You've all seen the movie. You all know the story. The Yosemite legend and the pebble wrestling apprentice working for years on the blankest big wall in the world. Tommy sends the traverses, Kevin keeps falling. Plenty of drama for cinema to milk. They send it. Voila, hardest big wall in the world. Obviously I haven't climbed this route, but I did some research on pitch-by-pitch stuff so we can all enjoy, dream, and imagine.
There isn't much pitch-by-pitch beta to be found on the Internet, in Tommy's book, or elsewhere. Here's what I could piece together.
P1 (5.12b) - It doesn't start easy. Begins on Mescalito for the first five pitches. Climb a blank, low-angle slab to a shallow crack.
P2 (5.13a) - Continue on Mescalito up slabs that trend slowly steeper.
P3 (5.13c) - Intermittent cracks/features on Mescalito.
P4 (5.12b) - And so on.
P5 (5.12d) - And so on.
P6 (5.13c) - And.... so on.
P7 (5.14a) - Leave Mescalito and begin following Adrift, a once-repeated aid route, at Anchorage Ledge. Follows an offset seam for a hundred feet. Protected by beaks only.
P8 (5.13d) - Climb up and move right to join Mescalito again.
P9 (5.13c) - Climb up and move right to join Mescalito again.
P10 (5.14a) - Continue following Mescalito up the intermittent crack/dihedral system.
P11 (5.13c) - Prepare for the Molar Traverse.
P12 (5.14b) - The Molar Traverse.
P13 (5.13b) - Preparing for the big-deal traverses. Climb off the flake up and left to the belay at the lighter-colored band.
P14 (5.14d) - Traverse number one. Tiny pinches along the yellow band.
P15 (5.14d) - Continuing to traverse along tiny edges and crimps until you're done! Oh wait....
P16 (5.14c) - Either the Loop Pitch (.14c) or the Dyno (.14d). Loop Pitch downclimbs, traverses, and loops around the blank 8-foot section that is otherwise done in a eight-foot double dyno to a two-hand edge.
P17 (5.14a) - Up through some upward-facing flakes.
P18 (5.13c) - Continues through an intermittent crack system.
P19 (5.13c) - Ascend crossing New Dawn and traversing right.
P20 (5.13c) - Climb up the 'features' to the left of the large dihedral in which New Dawn climbs.
P21 (5.13c) - Keep on climbing up.
P22 (5.12c) - To Wino Tower!
P23 (5.9) - Easy pitch above Wino Tower.
P24 (5.11) - Long blank but moderate pitches heading up and right.
P25 (5.11) - Continue as above.
P26 (5.11d) - Up and around a flake, then traverse slightly right.
P27 (5.11c) - Climb up then a longer traverse to join Mescalito once again.
P28 (5.12c) - Joining Mescalito, and climbing higher in its crack system.
P29 (5.12b) - Long pitch up to the Ship’s Bow.
P30 (5.13a) - Begin a long traverse right, breaking away from Mescalito.
P31 (5.12a) - Continue traversing.
P32 (5.12b) - The final pitch, on the Tempest. You’re done!
The Dawn Wall, 5.14d, Grade VI, FA Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, January 2015. It’s had one repeat by Adam Ondra in eight days, November 2016. The hardest big wall climb in the world by far, and perhaps the hardest climb, if commitment, exposure and sustained difficulty are counted along with grades.
Truckee, CA
Chicago, Denver, Summit CO; PL
Tucson, AZ
Atascadero, CA
Salt Lake
the road
It starts on Mescalito and climbs a number of pitches up to anchorage ledge where it follows Adrift, an aid route with only 1 repeat. At that point it moves back onto Mescalito through the molar traverse. After the traverse there are 3 new pitches bolted by Tommy that hadn’t been climbed before. After that the climb joins New Dawn for a couple pitches then ventures out onto the face left of the aid line for some runout 13d. Then it Crosses back over the New Dawn and up to wino tower. After that there are some new pitches and some that are on a route called Space which is an A4 aid route that is rarely done.
This is a new route that shares many pitches with existing routes. It has shared pitches with so many routes and so many new pitches that Tommy chose to name it the Dawn Wall for its location on El Cap (the section that gets sun first thing in the morning) instead of free Mescalito or Free New Dawn. FA Tommy Caldwell FFA Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson.
4 Stars just for the effort, history, and position. Any benchmark or famous route are in some way or another classic. I’ve been on this part of the wall and it’s spectacular. Jun 13, 2018
Truck, Wenatchee
Vancouver, BC