
The Push
21min
On January 14th, 2015, Tommy Caldwell, along with his partner, Kevin Jorgeson, summited what is widely regarded as the hardest climb in history - Yosemite's nearly vertical 3,000 foot Dawn Wall - after a nineteen day ascent. Caldwell's odds-defying feat was the culmination of his entire climbing career having been built on pushing himself to his physical limits. This engrossing memoir tells the story of a boy with a fanatical mountain-guide father who was determined to make his son toughen up, to a teen whose obsessive nature drove him to the top of the sport-climbing circuit. Caldwell's affinity for adventure then led him to the vertigo-inducing and little understood world of big wall free climbing. His evolution as a climber was not without its challenges, however; in his early twenties, he was held hostage by militants in a harrowing ordeal in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Soon after, he lost his left index finger in an accident. Later, his wife, and main climbing partner, left him. Caldwell emerged from these hardships with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. He set his sights on free climbing El Capitan's biggest, steepest, blankest face--the Dawn Wall. This epic assault was over seven years in the making, during which time Caldwell redefined the sport, found love again, and became a father.
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