How do you climb a smooth rock face? In 2015, two young American climbers showed us how. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson became the first free climbers to climb the Dawn Wall of the El Capitan rock formation in California.

Free climbers don't use ropes when they climb. They

only use their hands and feet. However, they do have

ropes to hold them if they fall.

 

El Capitan is 914m high. That's almost 100m higher

than the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa tower

in Dubai, which is 163 floors high. The climb took

Caldwell and Jorgeson 19 days. They ate, drank and

slept in small tents hanging from the rock face. They

even read books there! They brewed coffee on special

hanging stoves. Every few days, a friend on the ground

climbed up on a rope and brought them new supplies

of food and water.

 

So how do you climb a smooth rock face? A lot of it

relies on the strength of your fingertips. The climbers

needed to stop and rest some days so that their fingertips could heal. To make their cuts heal quicker they used superglue and tape.

 

Unlike expeditions of a hundred years ago, people around the world could watch every moment of this climb as it happened. In their breaks, the climbers updated their social media accounts and spoke to journalists on the phone. A photographer and good friend, also hanging off the wall, captured every move on film and uploaded the photos on Instagram for people all around the world to see. 'Inspirational' – 'What a remarkable achievement! I'm awed.' – 'Awesome! Amazing! And a true friendship!' – 'What bravery and courage!' These are just

some of the comments people tweeted as they watched the amazing climb.

 

A lot of the climbing was at night and they chose to climb in the middle of winter. Why was that? Well, fingertips sweat less in cooler temperatures and the rubber on shoes can grip better. They began their climb on the 27th December 2014 and they planned to live on the wall until they reached the top. They promised not to return to the ground during their climb.

 

Caldwell was the stronger and more experienced climber, and he was always ahead of Jorgeson. For ten days, Jorgeson continued to fall during his daily climbs. He knew that he was delaying his friend. But this climb was about teamwork and friendship. 'More than anything, I want to get to the top together,' said Caldwell on day 13. He couldn't imagine finishing without his friend. Finally on day 19 the

two climbers made it to the top.