El Capitan: Yosemite's iconic rock climb

Climbers across the world risk their lives to conquer this iconic rock — and some dare to free climb it.   This is the story of El Capitan.

Transcript

00:00Oh

00:31El Cap is the most impressive wall on earth.

00:34It's the center of the rock climbing universe.

01:30The Noh is the most famous route in the world, maybe, on the big walls like this.

01:54It was a privilege to be the first, because thanks to my experience here in France, on the Calcaire, I was pushing myself quite high.

02:06And I also had the traditional style experience in the cracks, like in the mountains in Chamonix.

02:25This is an incredible honor, because our sport of rock climbing is not usually recognized by this broader audience. It's pretty niche.

02:42Walking up to the base of El Cap, I still felt kind of nervous.

02:46I mean, it's a big wall, and it's early morning, and it's pretty intimidating.

02:49I was confident, I was ready, I was excited, but I was also like, wow, that's really big. It's pretty intimidating.

03:01He practices for two years on this route, and we film with him over two years while he practices.

03:06But the day that he goes for it, he's on the climb for under four hours.

03:19Those types of challenges and those moments when you're feeling uncomfortable, when you're feeling afraid, it's kind of the reason I climb.

03:50I think that the dream of freestyling El Cap gave my climbing a lot of purpose for many years.

03:57I mean, it's just a reason to train, a reason to get up, a reason to stay super motivated.