El Capitan free climb attempt

[jaymz]

Just saw this on the news, they appear to be halfway up. Crazy.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6421530" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Nelson]

The New York Times, of all people, has been following this. One of the climbers is stuck on the 15th pitch. My friends here tell me that this is a 5.14 climb!

[KentonB]

My friends here tell me that this is a 5.14 climb!

Thanks Nelson! I'd been scouring the Internet trying to find the YDS Class Rating, but was coming up empty.

[Steve Climber]

The New York Times, of all people, has been following this. One of the climbers is stuck on the 15th pitch. My friends here tell me that this is a 5.14 climb!

Caldwell sent P15, but Jorgeson blew another hole in his finger so they are taking some rest-time. 3000' - 19 pitches and the 'easiest' goes 5.12b...I tried a 5.12 gym route and made it 4' up...This level of climbing is tough to comprehend.

From what I gather from Caldwell's FB updates, P14 (5.14 traverse) had a sideways dyno that they opted to go around...their option involved a 5.14 DOWNCLIMB!!!! Mind. Blown.

[polar]

There has been a lot more buzz over this on Mountain Project. I’ve been following the pissing match there.

BTW, they are not “stuck”, they are just working to free all the pitches. R&I has some good coverage on their attempt (including videos), as of the last update Tommy has freed all the hard (5.14) pitches, but Kevin Jorgeson is still working to free the 15th pitch.

http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/da ... 5-14-pitch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jaymz]

I'm glad I first heard about big wall climbing when I was already too old for it to sound like a good idea. I can't imagine gym climbing with shredded fingers, much less dangling on El Cap.

[polar]

Another article, from NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/sport ... .html?_r=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[14erAddict]

The New York Times, of all people, has been following this. One of the climbers is stuck on the 15th pitch. My friends here tell me that this is a 5.14 climb!

Caldwell sent P15, but Jorgeson blew another hole in his finger so they are taking some rest-time. 3000' - 19 pitches and the 'easiest' goes 5.12b...I tried a 5.12 gym route and made it 4' up...This level of climbing is tough to comprehend.

From what I gather from Caldwell's FB updates, P14 (5.14 traverse) had a sideways dyno that they opted to go around...their option involved a 5.14 DOWNCLIMB!!!! Mind. Blown.

From what I understand, there are 4 pitches of 5.14+ climbing. I've never even attempted a 5.12 on TR, let alone trad leading I hope they get it. They've been working on this project for a loooong time.

[crossfitter]

Writeup on the "final" hard pitch that Jorgeson is stuck on.

http://dreamclimbing.com/caldwell-and-j ... -pitch-15/

There are six pitches in the 5.14 range, including two 5.14a’s, one 5.14b, one 5.14c’s, and two 5.14d’s

And here's the actual holds on that pitch:

[thatmushroom]

And here's the actual holds on that pitch:

And here's what they look like on the next pitch:

[polar]

From what I understand, there are 4 pitches of 5.14+ climbing. I've never even attempted a 5.12 on TR, let alone trad leading I hope they get it. They've been working on this project for a loooong time.

Tommy has always been someone that impresses me a lot. In terms of pure grade, he may not be the hardest climber in the world, but he's such a diversified climber. He does everything from bouldering to big wall. I'm sure he will get it. In fact, now that he's done the hard pitch, it's pretty much in the bag for him. They're trying to do it in the style that both of them free all the pitches. In some other free ascents, the leader free the pitch, and the second just jug it. So even if Kevin cannot free pitch 15, they can move on and Tommy can still claim a FFA.

[14erAddict]

I think what's most impressive is that Tommy does this all with missing part of a finger...such a badass!!!!
Thanks for that article, Kris. I couldn't find a list of all the pitches, but I was close