2016 3:30 am 

I woke up one minute before my alarm clock. I grabbed my breakfast and headed to Yosemite National Park. It was nerve-wracking. It is finally time to free solo El Capitan. As I trod towards the cliff in pitch-black darkness, I thought about how everything was always about excellence and perfection. When I reached the cliff, it was amazing how I would be the first person in history to ever do this. The film crew was ready and I started climbing. With a torch on my head, I was able to see only inches in front of me in this darkness. I knew I had to finish it today or the weather would change and I would only be able to climb next year. 

480 feet above the ground. I was at the free blast slab. I hated this; I did not want to be there. I was over it. I told my film crew that I cheated on a slab. But I really just did not want to climb it today, something did not feel right. I thought that it might be because too many people were watching. It felt disturbing that if I fell, many people would have to witness it. At least I tried. 

3 Months later 

Today, I bought a house. Sanni (my wife) was extremely happy to be moving in. I set out on my journey back to Yosemite National Park living in my van. I practiced each part of the climb and made new discoveries each time. I prepared what I learnt in a notebook.   

June 3 2017    

  

Today was the day. Today was the day I would finally climb El Capitan. No mistakes today.  

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As soon as I touched the rock, my heart beat faster than it has ever beat before. Pitch 6, free blast slab 480 feet above the ground. I bailed here last time, despite it being the easiest part of the climb. I slowly ascended the 70-degree wall. Pitch 9, Downclimb. I had to climb downward, to make it easier for me to continue the climb. While on this pitch, I saw two people laying down on a small ledge, I went around them but almost lost my balance. Pitch 14, Hollow Flake, 1000 feet above ground. I was climbing a vertical wall, with one crack in the middle going up about 600 feet. Pitch 19 Monster Off width, 1600 feet above the ground. This went on forever. Just climbing a crack in the rock. I was breathing so heavily, relying on my feet to keep me alive. Pitch 23, Boulder Problem 2050 e above ground, This was so hard. For one part of this pitch, my whole body had to rely on my thumb to keep me alive. This part would be the hardest part of my whole climb. When training, I always failed to make this. I had to jump from one tiny crack in the rock to a ledge which I would grasp with my hands and pull myself. There was no turning back now. Pitch 26, Enduro Corner, 2440 feet. I cannot believe that I just cleared the boulder problem. I was ecstatic. This part was like an elevator, because I was climbing up 2 vertical walls that met at a 90 degree angle, and I had to climb up between the little space between the walls. Pitch 27, Traverse, 2500 feet. I had to climb a wall that was sloping the opposite direction to normal. So my back was facing towards the ground. I thought I would die, but I kept composed. Composure was the only way to survive because as soon as you start panicking, you forget about what danger you are in and could easily fall to your death. Pitch 31, Final pitch, 3000 feet above the ground. I was about to make it, but I was so exhausted, I just felt like letting go. But I knew that I was so close so I pushed through. I put my foot upon the ledge and pushed my whole body up. I was done. I Finally completed the climb of my life, this is just incredible. I looked down to see how much I climbed, it seemed uncanny how tall it was. After eight years of dreaming – finally. What a journey.