Across El Capitan, the first rays of sunlight painted the granite gold, giving warmth to the cold morning air. Far below, Yosemite Valley slowly came alive as sunlight reached through the trees and sparkled across the winding Merced River. I had watched the sun rise from this wall before. Nineteen times, now. For most people, the night meant a warm bed and a quiet room. For Kevin Jorgeson and me, the night meant sleeping in a small hanging tent attached to the side of one of the biggest cliffs in the world. The Dawn Wall had become our home, and the sounds of the wind and the birds had replaced the ordinary noises of everyday life.
Today was different. This was day nineteen.
Seven years of determination, failure and endless practice had brought us to this moment. Seven years of climbing, falling and returning to the same wall again and again. I had spent more of my adult life chasing this dream than I had spent living without it. Now, Kevin and I were puppets, hanging almost 900 metres above Yosemite Valley, our bodies tired, our hands damaged and our minds focused on one thing. The summit was close. After all this time, the top of the Dawn Wall was finally within reach.
My name is Tommy Caldwell, and I am a professional rock climber. To many people, the Dawn Wall looks impossible. It is a huge, smooth section of El Capitan, a famous granite cliff in Yosemite National Park in California, USA. Climbers from around the world have travelled to Yosemite to challenge its steep faces, but the Dawn Wall was different. It was considered one of the hardest climbs on Earth because the rock offered so few places to hold on.
When people looked at the Dawn Wall, they saw a blank sheet of stone stretching into the sky. When I looked at it, I saw a story. Every crack and tiny edge reminded me of the thousands of attempts that had come before this moment. I knew every section of this wall. I knew where I had slipped, where I had struggled and where I had needed to become stronger. The wall had become like a scar. Not because it was ugly, but because it carried memories of everything I had sacrificed.
The wall had not changed. I had.
The wind rushed past my helmet as I pressed my fingers against the rough granite. From this height, the people standing below looked like tiny dots moving around the valley floor. Cars travelled along roads that looked like thin lines. The tall pine trees appeared like patches of green carpet. It was hard to imagine that thousands of people were watching our climb from below and around the world.
During our attempt, people followed our progress online, cheering us on with every difficult section we completed. Some visitors gathered in Yosemite with binoculars, hoping to spot two climbers moving slowly across the enormous cliff face. But when you are hanging high above the ground, surrounded by rock and sky, the outside world disappears. There is only the next movement, the next breath and the next decision.
I looked down at my hands.
They were covered in cuts and bruises. The granite had taken its toll. My fingertips were cracked and worn from thousands of hours gripping tiny pieces of rock. They stung like they had been dragged across sandpaper. Every climber knows that hands are precious, but on a climb like this, they become your most important tools. They have to be strong enough to hold on, yet careful enough to feel every small change in the rock.
There were moments when I wanted to give up. There were days when I sat at the bottom of the Dawn Wall looking upwards and wondered whether I was chasing something impossible. The climb seemed too big. The wall seemed too powerful. But every time I thought about stopping, I remembered why I had started.
I took one last look at the wall. It had already tested my strength, my patience and my courage. I had no idea that the hardest lesson was still waiting for me.
To be continued next week…
Tasks:
- Find two similes the author uses to describe the climb or the climber. Write them out and explain what is being compared in each.
- Find and then copy out two sentences where the author describes the setting.
SMART Prep | Quick Question 
