Tommy Caldwell

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Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978 in Estes Park, Colorado) is an American rock climber.

He, his wife Beth Rodden, and fellow climbers John Dickey and Jason Smith were held hostage by rebels in Kyrgyzstan in 2000. He accidentally sawed off much of his left index finger with a table saw in 2001.

Caldwell is prolific in many types of climbing. He had the first ascents (FA) of some of the United States' hardest sport routes. These include Kryptonite (5.14c/d) and Flex Luthor (a possible 5.15a, see Realization) at the Fortress of Solitude, Colorado.

Caldwell is also an elite big wall climber, with notably the FFA of Dihedral Wall and a repeat of the Nose (see Lynn Hill) on El Capitan of Yosemite Valley, California. Regarding the repeat of the Nose, the team of Caldwell and Rodden free climbed it on Oct 14, 2005 by swapping leads. Then on Oct 16, 2005, Caldwell freed the Nose in less than 12 hours. A few days later, Caldwell returned, freeing the Nose in 11 hours, sprinting down the East Ledges descent, and jumping on Freerider, the three-pitch .12b variation to the Salathé wall, topping out 12 hours later. In total, Caldwell climbed El Cap twice in 23 hours, for a total of 66 pitches of hard free climbing. He fell four times.

On El Capitan, Caldwell has also free climbed: