one of the first videos I did for this
YouTube channel was a review of a couple
of books that I listened to as audiobook
while I was driving my way across
America back in March and one of those
books was the push by Tommy Caldwell and
that is the story of Tommy's relentless
pursuit of his dream of finding a way to
climb the dawn wall which is a section
of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park
in America and it's the section where
the dawn light hits first and he managed
to do that with his partner Kevin
Jorgeson and it's a really really
interesting book it's really about how
if you want your dreams to come true
they can but you actually have to really
work on them and like I mean I don't
really care much about rock climbing to
be totally honest but I found it to be a
really interesting book anyway you can
watch that video later if you want to
but they recently came to Sydney Kevin
and Tommy came and they held an event at
the State Theatre in Sydney and I don't
really know what it was going to be but I
thought I really liked the book and the
dawn wall movie was really incredible
and I don't even that on my laptop and
so I bought tickets and I went along and
my god I'm so glad I went it was so
interesting the state theatre is really
beautiful I don't I don't know that I've
ever been there I certainly haven't
watched a movie there before
but it was a really interesting event so
they arrived and you got some
behind-the-scenes footage that's not
included in the movie and you got a
little bit more of a look into tell me
and Kevin's relationships with each
other and with their families and their
partners and about how much it kind of
cost them to get this this dream
achieved and it was really interesting
to see how even years later how fired up
they were about talking about this event
and like for example Kevin is still
working all over El Capitan looking for
new routes he is clearly like been
inspired by this event in his life and
is pursuing new avenues to find the same
experience in the same joy again and it
was just really really interesting the
thing that blew me away most was seeing
this movie on a big screen now I really
liked free solar which is Alex Honnold
story of climbing El Capitan with no
ropes so basically you fall you die and
that movie got so much publicity and it
got so much steam behind it and it even
won an Oscar and it was released it
pretty much the same time as the dawn
wall and I was kind of like oh I wonder
if they did that deliberately or I
wonder if that affects your friendship
in any way if you both release movies at
the same time but the really interesting
thing is I think that Don wall is
totally the better story it's got a much
better like emotional and human capacity
the struggle is much better free solo is
an unusual guy who doesn't process fear
in the same way who is brilliant
absolutely brilliant at what he does
climbing a wall with no roads
just kind of insane but without his
girlfriend being in the story and her
being understandably freaked out that he
might die like it just would have been
like anything like an insane story but a
story of someone climbing a wall but
spoilers in the dawn wall I mean in in
Tommy Caldwell's 
life he got taken captive in Kyrgyzstan
he had to push his captor off a cliff to
be able to escape he chopped off at
least half his index finger which is a
major way that you actually grip on to
the wall and he had to retrain his
finger to desensitize it and retrain his
entire body and he became a better
climber after losing a finger he you
know obviously went through this hugely
traumatic event which then affected his
relationship with his partner who he
then married who the relationship then
exploded and then he got married again
it's just such an interesting story and
he was this guy alone on the wall trying
to find a route because he believed it
could be done because he wanted it to be
done and because he had demons to to
silence and Kevin comes along and it
helps him on this journey and then you
get Kevin's story where Kevin is not
usually that kind of climber
and he gets stuck at a certain point and
it and the the question becomes just
Tommy wait for him or does he continue
up the wall because he's found a way
through and does he complete this task
alone or does he wait for his friend and
it's such an interesting story and I
think the trouble is where it fell apart
is that it took so long for them to edit
that footage and that I think a lay
person like myself who doesn't climb
doesn't understand the difficulty
grading of the climb and so therefore
you kind of go what three solo is way
more hardcore the guys climbing with no
ropes and if he falls he dies and okay
that's true but the consequences are a
lot higher but like the difficulty level
of the climb is totally different don't
get me wrong I'd be completely screwed
doing either
have no chance but I mean Alex Honnold
wasn't climbing the dawn wall with no
ropes like you just weren't I'm not
trying to say that that makes Alex
Honnold achievements any less amazing
and mind-blowing and crazy and well I
just still but dawn wall is the better
movie dawn wall is 100% the better movie
and when you see it when I saw it on
this big screen I saw things that I
didn't see the first time and it was
great to watch it again I wasn't I
didn't think it was gonna be but I
really enjoyed what she did a second
time and on a much bigger screen you
really see like I mean I saw it before
but you really see how tiny these things
are that they're holding on to there was
one section where to make this climb he
had to balance himself basically on his
big toe on something about that big and
he had to hold on with one thumb and the
thing he was holding on to with one
thumb didn't even cover half the width
of his thumb like that's how tiny these
little bits are that he's holding onto I
mean it was just in the same I mean
there's no you do that without a rope
it's just no way and then the other
reason that dawn wall I think fell down
is they didn't have the marketing power
so free so low is obviously like the
client part is filmed once you own it
climbing or once with no rope and they
get it all in one day so there's a lot
of the story about how we're going to do
this how are we going to capture Alex's
climb without getting in his way but it
was a National Geographic movies so they
had much more backing and and I mean I
give it to them the photography the
cinematography is better but the story
is better in the dorm wall but that
being said I mean I know I've totally
spoiled both movies for you now but I
would really recommend that even if you
are not a rock climber even if you don't
care about rock climbing these movies
are incredible and if you can watch them
on a big screen watch them on a big
screen but if you can't watch them a
little screen because it isn't
and it is insane what these people are
capable of and it makes you realize that
you are capable of so much more than you
ever realized if you just work hard
enough and if you can identify something
that you want enough but you have to
want it ferociously that is the
difference between a dream being a dream
and it coming true and it's they're just
really interesting movies but the wall
is better when we started finding the
dawn wall years ago I don't think we we
thought anybody would be interested in
this climb at all so this has been kind
of a trip yes and also I want to
personally thank Kevin for starting on
this journey with me now how long has it
been like yeah 10 years ago now amazing
yeah continues to this day at the end
quite a life changing changing
experience so thank you for taking a
winter on a pebble wrestler I really
appreciate ya
