The Dawn Wall

E58102

The Dawn Wall is an exceptionally difficult and historically significant big-wall free climbing route on Yosemite’s El Capitan, famed for its near-vertical, featureless granite and the groundbreaking 2015 ascent by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson.


Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf big-wall free climbing route
rock climbing route
angle near-vertical
approachStyle multi-day ascent with portaledges
ascentStyle ground-up continuous push during first free ascent
climbingStyle free climbing
comparedTo often compared in significance to other landmark El Capitan free routes like "Freerider"
cruxGrade 5.14d
developmentLedBy Tommy Caldwell
developmentPeriod approximately 7 years of work before the first free ascent
difficultyRating 5.14d
difficultySystem Yosemite Decimal System
documentaryFocus Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s first free ascent
documentaryReleaseYear 2017
ethic free climbing with gear used only for protection, not for upward progress
firstFreeAscentBy Kevin Jorgeson
Tommy Caldwell
firstFreeAscentDuration 19 days
firstFreeAscentEndDate 2015-01-14
firstFreeAscentStartDate 2014-12-27
firstFreeAscentYear 2015
gearType traditional protection and fixed bolts
height approximately 3000 feet
approximately 900 meters
historicalSignificance considered a landmark achievement in rock climbing
first free climb of one of the hardest big-wall routes in the world
inspired increased public interest in big-wall climbing
inYosemiteValleyClimbingHistory represents a major progression in free climbing standards on El Capitan
languageOfName English
locatedIn California
El Capitan
United States
Yosemite National Park
locatedOn southeast face of El Capitan
mediaCoverage covered by major news outlets such as The New York Times and National Geographic
namedAfter early morning sunlight that hits the wall
notableFeature extremely smooth and featureless sections
long, sustained difficulty
very small holds and edges
notablePitches Pitches 14 and 15 are among the crux pitches
pitchCount 32
publicAttention received extensive international media coverage in 2015
reputation benchmark for difficulty in big-wall free climbing
one of the hardest big-wall free climbs in the world
rockType granite
routeType multi-pitch
subjectOf documentary film "The Dawn Wall"
wallType big wall

Referenced by (2)
Subject (surface form when different) Predicate
Alex Honnold ("The Dawn Wall (documentary, cameo/appearance)")
appearedIn
El Capitan
hasClimbingRoute

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