Adam Ondra

Granite. Smooth and slippery. Unique and daunting.

Anywhere else, the same surface would have been as rough as sandpaper. So why did I feel like I was on a water slide? Before I got used to the feeling, I didn't trust my feet. I was stiff. I felt like a tennis player who had been training all of his life on clay and then expected to deliver the performance of his life on the grass at Wimbledon.

El Capitan is nearly a kilometer-long icon of rock climbing in Yosemite National Park in California. There is no wall in the world so vertical, so high, and yet so close to the parking lot. When I stepped under it to get a sense of the height, I felt so small.

Dawn Wall, its southeastern face, is thought to be the most punishing and challenging. It looks so threatening that at first glance, you’re certain that it cannot be climbed. Or second glance. And yet, you feel that this path was created for you.

It is a fascinating paradox for all climbers. The edges are narrow; sometimes only two millimeters. The holds are tiny; sometimes for one finger only, but you will always find an opportunity to go one step farther.

I took several weeks to get used to its specific conditions by climbing through all of the passages and marking all of the critical points. At first, I was struggling, but as soon as my body understood the terrain, I started to feel lightness and I knew I was ready for a serious attempt.

I completed Dawn Wall in eight days. The record had been 19 days, set by Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell one year earlier. I was on the wall the entire time. Due to the heat during the day, Czech climber Pavel Blazek and I climbed at night with a headlamp. The wall is so smooth that all of its bumps are visible in the artificial light.

My achievement garnered international attention, and well outside of my sport. My American predecessors had even received personal congratulations from President Obama. Only three of us have completed the most challenging route, using free-climbing technique. It is considered a monumental achievement, and since I had also won the World Championships in lead climbing, I was nominated among the top 10 athletes of the year in the Czech Republic.

I guess that reaching the summit was a great achievement. At the same time, I see a lot of gaps in my performance. I don't think that I was in the best of shape. My calves and legs hurt badly. It destroyed seven pairs of climbing shoes. In perfect conditions, I am convinced that Dawn Wall can be completed in 24 hours. It's crazy to imagine, something akin to ultra-marathoning, but it’s also a realistic goal.

It took me a long time to find common ground with the wall. Only then did I understand how amazing the sections were that it offered. As I started to feel and understand the holds, they began to talk to me, telling me how to turn properly, how to twist, where to put my foot. In some places, it was a two-way communication. Then I climbed well, efficiently and with joy.

The wall let me reach the summit. I never say that I conquered the summit. It's not in my vocabulary. I don't own the mountain. I just climbed it.