{"id":38389,"date":"2018-09-12T13:35:27","date_gmt":"2018-09-12T20:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=38389"},"modified":"2020-04-24T16:25:27","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T23:25:27","slug":"unexpected-joys-drama-from-the-dawn-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/unexpected-joys-drama-from-the-dawn-wall","title":{"rendered":"Unexpected Joys, Drama from “The Dawn Wall”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you remember where you were <\/span>when Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson finally topped out on the Dawn Wall on El Capitan on Jan. 14, 2015<\/span><\/a>? I do. It was a moment that captured the imagination of Americans\u2014even countless people who aren\u2019t climbers. <\/span>The New York Times was covering their 3,000-foot ascent<\/span><\/a>, and soon it felt like the whole world was watching the live stream of the two climbers living on the side of Yosemite\u2019s iconic cliff face, sleeping in portaledges and attempting to do something no one had ever done before\u2014free-climb what some consider to be <\/span>the hardest big wall climb in the world<\/span>. After seven years of attempts, it came down to that final 19-day push. But there\u2019s a lot more to Caldwell and Jorgeson’s story than those days on the wall, and the film \u201cThe Dawn Wall\u201d\u2014<\/span>which hits theaters nationwide for one night only on Wednesday, Sept. 19<\/span><\/a>\u2014dives in deeply. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>The film, a Red Bull Media House production made in association with Sender Films, explores \u00a0the backstories that brought Caldwell and Jorgeson to that moment and their motivations for attempting something as audacious as free-climbing the Dawn Wall. It captures the intimate moments of the climb itself as well as behind-the-scenes detail. We got a sneak preview of the film and chatted with one of the directors, Josh Lowell of Sender Films, to find out what it was like to shoot and tell the story behind the one the world had been watching. We bet your palms will sweat\u2014but here are a few other things you might not expect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having a good laugh.<\/b> We don\u2019t want to spoil anything here, so we\u2019ll just say there\u2019s a scene with Jorgeson\u2019s mom that made us laugh out loud. If you\u2019ve ever had a parent not totally get what you\u2019re up to in the outdoors\u2014whether it\u2019s camping out or pitting yourself against a tough climb\u2014you\u2019ll probably relate. And that\u2019s not the only chuckle-worthy part of the movie. \u201cWhen you watch it with a bunch of people in the theater, there are probably about a dozen laughs,\u201d Lowell said. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t normally expect that from a typical sports action film.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Feeling like you\u2019re on the wall\u2014without any drone shots.\u00a0<\/b>Drones aren\u2019t allowed in national parks<\/span><\/a>. So all the footage you see of the climbers was taken by actual people holding cameras\u2014hanging from the cliffs by rope systems. \u201cWe had a really small footprint up there,\u201d Lowell explained. \u201cEl Cap is in a wilderness area, and it\u2019s critical that we don\u2019t have impact, that we\u2019re small and unobtrusive. We\u2019d never build a big rig or have a massive crew or big generators. We were operating just like the climbers up there. We came up with some really cool elaborate, low-impact rigs to get really unique perspectives,\u201d Lowell said. \u201cTommy is a master rigger and helped us figure out some of these systems.\u201d For some of the wider shots, they ran 3,000 feet of rope from the top of the cliff to the bottom, angling the lower end farther away from the base to make a giant triangle, which could pull the filmmakers out from the wall about 100 feet. The complicated rope work paid off\u2014one of the shots in particular gives the feel of being on the wall with thousands of feet of air beneath your feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with co-director Peter Mortimer and Lowell’s brother, director of photography Brett Lowell, Josh Lowell had checked in with Caldwell\u2019s attempts over the years\u2014and then settled in for the long haul filming their big final push. \u201cSometimes it would take a couple hours to get into position for the shot,\u201d Josh Lowell said. \u201cFor the hard pitches, we could be up there for days on end. And you know it\u2019s going to be an hour or even two between attempts, but it\u2019s easier to just stay where you are [while the climbers are resting and preparing]. So you\u2019re just sitting there, waving around in the wind. You have to enjoy being up there in order to deal with it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Caldwell

Caldwell and Jorgeson in a portaledge at night. (Photo Credit: Corey Rich)<\/p><\/div>\n

Caldwell and Jorgeson often climbed at night, for the cooler temperatures and better conditions, which brought another challenge\u2014filming in the dark. The climbers \u201cjust wear a small headlamp, which makes a small bubble of light in front of them\u2014and they enjoy that and find comfort in it,\u201d Josh Lowell said. \u201cIt focuses in on the six-foot radius and blocks out the scale and the void beneath. But with a camera it\u2019s not ideal.\u201d Thankfully, in the years that it took for the climbers to get to the final push, Josh Lowell said, brighter and more compact LED lights were invented that didn\u2019t exist when they started the project, which helped the camera team capture the tenuous moves. In fact, Josh Lowell said, the whole project took so long, and technology is changing so quickly, that they probably used 10 different cameras over their seven years of shooting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting to see the dark side of the story. <\/b>If you followed Caldwell\u2019s Dawn Wall attempts, you might know a little about his story\u2014that he grew up in Colorado, that he accidentally sawed his finger off in a construction accident. You might even know that Caldwell was shot at and kidnapped on a climbing trip to Kyrgyzstan in 2000. Josh Lowell and fellow director Mortimer spent two years parsing through the different storylines that brought Caldwell and Jorgeson to their moment of success on the Dawn Wall, and figuring out the best way to weave them together. The film includes ominous footage recovered from Caldwell\u2019s captors in Kyrgyzstan, and combines it with motion graphics from Barry Thompson\u2014who also lent his touch to \u201c<\/span>Valley Uprising<\/span><\/a>\u201d\u2014to draw the audience into the action of the kidnapping and the escape. It brings the past alive and gives an idea what Caldwell went through.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTommy\u2019s not a classic superhero character,\u201d Josh Lowell said. On camera, he\u2019s humble and focused, not a look-at-me type. \u201cSo it made it a little challenging to tell, but [that\u2019s what] makes him so lovable and relatable. He\u2019s like a regular kid, and it\u2019s hard to believe he does all these superhero things, while still being super unassuming.\u201d Caldwell was considered one of America\u2019s top climbers when he first started his journey on the Dawn Wall. But the film\u2019s interviews with legendary climber John Long make it pretty clear that\u2014even for Caldwell\u2014free-climbing the Dawn Wall would be a long shot. While most people who climb El Capitan do it by aid climbing\u2014pulling themselves up by protective gear attached to the wall\u2014Caldwell and Jorgeson were aiming to climb the extremely difficult new route with only their hands and feet. The ropes were there only to catch them if they fell. A free route up the Dawn Wall simply wasn\u2019t thought to be possible. Add in Jorgeson\u2019s tale\u2014of coming from the bouldering world and struggling to keep up with Caldwell on the wall\u2014and you have a great American underdog story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sneaking a peek into the love stories.<\/b> Josh Lowell admits that one of the more difficult parts of the story-crafting process was deciding how much screen time to give to Caldwell\u2019s wife, Becca, and their relationship. Josh Lowell and Mortimer knew they needed to show Caldwell\u2019s romance with his climbing partner and first love, Beth Rodden, when they were young (and, oh how young they look in that early footage!). The film also illustrates the separation Caldwell and Rodden went through and how the period influenced Caldwell\u2019s obsession with the Dawn Wall. \u201cThat took a while, to land on a place where it felt [like] we recognized Becca\u2019s importance without getting bogged down in love stories,\u201d Josh Lowell said. In the final cut, there\u2019s plenty of love to go around.<\/span><\/p>\n

Feeling like you\u2019re a fly on the wall in Caldwell and Jorgeson\u2019s relationship.<\/b> You don\u2019t get the kind of up-close, raw, emotional footage you see in this film without a long history of trust. And for the Sender Films team\u2014and director of photography Brett Lowell in particular\u2014that trust came from long hours and days hanging in a harness on the wall with the climbers. \u201cIt takes lots of effort to go up and down from there,\u201d Josh Lowell said. \u201cBrett was up there the entire 19 days\u2014he was embedded. He might have come down once. Your legs get weak and skinny [staying on the wall for so long] because you\u2019re not walking at all. So when you get to the top and walk back down, your knees are really wobbly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While all the news crews watched from the valley floor, peering through binoculars at the climbers, Brett Lowell was right there next to them\u2014so close we can hear Tommy choking up on camera, so close we can hear the kinds of conversations that might bring tears. \u201cThat\u2019s just not possible without the long years of working together,\u201d Josh Lowell explained. \u201cA big part of Brett\u2019s work is actually being a part of the team. Building that trust\u2014he\u2019s a really sensitive guy, who knows how to be there in the moment, to capture the emotion and not disrupt it all and there\u2019s not that many people who can do that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Buy Tickets to “The Dawn Wall”<\/path><\/svg><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you remember where you were when Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson finally topped out on the Dawn Wall on El Capitan on Jan. 14, 2015? I do. It was a moment that captured the imagination of Americans\u2014even countless people who aren\u2019t climbers. The New York Times was covering their 3,000-foot ascent, and soon it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":38481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,685],"tags":[734,1612,727,692,1611,799],"internal-tag":[1679],"class_list":["post-38389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climb","category-news","tag-climbing","tag-kevin-jorgeson","tag-latest-posts","tag-news","tag-the-dawn-wall","tag-tommy-caldwell","internal-tag-pre-redirect-climbing"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/climb\/unexpected-joys-drama-from-the-dawn-wall","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Unexpected Joys, Drama from “The Dawn Wall”","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/unexpected-joys-drama-from-the-dawn-wall","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/unexpected-joys-drama-from-the-dawn-wall"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/01-dawnwall.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/09\/01-dawnwall.jpg?fit=1443%2C960"},"articleSection":"Climb","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Bernhard"}],"creator":["Jessica Bernhard"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["climbing","kevin jorgeson","latest posts","news","the dawn wall","tommy caldwell"],"dateCreated":"2018-09-12T20:35:27Z","datePublished":"2018-09-12T20:35:27Z","dateModified":"2020-04-24T23:25:27Z"},"rendered":"