Lynn Hill, the first person to free climb The Nose on El Capitan without the use of aid, talks about how there are plenty of climbers strong enough to free The Nose but few are willing to spend the hours on the wall to do it. For obvious reason. It’s extremely hard work sitting on a portaledge thousands of feet off the ground.
It shouldn’t be a surprise then that the king of El Cap is none other than Tommy Caldwell. He’s freed more routes than anyone. He put the time in.
We get hung up on the talent or prerequisites or skills needed to try something daring. And yeah, you are going to need some of that to get going. But that is all you need–have enough to start and then see what happens next.
Putting in the time is what produces results.
Where others see talent, I see time spent.
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