Two Americans have completed what has long been considered the world's most difficult rock climb, using only their hands and feet to conquer a 900-metre vertical wall on El Capitan, the forbidding granite face in Yosemite National Park.
Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson became the first to "free-climb" the Dawn Wall, a feat that many had considered impossible.
They used ropes and safety harnesses to catch them in case of a fall, but relied on their own strength and dexterity to ascend by grasping cracks as thin as razor blades and as small as coins.
The effort took weeks, and the two dealt with repeated falls and injuries. But their success completes a years-long dream that bordered on obsession.
The trek up the world's largest granite monolith began on December 27. Caldwell and Jorgeson ate and slept in tents fastened to the rock high above the ground and battled painful cuts to their fingertips much of the way.
Tommy Caldwell, left, and Kevin Jorgeson became the first in the world to use only their hands and feet to scale El Capitan, a sheer granite face in California's Yosemite National Park. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Free-climbers do not pull themselves up with cables or use chisels to carve out handholds. Instead, they wedge their fingertips and feet into tiny crevices or grip sharp, thin projections of rock. In photographs, the two appeared at times like Spider-Man, splayed across the pale rock that has been described as smooth as a bedroom wall.
Both men needed to take rest days to wait for their skin to heal. They used tape and even superglue to help with the process. At one point, Caldwell set an alarm to wake him every few hours to apply a special lotion to his throbbing hands.
They also took physical punishment when their grip would slip, with long, swinging falls that left them bouncing off the rock face. The tumbles ended in startling jolts from their safety ropes.
Caldwell and Jorgeson had help from a team of supporters who brought food and supplies.
The 36-year-old Caldwell and 30-year-old Jorgeson ate canned peaches and occasionally sipped whiskey. They watched their urine evaporate into thin, dry air and handed toilet sacks, called "wag bags", to helpers who disposed of them.
There are about 100 routes up the rock known among climbers as El Cap, and many have made it to the top, the first in 1958. Even the Dawn Wall had been scaled.
No one, however, had ever made it to the summit in one continuous free-climb, until now.
The pioneering ascent comes as a result of five years of training and failed attempts for both Caldwell and Jorgeson. They only got about a third of the way up in 2010 when they were turned back by storms. A year later, Jorgeson fell and broke an ankle in another attempt.
On this try, the world watched and followed online.
"As disappointing as this is, I'm learning new levels of patience, perseverance and desire," Jorgeson posted. "I'm not giving up. I will rest. I will try again. I will succeed."
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