The Impossible Climb by Mark Synnott

Author:Mark Synnott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2019-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

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JOHN BRANCH of the New York Times got the first interview with Tommy and Kevin when they topped out. Jorgeson gave him the best quote when he said, “I think everyone has their own secret Dawn Wall to complete one day, and maybe they can put this project in their own context.” He was echoing the same sentiment expressed by Maurice Herzog in the mountaineering classic Annapurna: “There are other Annapurnas in the lives of men.” Honnold stood nearby.

The best climbers, the ones who truly stand out from the rest, the characters who have gone down in history, they’ve all had at least one superlative climb that defined them, a route that redrew the boundaries of human potential, setting a benchmark for the next generation. Even if Tommy and Kevin never climbed another significant route, they could coast on this one for the rest of their lives. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had the first ascent of Everest. Reinhold Messner was the first to climb to the top of the world without supplemental oxygen. Harding claimed both the Nose and the Wall of Early Morning Light. Lynn Hill free climbed the Nose in one day. But Alex didn’t yet have the one singular accomplishment that defined him, at least not to his own mind. Free soloing Robbins’ route on the Northwest Face of Half Dome couldn’t be the end, because there was one more obvious step to take. And Alex knew there was only one person who had any business even contemplating that next step.

What no one knew, not even his closest friends, was that Alex was already well into the process of free soloing El Capitan. Years ago, around the same time that Tommy quietly rappelled off the summit to see if there were enough holds to free climb the Dawn Wall, Alex was making a list of routes he might solo as stepping-stones on his way to the Captain. Each of the routes, in their own way, simulated sections he would face on Freerider, the route up El Cap he felt offered the best chance of success. El Sendero Luminoso, a 5.12+ in Mexico, which he climbed in January 2014, featured steep, technical face climbing like he’d encounter on Freerider’s Boulder Problem. The University Wall, a 5.12– in Squamish, British Columbia, which he free soloed in August of the same year, had lots of burly wide cracks, like the one he’d face on the Monster Offwidth.

Alex had worked on the University Wall for several days prepping it for the solo, but he couldn’t get it dialed to the point where he felt good about it. He would later tell me that he got it to about 95 percent. He had always felt that on a solo he should feel at least 99 percent certain of the outcome, and hopefully with a few .9s tacked on. So he set it aside and moved on to other things. Two and a half weeks later, still in Squamish, Alex was having one of those climbing days when everything feels easy.

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