Tommy Caldwell

El Capitan is the most chapping environment in the world: windy, cold, super dry. I wake up twice a night and reapply lotion to my hands. We sand our fingertips to keep them smooth.

My wife always says that I function better up on a big wall than I do anywhere else in life.

In some ways, climbing in the clouds is comforting. You can no longer see how high off the ground you are.

I was a bit challenged when I was younger to stay on the right path.

I'm a big action junkie. I grew up on the '80s action movies - the bad ones and the good ones.

Well, I actually wrote her a letter a couple of days ago congratulating her. The tone I tried to convey in the letter is, look, you are a part of a great American historical process.