Sublime

Day four, year seven, the Dawn Wall.

Nobody had ever believed it possible to free climb the Dawn Wall, using only one’s body (primarily fingers and toes) for upward progress, truly climbing, without relying on direct aid from the equipment to hoist oneself up.

At the base of a mountain wall, where you spread out your gear to organize for a climb, it was easy to spot the tools made by Chouinard Equipment. Ours stood out because they had the cleanest lines. They were also the lightest, strongest, and most versatile tools in use. Where other designers would work to improve a tool’s performance by adding on,

long wondered if an ascent of El Capitan by any means was even possible. When the first ascent came, in 1958, it was a quantum leap. In subsequent years, countless climbers had made their way to the top following various routes. But freeing the Dawn Wall remained inconceivable. It existed as a kind of “here be dragons” on mental maps of the vertica

In March 1978, Waterman embarked on his most astonishing expedition, a solo ascent of Mt. Hunter’s southeast spur, an unclimbed route that had previously defeated three teams of elite mountaineers.

It was determined that Göran Kropp, a young Swede who had ridden a bicycle from Stockholm to Nepal, would make the first attempt, alone, on May 3.

rock scramblers on the West Ridge, ice climbers on the Col route.