A Climber’s Journey of Endurance, Risk, and Going Beyond Limits
A dramatic, inspiring memoir by legendary rock climber Tommy Caldwell, the
first person to free climb the Dawn Wall of Yosemite’s El Capitan. On January
14, 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 nineteen days on the route.
Caldwell’s odds-defying feat was the culmination of an entire lifetime of
pushing himself to his limits as an athlete.
This engrossing memoir chronicles the journey of a boy with a fanatical
mountain-guide father who was determined to instill toughness in his son 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. But his evolution as a
climber was not without challenges; 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
took more than seven years, during which time Caldwell redefined the sport,
found love again, and became a father.
The Push is an arresting story of focus, drive, motivation, endurance, and
transformation, a book that will appeal to anyone
paperback edition