Tommy Caldwell Quotes & Sayings

I have been to Switzerland a handful of times, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to climb. — Tommy Caldwell

This obsession is a curious thing. Sometimes wonder about the merits of devoting so much of myself to a singular climbing objective. Much of the time it beats me down, leaves me hanging my head in despair. But then there are the moments that bring me to life. When excitement wells up inside my chest in a way that doesn't happen in every day life. Today my fingertips were cracked and bleeding. I made no progress despite great conditions. Now I am on the ground and can hardly contain my excitement to get back on the wall. It's a crazy rollercoaster and I owe my family and partners a great deal for encouraging me through it all. — Tommy Caldwell

In some ways, climbing in the clouds is comforting. You can no longer see how high off the ground you are. — Tommy Caldwell

The types of climbing that I choose to do I'm good at justifying. I do really try and pick things that I'm going to live through. I don't want to die, and I'm relatively cautious. I play with that line all the time. I want things that are very exciting, so much so that they can feel almost spiritual. — Tommy Caldwell

My wife always says that I function better up on a big wall than I do anywhere else in life. — Tommy Caldwell

The Dawn Wall and the Fitz Traverse were super-satisfying climbs. But I will always be searching for the next thing - the need to accomplish and explore are just woven into the fabric of who I am. — Tommy Caldwell

I pretty much bailed on high school. I mean, I graduated, but I wasn't even there for my own graduation. — Tommy Caldwell

If you don't own your grunt work, can you really say you've done the climb? — Tommy Caldwell

Stand at the base and look up at 3,000 feet of blankness. It just looks like there's no way you can climb it. That's what you seek as a climber. You want to find something that looks absurd and figure out how to do it. — Tommy Caldwell

Through climbing, I've learned to find goals and work toward them. That's just the way I love to live. — Tommy Caldwell

I am at a climbing area called the Wendenstock in Switzerland. This area has some of the best quality multi-pitch climbing I have seen on limestone. There is about a two-hour approach on one of the steepest grass slopes I have ever seen. The setting is amazing. — Tommy Caldwell

For me, I love to dream big, and I love to find ways to be a bit of an explorer. These days, it seems like everything is padded and comes with warning labels. — Tommy Caldwell

I travel and climb about eight months a year. That's pretty great training in itself. When I am home, I do a lot of bouldering, gym climbing, and specific strength training in a effort to get stronger for climbing. — Tommy Caldwell

I have always let my motivation guide me, and that has served me well. Climbing has taught me how to thrive and created a life that I feel incredibly lucky to have. — Tommy Caldwell

I grew up a clumsy kid with bad hand-eye coordination. Yet here on El Cap, I felt as though I had stumbled into a world where I thrived. Being up on those steep walls demanded the right amount of climbing skill, pain tolerance, and sheer bull-headedness that came naturally to me. — Tommy Caldwell

El Capitan is the most chapping environment in the world: windy, cold, super dry. I wake up twice a night and reapply lotion to my hands. We sand our fingertips to keep them smooth. — Tommy Caldwell

In rock climbing, people get strong enough, and then they pick goals they can do with their strengths at that moment. — Tommy Caldwell

I tend to pick objectives that I feel are safe because I know that, in the moment, I always go for it. I have some rules for myself, though: Look for the rock faces without a lot of loose rock. Always rope up on glaciers where there is even a slight chance of falling into a crevasse. No pure free soloing. Never climb below hanging glaciers. — Tommy Caldwell

There are specific things in our world that are incredibly dangerous. Wingsuit BASE jumping is the very, very top of that. Big alpine climbing objectives are maybe right below that. I've probably had 20 friends die - people who were pretty close to me. I would say about 18 of them were because of snow. — Tommy Caldwell

I have a very distinct goal all the time that I'm working toward, and I love the way it makes me live. — Tommy Caldwell