow around a lifetime ago. It was only A0 on some pin-scars route in the Valley, but I'll never forget one particular moment. I couldn't get anything to stick nearby, and I was near the top and impatient, so I grabbed a brass #0, reached up, and made a blind placement, just about as far as I could reach -- and I'm not short. Pulled on it and it didn't fall out, so I said hell with it and clipped it. Stepped up in my aiders and came to eye level with the placement and the tiny little bastard was only halfway in, wedged against one very stubborn granite crystal. I made a very urgent next placement.) The Dawn Wall climb is still pretty awesome for the amount of preparation and effort it took. No doubt someone someday will go back and do it faster & better, but for now, Caldwell and Jorgesen raised the bar for that particular climb.
- rimantas 12y ago
  As for going faster: if I got it right they were stuck for some 10 days because Jorgesen had a trouble with one particular pitch.
  - thaumaturgy 12y ago
    Good point! But the folks that practice gnarly 8-foot dynos (http://gfycat.com/HonoredVelvetyEstuarinecrocodile http://gfycat.com/HonoredVelvetyEstuarinecrocodile) and razor-thin crimps don't tend to hang out on big walls, so it'll be a while. Caldwell may've made it look sort of easy, but I think he's still one of the top climbers in the world. (A short video from one of his sponsors on his training for the Dawn Wall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2k876YuPw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2k876YuPw) NatGeo has a better article about the climb at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150114-climbing-yosemite-caldwell-jorgeson-capitan/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150114-climb..., which includes a video about pitch 15. Jorgesen talks about it a bit.
bmj 12y ago
There is always vigorous discussion about whether A6 can actually exist. I know some desert tower routes have been graded A6, but most end up being downgraded. Actually, there is at least one free scare-fest on the Big Stone: Leo Houlding's route The Prophet [0]. For many years, Houlding attempted the route in proper British ground-up style, but eventually had to apply "sport" tactics on the hardest pitch. Note that while The Prophet is not as technically hard as Caldwell's Dawn Wall project, it is significantly more dangerous (run-out climbing...for example, Jason Pickles fractured his pelvis on a long fall). [0] http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/the-prophet http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/the-prophet
- hamiltonkibbe 12y ago
  An interesting perspective on A6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boQHYBhlOcs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boQHYBhlOcs
jsingleton 12y ago
The system we use in the UK for trad (not bolted) routes has two parts. Exposure and technical difficulty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_%28climbing%29#British https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_%28climbing%29#British I find this conversion chart useful. It's usually included in guidebooks. http://www.rockfax.com/publications/grades/ http://www.rockfax.com/publications/grades/ Basically a lot of these pitches would be E9 7b, which is insane. 7b is an 8b+ sport (indoor) technical grade. Very well done to the guys. Huge achievement.
makmanalp 12y ago
If anyone else is in doubt whether the parent comment was congratulating or deriding the event, let me make it clear: this is an amazing achievement. Re: aid climbing, yes, it's done on more dangerous routes, but with tons of gear to propel you. It's always a debate whether it's "real" climbing, and some people think that being proud of how dangerous your route is is a bit childish, but in any case everyone agrees that it's a different kind of climbing. A 5.10 toprope is moderately difficult to a fit person with little experience, but it gets more difficult when you do it outdoors, up high, on a two week trip. It's like a jog and a marathon run - I can run a 7 minute mile, but not 26 of them. Then there is the fact that ratings are subjective and Yosemite 5.9-10 is MUCH harder than what you'd get in a gym or really anywhere else. Also, the difference between getting from a 5.8 level to a 5.10 is two orders of magnitude smaller than getting from a 5.10 to a 5.14b-c. Climbing at that level, especially big wall, gives you this sense of "what the f*ck are they standing on": http://www.dpmclimbing.com/sites/default/files/uploads/images/nico_orbayu_201181584021.jpg http://www.dpmclimbing.com/sites/default/files/uploads/image... Imagine pulling yourself up with your hands and feet each on indentations less than a quarter inch. Oh yeah, and Tommy Caldwell did it without his left index finger. Amazing.
dimxasnewfrozen 12y ago
Why leave such a condescending comment? What they did was remarkable. I'm also a climber but this attitude drives me nuts with the climbing community. It's not a dick measuring contest. Why even mention aid climbing and that it's more scary and that climbing 5.10 is for "noobs"? That has nothing to do with what these guys did. These guys didn't do it for their ego or because it's "scary". They did it because it's extremely difficult and they've been working on it for 7 years. They did it because they were so invested mentally and physically that it was a challenge they needed to complete. But yes, I do agree that the media has/had no idea how to cover this - it's been pretty awful.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- sandworm 12y ago
  Condescending to the media coverage. If the climbers do an interview and announce, as CNN did, that they have completed the "First assent of El Capitan" then I will have a very condescending comment for them too. Ego is part of climbing, much more so when you have cameras following you. There is something innately gratifying in climbing to a place normal people cannot go. These guys aren't Buddhist monks humbly surmounting a climb as an exercise in meditation. It certainly isn't all ego, but to say that ego isn't part of the equation is disingenuous.
  - dimxasnewfrozen 12y ago
    I agree. Ego is definitely a part of climbing otherwise climbers wouldn't have a reason to push themselves. But Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson climbed that mostly for themselves. I'm sure they enjoy the media coverage. Who wouldn't? I'm sure their sponsors love it even more. But that type of ego is much different than calling 5.10 climbers noobs and that aid climbing is more dangerous than trad climbing/sport climbing/top roping (I'm not arguing that it isn't, but there's no point putting down other forms of climbing). That's what I was getting at. I suppose I'm just annoyed by the amount of judgment that exists in climbing. We all have our own motivations and aspirations when it comes to climbing. Some climbers just feel like they need to prove something to someone else.
brainflake 12y ago
In the opinion of many trad climbers, a first free ascent is just as important as a first ascent (if not more). The coverage has been a bit misleading/inaccurate at times, but that's to be expected when the mainstream media covers a somewhat fringe event. What Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson achieved is nothing short of amazing.

brazzy 12y ago

Psst, it's "ascent", not "assent"...

the_imp 12y ago

s/assent/ascent/g

sliverstorm 12y ago

The legendary A6... Ever seen this photo? Dale Bard arrives at the belay station... http://www.mountainproject.com/images/85/55/106368555_large_c48104.jpg http://www.mountainproject.com/images/85/55/106368555_large_... Though in reality it was a tongue-in-cheek setup :)

thaumaturgy 12y ago

I'd be a little surprised if newbies were pulling 10a on their very first day of climbing; do you mean gym rats on their first day outside? The proliferation of gyms have helped a lot of inexperienced climbers get a lot of practice with the moves and training for the right muscle groups before ever touching real rock. And eh, news coverage is the same ol' story. Articles are written by people with no expertise in a field, so things are wrong. Most readers don't really care anyway, and Rock & Ice or Climbing should have a good article out about it next month if they do. You're right that the Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) doesn't really say much about risk or exposure (although there's the "r" and "x" indicators on some climbs) ("r" for "runout", if you should expect long sections without solid protection, and "x" for "you will hit something if you fall"), but that doesn't really mean a free climb can't be butt-puckering. Personally, I never did become a fan of flaring chimneys. But yeah, aid is pretty much an exercise in staying calm while your brain screams at you, "you 'bout to die!" (ed: I only ever did aid once, practicing with a salty old trad climber I used to follow around a lifetime ago. It was only A0 on some pin-scars route in the Valley, but I'll never forget one particular moment. I couldn't get anything to stick nearby, and I was near the top and impatient, so I grabbed a brass #0, reached up, and made a blind placement, just about as far as I could reach -- and I'm not short. Pulled on it and it didn't fall out, so I said hell with it and clipped it. Stepped up in my aiders and came to eye level with the placement and the tiny little bastard was only halfway in, wedged against one very stubborn granite crystal. I made a very urgent next placement.) The Dawn Wall climb is still pretty awesome for the amount of preparation and effort it took. No doubt someone someday will go back and do it faster & better, but for now, Caldwell and Jorgesen raised the bar for that particular climb.

rimantas 12y ago
As for going faster: if I got it right they were stuck for some 10 days because Jorgesen had a trouble with one particular pitch.
- thaumaturgy 12y ago
  Good point! But the folks that practice gnarly 8-foot dynos (http://gfycat.com/HonoredVelvetyEstuarinecrocodile http://gfycat.com/HonoredVelvetyEstuarinecrocodile) and razor-thin crimps don't tend to hang out on big walls, so it'll be a while. Caldwell may've made it look sort of easy, but I think he's still one of the top climbers in the world. (A short video from one of his sponsors on his training for the Dawn Wall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2k876YuPw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2k876YuPw) NatGeo has a better article about the climb at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150114-climbing-yosemite-caldwell-jorgeson-capitan/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150114-climb..., which includes a video about pitch 15. Jorgesen talks about it a bit.

bmj 12y ago

There is always vigorous discussion about whether A6 can actually exist. I know some desert tower routes have been graded A6, but most end up being downgraded. Actually, there is at least one free scare-fest on the Big Stone: Leo Houlding's route The Prophet [0]. For many years, Houlding attempted the route in proper British ground-up style, but eventually had to apply "sport" tactics on the hardest pitch. Note that while The Prophet is not as technically hard as Caldwell's Dawn Wall project, it is significantly more dangerous (run-out climbing...for example, Jason Pickles fractured his pelvis on a long fall). [0] http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/the-prophet http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/the-prophet

hamiltonkibbe 12y ago
An interesting perspective on A6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boQHYBhlOcs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boQHYBhlOcs

jsingleton 12y ago

The system we use in the UK for trad (not bolted) routes has two parts. Exposure and technical difficulty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_%28climbing%29#British https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_%28climbing%29#British I find this conversion chart useful. It's usually included in guidebooks. http://www.rockfax.com/publications/grades/ http://www.rockfax.com/publications/grades/ Basically a lot of these pitches would be E9 7b, which is insane. 7b is an 8b+ sport (indoor) technical grade. Very well done to the guys. Huge achievement.

makmanalp 12y ago

If anyone else is in doubt whether the parent comment was congratulating or deriding the event, let me make it clear: this is an amazing achievement. Re: aid climbing, yes, it's done on more dangerous routes, but with tons of gear to propel you. It's always a debate whether it's "real" climbing, and some people think that being proud of how dangerous your route is is a bit childish, but in any case everyone agrees that it's a different kind of climbing. A 5.10 toprope is moderately difficult to a fit person with little experience, but it gets more difficult when you do it outdoors, up high, on a two week trip. It's like a jog and a marathon run - I can run a 7 minute mile, but not 26 of them. Then there is the fact that ratings are subjective and Yosemite 5.9-10 is MUCH harder than what you'd get in a gym or really anywhere else. Also, the difference between getting from a 5.8 level to a 5.10 is two orders of magnitude smaller than getting from a 5.10 to a 5.14b-c. Climbing at that level, especially big wall, gives you this sense of "what the f*ck are they standing on": http://www.dpmclimbing.com/sites/default/files/uploads/images/nico_orbayu_201181584021.jpg http://www.dpmclimbing.com/sites/default/files/uploads/image... Imagine pulling yourself up with your hands and feet each on indentations less than a quarter inch. Oh yeah, and Tommy Caldwell did it without his left index finger. Amazing.

dimxasnewfrozen 12y ago

Why leave such a condescending comment? What they did was remarkable. I'm also a climber but this attitude drives me nuts with the climbing community. It's not a dick measuring contest. Why even mention aid climbing and that it's more scary and that climbing 5.10 is for "noobs"? That has nothing to do with what these guys did. These guys didn't do it for their ego or because it's "scary". They did it because it's extremely difficult and they've been working on it for 7 years. They did it because they were so invested mentally and physically that it was a challenge they needed to complete. But yes, I do agree that the media has/had no idea how to cover this - it's been pretty awful.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
sandworm 12y ago
Condescending to the media coverage. If the climbers do an interview and announce, as CNN did, that they have completed the "First assent of El Capitan" then I will have a very condescending comment for them too. Ego is part of climbing, much more so when you have cameras following you. There is something innately gratifying in climbing to a place normal people cannot go. These guys aren't Buddhist monks humbly surmounting a climb as an exercise in meditation. It certainly isn't all ego, but to say that ego isn't part of the equation is disingenuous.
- dimxasnewfrozen 12y ago
  I agree. Ego is definitely a part of climbing otherwise climbers wouldn't have a reason to push themselves. But Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson climbed that mostly for themselves. I'm sure they enjoy the media coverage. Who wouldn't? I'm sure their sponsors love it even more. But that type of ego is much different than calling 5.10 climbers noobs and that aid climbing is more dangerous than trad climbing/sport climbing/top roping (I'm not arguing that it isn't, but there's no point putting down other forms of climbing). That's what I was getting at. I suppose I'm just annoyed by the amount of judgment that exists in climbing. We all have our own motivations and aspirations when it comes to climbing. Some climbers just feel like they need to prove something to someone else.

brainflake 12y ago

In the opinion of many trad climbers, a first free ascent is just as important as a first ascent (if not more). The coverage has been a bit misleading/inaccurate at times, but that's to be expected when the mainstream media covers a somewhat fringe event. What Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson achieved is nothing short of amazing.