Tommy Caldwell and the Return to 9a: Chapter One – Empath | EDELRID

A bold adventure in Alaska leads to a gentlemen’s wager among friends that propels Tommy Caldwell on a journey to climb 9a once again. As the series follows his journey, Tommy balances his responsibilities as a father, a public figure in the climbing industry, and his push for outdoor advocacy and climate action – all while attempting to get back to elite level sport climbing.
 
Chapter One | Empath

Tommy climbed using our SISKIN rope, the lightest single rope in the world.
Shop the SISKIN: https://edelrid.com/eu-en/sport/ropes/siskin-eco-dry-8-6mm

Filmed, Directed, and Produced by Hendrik Pot
Photography: Taylor Shaffer
Music: “Built to Roam” and “Doe, Jane” by Shakey Graves and original soundtrack by Tony Furtado

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So, how did the 9A project come about? I had come up with this kooky idea to bicycle all the way to Alaska. I ended up doing that trip with Alex, which was an amazing trip. And along the way, we stopped and climbed at the Bugaboos, which was a adventurous climbing area in southern British Columbia. And Sunny Trotder was there. And so, there were three middle-aged dads hanging out in the mountains talking about climbing and trying to figure out how to not lose the glory of our youth, basically. And we came up with this idea to race to 9A. We kind of made this gentleman’s badge. When I was back in Estus, I was training on this crag right next to my parents house and then I bolted a 9A on the front range over in the monastery and I thought that was going to be my thing for a little bit. So, I was working on that. But I follow the hardest climbing that happens in the country and so when Impath got put up, it was 9A plus. I knew the people that had done it and I was visiting friends here in Tahoe and I was like, “Oh, maybe I’ll go check it out.” And I came here and I realized that I could crack climb a lot of it. And so that’s when I got super psyched. I was like maybe this really hard route I could actually do. Then life events came and I decided to move to California. So Impath has become my route. So this is so we’re going to empath and this is my first time trying I tried this route like 3 years ago one day in the middle of the summer. I was much stronger then but it felt pretty doable. We’ll see. We’ll have to see how it goes. felt a little more like tight. [Music] Yeah. [Music] Oops. My first session back this year, which was only my second time on the route, was um really just trying to figure out the moves. It’s like I was up there just fiddling with beta for days and not really trying to make links. The route is such this cool combination of like medium hard boulder problems interspersed with like really technical crack climbing. And so you do all these moves where you like have a hand jam. You reach up and you flip your hand jam to like an undercling hand jam and then you reach farther and then you cam your feet in the crack and the feet are honestly quite big. Like you’re just smearing on these big slopers. cute things. Still make coffee every morning like I’m in my van. This movie about us biking about Honold and I bike to Alaska last year is uh premiering on Disney Plus in like a few weeks. And so I’m have all morning I have like um press calls like every 10 minutes from 8:10 to like 12:30. Amy, how are you? Hey. Hey, tell me how you Good morning, gentlemen. Uh, Alex and I have the pleasure of speaking with renowned pretty much locked all the doors. Did you lose any more teeth? Man, you have been a mess. You got some shoes on. I think I prioritize family above everything else. For instance, this route I just climb Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so that I can be home with the family on the weekends. I try and make sure that I can bring one of my kids to school every day and then be home for bedtime. And so trying to fit a 9A into like those parameters is uh really pretty hard. Day two on impath. There’s so much subtle beta that I need to figure out still. So there’s going to be a lot of research still today. But I would like to give at least one burn where I’m like going for it until I actually like fall off. So good. There it is. [Music] That’s it. [Music] It probably wasn’t until like my third or fourth day that I really started trying to like link big sections. [Music] I think the last time I climbed 9A I was like 21 or 22 years old and now I’m 46. So that’s more than half my life ago. Yeah. This uh burn area that we’re hiking through used to be this really pristine like forest full of manzanita and then the fire came through a couple years ago and destroyed the place. Kind of recovering. There’s a little bit of like dystopian beauty here. This is my probably like fifth day maybe fifth day on the route. Something like that. It’s colder than it’s been for sure. And I’m trying new shoes. I’ve one hung it a couple times and so I’m feeling kind of psyched. I don’t know. We’ll see how it [Music] goes. All [Music] right. Good. Come on, dude. Yes. Come on. Really? Come on. Come on, dude. Good. Come on. Come on, Tommy. Good job. Come on. Nice. [Music] dude. That was so good. Yeah. The crux of this whole thing has just been like carving out the time to train and actually come to the route. Like my expectation is always that I’m going to be able to like dedicate months of my life towards just rock climbing, but that never happens. Like things come up, the kids get sick, I have work obligations that come up. I’m balancing so many things and trying to figure out how to just do it all and climb 9A be a pretty big victory for me. I’d be psyched. [Music] Yeah, I’ve noticed like little text messages and stuff coming in here. Testing, testing. Wonder if that’s Yo, clunky and clunky. Um, yeah. Do you want a mic up or is it like worthless? This is the rack that I learned how to climb on right here. This is it. Moved on a little bit. I really was good at using triams at one point in my life. So, I don’t know why this is randomly in our car. What’s in our car? Oh, that was for my tennis tournament. Is that good? Yeah. Yeah.