# Yosemite's El Capitan - the first free climb of Dawn Wall **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757 "2015-01-13T22:55:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/41 "2015-01-15T04:47:23Z")
Here’s an excellent [3.4 gigapixel image](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/14/sports/the-dawn-wall-up-close.html) of El Capitan from the NY Times. Zoomed out to make the whole wall visible, it’s hard to see the portaledges (aka tents) and impossible to see a climber. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/42 "2015-01-15T04:50:31Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > … including by Tommy Campbell … aka Caldwell. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/43 "2015-01-15T14:06:38Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > This shot gives a sense of scale. > [http://www.elcapreport.com/sites/default/files/6)%20%20ACIMG\_2731.JPG](http://www.elcapreport.com/sites/default/files/6%29%20%20ACIMG_2731.JPG) That doesn’t really give me a sense of scale at all…it’s like showing me a map of a small town to get a sense of how big the United States are. The New York Times super-high res composite image and interactive graphic posted above that show the climber as a tiny, basically imperceptible speck on what seems like an impossibly massive chunk of rock – to me, those really help one grasp just how impressive this is. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/44 "2015-01-15T14:23:20Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Evidently, the climb has been extensively planned, and prepared-for - both the athletes and the mountain itself. I would certainly hope so. But I am not a rock climber. > [@](#): > > In general - I read some of the comments in the NatGeo article, and there seems to be a seam of discontent amongst some climbers. The two climbers do not seem to be attention seekers so much themselves, but the amount of publicity and now corporate-ness of the event seems to be turning some of the observing purists off. No matter what you do, some people are going to complain about how you did it. “The dogs bark, but the caravan marches on.” Uphill, apparently. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/45 "2015-01-15T14:31:16Z")
When they did fall, were they allowed to use the rope to get back where they were or did they have to redo the climb from where they stopped their fall to where they slipped? ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/46 "2015-01-15T14:38:08Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > When they did fall, were they allowed to use the rope to get back where they were or did they have to redo the climb from where they stopped their fall to where they slipped? The enitre climb is broken up into 20+ individual climbs called pitches, checkpoints if you like. If one of them fell they had to start again at the bottom of that particular pitch. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/47 "2015-01-15T14:46:44Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > For this analogy to work, you have to make each of those miles so desperately difficult that only a tiny handful of people in the world could do one of them. Yeah, pretty much. Plus, injury is still a risk. This isn’t a “take 20” action. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/48 "2015-01-15T15:18:22Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Here’s an excellent [3.4 gigapixel image](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/14/sports/the-dawn-wall-up-close.html) of El Capitan from the NY Times. Zoomed out to make the whole wall visible, it’s hard to see the portaledges (aka tents) and impossible to see a climber. That is an awesome shot! And yes, this is an amazing feat. Props to those guys and hope to see their movie at the Banff Mountain Film Festival next year 😃 Speaking of the BMFF, the annual tour is making it’s stop in my town in a couple weeks. Can’t wait! It’s one event I never miss. I love seeing how pathetic my adventures are and always keeping that in mind as a bit of motivation. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/49 "2015-01-15T16:33:01Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Speaking of the BMFF, the annual tour is making it’s stop in my town in a couple weeks. Can’t wait! It’s one event I never miss. I love seeing how pathetic my adventures are and always keeping that in mind as a bit of motivation. Can’t make it again this year. I’ll be skiing in France when it comes to Boston. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/50 "2015-01-15T16:48:54Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Here’s an excellent [3.4 gigapixel image](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/14/sports/the-dawn-wall-up-close.html) of El Capitan from the NY Times. Zoomed out to make the whole wall visible, it’s hard to see the portaledges (aka tents) and impossible to see a climber. You can see one of the climbers not too far above the portaledges. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/51 "2015-01-15T16:52:58Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Can’t make it again this year. I’ll be skiing in France when it comes to Boston. 🙂 Hopefully telemark skiing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/52 "2015-01-15T19:28:12Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > You can see one of the climbers not too far above the portaledges. You have much better eyes (or a much bigger screen) than I do if you can see the climber while fully zoomed out. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/53 "2015-01-15T21:12:13Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > You have much better eyes (or a much bigger screen) than I do if you can see the climber while fully zoomed out. In that sense, the picture is accurate. I’ve been to the meadow at the bottom of El Capitan; needed the zoom lens on my camera to see the climbers. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/54 "2015-01-15T23:37:16Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > In that sense, the picture is accurate. I’ve been to the meadow at the bottom of El Capitan; needed the zoom lens on my camera to see the climbers. Quite so. People who have never been to Yosemite may have a difficult time visualizing just how big El Capitan is (along with some of the neighboring faces and domes). El Capitan from the valley floor to the top is about 2x the height of the new World Trade Center in NYC. I have been to Stone Mountain in GA and some say that is the largest chunk of granite in the world. Impressive as it is, I have a hard time accepting that having seen the granite walls and domes of Yosemite Valley up close. Pictures have a tought time doing them justice - the place is just huge. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/55 "2015-01-17T04:57:43Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > The ropes are for safety only and do not aid in the ascent. Free in this sense means they are not driving pitons into the rock to aid in the climb, hands and feet only. Pitons are only one way (the old way) of aiding a climb. It’s normally faster and easier to use temporary aids, wedged into cracks in the rock. In this case, they are arguably cheating a bit, since it seems that they were free-climbing each section of the face, placing aids, going back to their temporary camp to sleep, climbing their ropes back to the point they’d got to, and continuing from there. Also, it seems odd to me that anything in Yosemite could be described as “the hardest rock climb in the world”, as the media have described this. It is a very long climb: Yosemite has fabulously long climbs. It has some difficult bits: even Yosemite has some difficult bits. It’s taken them years to work this out: it is a very long climb with some difficult bits, and since nobody goes to Yosemite for difficult climbing, it hasn’t been done before. But no doubt the publicity has been carefully planned as well, since they were apparently making a doco about the climb. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/56 "2015-01-17T05:05:31Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > … since nobody goes to Yosemite for difficult climbing … Say what? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757/57 "2015-01-17T12:34:18Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > since nobody goes to Yosemite for difficult climbing Yeah that bit has me scratching my head to. This article from [Redbull.com](http://Redbull.com) claims that the route “Nightmare on California St” on El Capitan is one of the hardest climbs in the world and has only been done once: [http://www.redbull.com/en/adventure/stories/1331645010407/the-seven-hardest-climbs-in-the-world](http://www.redbull.com/en/adventure/stories/1331645010407/the-seven-hardest-climbs-in-the-world) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yosemites-el-capitan-the-first-free-climb-of-dawn-wall/709757.md?page=2)