Adam Ondra and Tommy Caldwell talk | Working on El Cap | Dawn Wall and big walls climbing

It was just awesome to have a true conversation with a total climbing legend Tommy Caldwell. We have met a few times at the crag or at a film festival, but never really got a lot of time to TALK.

Dawn Wall was obviously a huge topic — stories from our preparations, how we were working through the wall, and what were the hardest parts as well as the most tricky parts - usually those that just look impossible, but once you figure out how to climb them, they are not that bad. But the whole process was so much easier since I knew that the climb was possible - Tommy had proved it before. Tommy was in awe to find out that I’d had that little experience in trad climbing before, but I am fortunate to start climbing in my home country, where our infamous sandstone towers, as well as slippery limestone in the backyard, were decent rites of passage to climb El Capitan in Yosemite.

But we touched upon much more — big wall climbing experience in general, its connection to sport climbing, the future of El Cap, and the next logical lines, our motivation, curiosity, the need to advocate our environment. What are we currently busy with, what are our future plans, and where are we hopefully going to climb together?

I really value Tommy Caldwell’s (http://www.tommycaldwell.com) devotion to environmental protection and together we are also partnering up with Champions and Legends (https://championsandlegends.com) to support the producing hemp-derived CBD sports supplements for athletic preparation, performance + recovery.

Timecodes
0:00 - Intro
1:25 - Getting into adventure climbing, conditions in the Czech Republic, the first time in Yosemite
16:16 - Tommy Caldwell’s experience with Dawn wall
18:25 - Working through the last and hardest remaining piece of Dawn wall
22:17 - Adam’s journey through Dawn wall
29:00 - Challenging climbs that prepared Adam and Tommy for big mountain climbing
33:54 - Free climbs of Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold; New route of the Dawn Wall section of the El Cap
35:25 - Going back to big mountain climbing
41:38 - Sport climbing in connection to traditional climbing
44:47 - Future of El Cap
51:21 - Environmental protection activities of Tommy Caldwell
52:04 - Climbing partners
57:15 - Adam’s training for Olympics and its benefits
58:44 - Climbing motivation
1:02:36 - Adam managing his professional obligations
1:04:22 - Tommy Caldwell being a public figure
1:04:49 - Flex Luthor - how much is the route different
1:08:09 - What is next after Olympics and shared plans

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TALKS BY
TOMMY CALDWELL
ADAM ONDRA

DIRECTED BY
LACO KORBEL

EDITED BY
ADAM LIGOCKI

CAMERA
ADAM LIGOCKI
AUSTIN SIADAK
SAMUEL CROSSLEY

PRODUCTION
JAKUB PÍNA
JAN VERNER

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
PAVEL BLAŽEK

BACKSTAGE PICTURES BY
PETR CHODURA

© 2021 AO PRODUCTION S.R.O.

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