Two climbers, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, recently made the first free ascent of the El Capitan on the precarious 3,000 foot tall Dawn Wall. For 36-year-old Caldwell, free climbing the Dawn Wall has been his dream for seven long years, which he accomplished alongside 30-year-old Jorgeson.

The duo began their journey on December 27, 2014, using only the rock’s natural features to propel themselves up the rock. They embarked on one of the most demanding forms of rock climbing, free-climbing, where ropes and safety equipment are used solely to prevent injuries from falls and often play little role in the actual ascent of the climb.

Our brave climbers spent 19 grueling days hanging off of razor thin wedges by the tips of their fingers under the unforgiving California sun. With roughly 32 pitches, or the steepest sections of the climb, The Dawn Wall has rightfully earned its tough reputation. Climbers require thick calluses in order to hold up all of their body weight on their fingertips, and splitting even one callus can be fatal to a climber on a free-climb. This applied to Jorgeson, who taped and superglued his fingers in order to protect his calluses and break through pitch 15. He joined Caldwell, who waited for Jorgeson and supported him as he made his way up this section of the climb, and together, the duo pushed through the rest of the ascent, reaching the peak at 6:00 P.M. EST on Wednesday, January 14, 2015.

As we celebrate this historic accomplishment, one question comes to mind: why did they do it? Why would these climbers choose to tackle this seemingly insurmountable ascent? For Caldwell, it was a matter of being a parent for his three-year-old son, Fitz. “For me the Dawn Wall is the perfect venue for some of the most important values I want to show Fitz… Optimism, perseverance, dedication, and the importance of dreaming big”, Caldwell writes as a caption of a photo of him hugging his son. Jorgeson tweeted from 2,000 feet on the Dawn Wall, “This is not an effort to “conquer”. It’s about realizing a dream”. Through the example of these climbers’ dogged determination, we are reminded that even the impossible becomes possible when we are fueled by a definite purpose and an inspiring dream.