Going UP--the hard way

We hope you've been as fascinated as we have at the amazing attempt to climb the Wall of the Morning Light on El Capitan in Yosemite this month. An incredibly difficult adventure.

The Wall of the Early Morning Light, on the right in this photo...

This wall was first scaled in the late 1950's in a very controversial climb at the time. The two climbers used many, many bolts to get up the glass-flat slabs of granite on some of the sections, and other climbers were offended by this heavy use of hardware. In fact, a second set of climbers set out along the same route to REMOVE all the bolts the first guys had installed. Only halfway up the climb, they became so enamored of the route that they left the rest in and climbed up to the top using the rest of the bolts, and raving about the experience.

Since then, lots of people have climbed El Capitan, and some have climbed what is now called the Dawn Wall...but always using plenty of hardware. These guys did it climbing only on rock, no bolts or rope to lift themselves up, and starting every pitch from the beginning if they fell.

Unbelievable.

Here's a link to the whole story from the SF Chronicle:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Friends-family-watch-anxiously-as-Yosemite-6015562.php