Video | One of two Yosemite climbers nearing finish line in 900-metre 'ropeless' ascent of Dawn Wall
One of two climbers trying to become the first to scale a 900-metre face of a rock formation in a US national park without bolts or climbing tools has cleared a key stretch and is near the finish line.
Tommy Caldwell completed pitches 19 and 20 of the near-vertical granite face of El Capitan’s so-called Dawn Wall using only his hands and feet on Thursday night, spokeswoman Jess Clayton said.
“This section was the last big question mark in Tommy’s mind and mentally represented a huge turning point for him,” Clayton said.
He has 300 metres left of climbing, which will be “technically easier” than the other sections of the wall so far, she said.
“He now has full confidence that he can make it to the top,” she said.
After nearly two weeks of climbing, Caldwell is now two-thirds of the way up the wall at a spot known as Wino Tower, where Warren Harding, leader of the first team to climb El Capitan, rested during his ascent in 1970. Harding used climbing tools.