2 Exhausted Climbers Close in on Summit of El Capitan’S 3,000-Foot Granite Wall

"Their beards have grown full. Their hair, greased with sweat and brushed only with mountain air, stands on end. Their fingers, raw and ragged from grasping at sharp crevasses in the stone, are bandaged and bleeding.

But Tommy Caldwell, 36, and his climbing partner, Kevin Jorgeson, 30, are hours away from success. On Day 18 of their epic journey, the duo could achieve an almost impossible goal by Wednesday night: free climbing the sheer granite face of El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park using nothing more than ropes to save them from death.

Behind El Capitan’s 3,000-foot Dawn Wall in California, there’s a staircase to help hikers make the climb. There are about 100 routes to the top. But these climbers are bent on reaching the summit the hardest way possible."

Lindsey Bever reports for the Washington Post January 14, 2015.