Since his first climb at age three, Tommy Caldwell has become perhaps the greatest all-around rock climber in the world, with cutting-edge routes from his backyard crags around Estes Park, Colo., to Patagonia’s Fitz Roy. He’s the undisputed El Capitan free-climbing king, freeing 11 different routes – including a feat of Olympic proportions in freeing both The Nose and Free Rider in a day – and, at age 31, he’s as motivated as ever. He recently shared some thoughts on his ongoing development as a climber, the evolution of his craft, and his current project – to free-climb Mescalito (with variations to the original aid route), a daunting line up the steepest part of El Cap that follows no obvious weaknesses.

Spadout: What influences led to your vision of big-wall free climbing?
Tommy: The history came from my dad, who climbed El Cap a bunch of times before I was born, and when I was a little kid we’d go to Yosemite and I’d watch him up there. But then when sport climbing got popular in the U.S., he fully embraced it. And so when I was growing up, we sport climbed, but he had this traditional background, so the pieces really fit together well.

Once I got into free climbing in Yosemite, the free climbers on El Cap really inspired me. But even they built upon the efforts of people like Ray Jardine and others who gave it good attempts – there have always been these incremental realizations of what’s possible.

Spadout: With that in mind, what do you think will lead to the next steps in the evolution of big-wall free climbing?
Tommy: One thing my dad taught me is to look at the newer things that people are doing, and understand how that can push all aspects of climbing.

I look at the boulderers now and am like, “Wow, these kids are doing sick things, they can grab tiny little holds, and if they can just gain these other skills they’ll be able to do amazing things on El Cap and around the world.” But, yeah, it’s not like every kid who’s a strong boulderer is gonna be able to do these hard big-wall free climbs. It takes a specific type of mind, and a specific drive, because while you have to be strong in bouldering, to apply those strengths to the big walls you also have to be really, really disciplined, and willing to put yourself through a lot of pain and a lot of work.

Spadout: When you free-climbed both The Nose (31 pitches; 5.14a) and Free Rider (35 pitches; 5.12d) on El Cap in a single day, you must have gone fairly light to move so fast – but on very hard climbing. What was your rack?
Tommy:
Four nuts, 13 light draws, five extra biners.
1 set of C3's from 0 to #3
1 set of C4's from .3 to #2, with an extra set from .5 to #1
1 #5 C4 for monster offwidth [on Free Rider]

Spadout: Your current project, Mescalito, sounds unbelievably sustained – from your work thus far, you expect that 14 of the initial 17 pitches will check in at solid 5.13 or harder, including three consecutive pitches of mid-to-upper 5.14, before it “eases off” (like 5.12/12+) for the final 12 pitches. What’s that like?
Tommy: The El Cap free climbing language is super technical, the hardest slab climbing, by far, that I’ve done anywhere. [Mescalito] has a ton of that. But it also has these crazy dynos thrown in, like this eight-foot sideways dyno, and some real bouldering-type moves. It kind of has everything.

Spadout: You were taking 40-foot falls while working the route – what rope do you use?
Tommy: I use a 10.4-mm lead line called the Eliminator from Bluewater. It’s pretty light, and still safe enough.

Spadout: You’re working the route with Kevin Jorgeson, a young guy who’s an El Cap rookie but a great climber with a strong head. What are your thoughts on trying this with him?
Tommy: I’m excited because he’s way stronger than me, and I want to have someone I can work on it with – I’ve never been one to want a subby [laughs]. It’ll also be cool for him because I’ve taken 10 years to develop all these big-wall free climbing logistics and tricks, and it’s cool to give that to him. In the past I’ve often gone up by myself [rope soloing, usually working sequences on top-rope with two Mini-Traxions], and I’ve figured out a lot, but when you have that collaboration and somebody pushing you, it’s amazing, all of a sudden you look at things differently, and things seem so much more possible.

Spadout: So does the psychological aspect play a big role in such incredibly technical climbing?
Tommy: Oh yeah, it’s huge, absolutely. I try to not get caught in the psychological barriers, though – like, even if something looks ridiculous, you might as well go for it anyway. You might as well try.

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