Question

how is Tommy Caldwell a role model for the next generation of climbers?​

Answer 1

$\normalsize\mathcal\red{Tommy \:Caldwell}$

Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978) is an American rock climber accomplished in sport climbing, hard traditional climbing, big-wall speed climbing, and big-wall free climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several El Capitan routes in Yosemite National Park.

$\mathfrak\red{Lessons \:He \:Teaches:-}$

➡Lesson $\mathcal\red{one:}$ the early years

• As a child, Caldwell learned climbing from his father, who taught him how to embrace fear and transform it into inspiration. One such experience was at the age of six on Lost Arrow Spire in Yosemite.

➡Lesson $\mathcal\red{two:}$ climbing with nine fingers

• Caldwell’s had to adapt since losing the index finger on his left hand. “Going through things like that strengthens the mind,” he says of his recovery, where he faced the possibility that he might never climb hard again. Today, setbacks from the accident continue to plague him; since he’s left-handed, the injury has made him weaker on his dominant side. Due to missing that digit, “sport climbing and bouldering is harder for me, but big walls aren’t. Maybe I’m just better at them anyway.”

➡Lesson $\mathcal\red{three:}$his memoir

• After completing the Dawn Wall in January 2015, Caldwell went home to Colorado, where his second child, Ingrid, was born. He began work with his good friend and editor Kelly Cordes on his book, The Push: A Climber’s Search for the Path.

➡Lesson $\mathcal\red{four:}$ balancing parenthood and professional climbing

• Today, as his father did for him, he’s instilling the outdoor values and transformative experiences into his children, Fitz, who's six, and Ingrid, who's three. “As far as taking them climbing, we don’t push them towards it,” he says, “but I recognise that it teaches them to deal with adversity and builds self-confidence.”

Answer 2

Explanation:

Lesson one: the early years

As a child, Caldwell learned climbing from his father, who taught him how to embrace fear and transform it into inspiration. One such experience was at the age of six on Lost Arrow Spire in Yosemite.

“He was all about life experiences,” says Caldwell of those early years. “We’d get out on big climbs and be scared and excited about that. People thought my dad was insane for taking such a small child to these places.”

By 14, Caldwell had begun climbing with his father. When he started competing at 16, he’d beat climbers in his age group, as well as adults. He quickly became one of the best young climbers in the world.

Caldwell’s first big climbing trip to Yosemite came at the age of 17, when he attempted to free El Cap’s Salathé Wall with his dad. The route, famous for a demanding splitter finger crack, was too much for Caldwell. Overwhelmed and defeated, he left the park, driven by the desire to gain the experience he needed to climb the Big Stone. He returned the next year and freed the Salathé Wall, his first of 13 big wall free climbs on El Cap.

Lesson two: climbing with nine fingers

Caldwell’s had to adapt since losing the index finger on his left hand. “Going through things like that strengthens the mind,” he says of his recovery, where he faced the possibility that he might never climb hard again. Today, setbacks from the accident continue to plague him; since he’s left-handed, the injury has made him weaker on his dominant side. Due to missing that digit, “sport climbing and bouldering is harder for me, but big walls aren’t. Maybe I’m just better at them anyway.”

Lesson three: his memoir

After completing the Dawn Wall in January 2015, Caldwell went home to Colorado, where his second child, Ingrid, was born. He began work with his good friend and editor Kelly Cordes on his book, The Push: A Climber’s Search for the Path.

Writing didn’t come easy for Caldwell, who has said, “I always struggled as a student [and] I’m not a fast writer at all. But just like with climbing, I put tremendous effort into it, like 30 to 40 hours a week.”

The project kept him indoors for prolonged periods. “It felt like a mid-life crisis; I wasn’t climbing. I was sitting behind a desk. It was great as I was meditating through all the intense experiences in my life. Sticking with it helped me sort stuff out.”