Tommy Caldwell & Kevin Jorgeson

Daredevils Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell recently completed a historic climb up El Capitan in Yosemite Park, widely considered the world’s most difficult climb. Kevin and Tommy became the first to free-climb the Dawn Wall of El Capitan without tools. Free climbers don’t use chisels to carve out handholds, instead they use only their feet and hands along with harnesses and ropes to prevent falls. It took the duo 19 days to scale the 3,000 foot vertical granite monolith. The feat was years in the making, both Kevin and Tommy both began climbing as kids and set their sights on the Dawn Wall in late 2014.

Kevin has been climbing since he was born. Kevin gained a reputation for establishing cutting edge highball boulder problems across the globe, from California to Colorado to South Africa. Not limited to highball bouldering, Jorgeson has climbed several v14 boulder problems, including Ode to the Modern Man in Colorado, The Swarm in California, The Mandala Sit Start in California, and the second rope-less ascent of The Fly in New Hampshire. In 2009, Kevin co-founded Pro Climbers International (PCI), an agency and advocacy group for the sport. PCI’s mission is to develop and inspire generations of climbers through experiences, professional services, and athlete agency.

Tommy rose to the top of the competition circuit quickly and started establishing the hardest roped climbs in the United States as a teenager. On an expedition to southwest Kyrgyzstan in 2000 Tommy and three other climbers were taken hostage. For six days they survived on no food and little water and eventually escaped when Tommy pushed their remaining captor off of a cliff and they ran 10 miles to a military outpost. Just one year after his hostage epic Tommy had a home remodeling accident and cut off his index finger with a table saw. This only increased his resolve and Tommy soon became the world’s most proficient big wall free climber.

Kevin and Tommy have been featured in the New York Times, TIME and National Geographic and on The Today Show, Ellen, ESPN and CNN.