Kevin Jorgeson (born October 7, 1984) is an American

rock climber Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in guidebooks, and ...

. In 2015, with

Tommy Caldwell Tommy Caldwell (born August 11, 1978) is an American rock climber who has set records in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and in big-wall climbing. Caldwell made the first free ascents of several major routes on El Capitan in Yosemite Na ...

, he successfully completed the first-ever free climb of '' The Dawn Wall'' on the southeast face of

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in California. It is bordered on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The p ...

Biography

Jorgeson was born to Eric and Gaelena Jorgeson. His father was an employee of the Santa Rosa Parks and Recreation Department, and helped to instill Kevin and his younger brother Matt with a love of the outdoors, and encouraged an 11-year-old Kevin to pursue climbing when an indoor climbing facility opened in the city. He began competing in international climbing contests at 16. Jorgeson is known for being able to free climb, using no equipment other than gear to protect from falling, and is well known for being able to high ball large boulders. He graduated from Maria Carrillo High School in 2003, and has returned to speak there various times. After high school, he went to the

University of California Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

to study

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

, but he continued his passion of

rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

. Jorgeson and his climbing partner

were the first two climbers to successfully complete a free climb of ''The Dawn Wall'' on the southeast face of

, completing the 3,000 ft climb between December 28, 2014, and January 14, 2015. ''The Dawn Wall'' is one of the most difficult big-wall climbs in the world, with multiple pitches rated 5.14 in the

Yosemite Decimal System The Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) is a five-part Grade (climbing), grading system used for rating the difficulty of rock climbing climbing routes, routes in the United States and Canada. It was first devised by members of the Sierra Club in Southe ...

. The climb had been planned since shortly after the release of the documentary film ''Progression'' in 2009, in which Caldwell, who had previously free climbed other, easier routes on El Capitan, surveyed the Dawn Wall to consider if it was possible to free climb. Jorgeson wrote to Caldwell after seeing the film, and the two men began to plan out and practice for the ascent. '' The Dawn Wall'', a documentary following Jorgeson and Caldwell on their free climb of ''The Dawn Wall'', was released on September 19, 2018. The documentary was directed by Josh Lowell and Peter Mortimer. Kevin Jorgeson is sponsored by

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

and Five Ten. As of July 2019, Jorgeson was working toward opening a new climbing facility called Session, in

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

. The project broke ground in 2018. He is also a cofounder of 1Climb, an organization focused on introducing children to climbing. In addition to climbing, Jorgeson performs as a keynote speaker for various corporate events, such as for The Gap,

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

, and Alcon Laboratories.

References

External links

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IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgeson, Kevin 1984 births American rock climbers Living people People from Santa Rosa, California Sportspeople from California

Biography

See also

References

External links