Tommy and Becca Caldwell: Portaledge Life on a Big Wall

Dinner, a good book, a quick look at the phone: Tommy and Becca Caldwell's evening routine looks like any couple's, except that it happens on a portaledge hanging from a vertical rock wall. Adventure photographer Corey Rich captured these scenes of the Colorado climbing couple living on the wall, and they show the quiet, domestic side of big-wall climbing.

Who is Tommy Caldwell?

Tommy Caldwell was born on 11 August 1978 in Estes Park, Colorado, grew up in Loveland and now lives in Estes Park with his family. He is one of the most accomplished big-wall free climbers in history, with free ascents of El Capitan routes including The Nose, Salathé, Zodiac and the Heart Route.

His career has been marked by hardship as well as success. In August 2000 he and three other climbers were held hostage by rebels in Kyrgyzstan for six days before escaping. The following year he cut off much of his left index finger in a table-saw accident, and he went on to climb harder than ever.

The Dawn Wall and the Fitz Traverse

In January 2015 Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed the first free ascent of the Dawn Wall on El Capitan in Yosemite. The climb took 19 days on the wall and was the first big-wall free climb graded 5.14d (9a). The story became the 2017 documentary The Dawn Wall, and Caldwell told his life story in his 2017 book The Push.

A year earlier, in 2014, he and Alex Honnold made the first ascent of the Fitz Traverse in Patagonia, a ridge link-up across the Fitz Roy skyline.

Becca Caldwell, born Rebecca Pietsch, is a photographer. The couple met in 2010, married in 2012 and have a son and a daughter.

What is a portaledge?

A portaledge is a hanging tent for big-wall climbers who spend several days and nights on a sheer rock face where there is no ledge to sleep on. A metal frame holds a fabric platform, and the whole thing hangs from a single anchor point with adjustable straps. A separate stormfly covers it in bad weather.

• 1960s: Warren Harding's B.A.T. Tent introduced the centrally suspended design.
• 1972: Jeff and Gregg Lowe's LURP added a collapsible frame and a nylon fly.
• 1977–1980s: Mike Graham's Gramicci built early commercial models, including the ballistic-nylon Fortress of 1979.
• 1986: John Middendorf founded A5 Adventures after a near-fatal storm on Half Dome; his designs shaped most modern portaledges.

A double portaledge measures roughly 2.1 by 1.3 metres and weighs around 13 kg with its fly: small enough to haul up a wall, big enough for two people to cook, read and sleep.

Free climbing, aid climbing and free soloing

The Caldwells' world comes with its own vocabulary:

• Free climbing means moving upward using only your hands and feet on the rock. Ropes and protection are still used, but only to catch a fall.
• Aid climbing uses gear such as aiders and skyhooks to help the climber move past difficult sections.
• Free soloing is free climbing with no rope, protection or partner at all.

On multi-day free climbs like the Dawn Wall, the portaledge is home between attempts. Long hours of resting, eating and waiting for the right conditions are part of the climb, and that is exactly what Corey Rich's photographs show.

Explore more: what cliffside camping images omit and the human side of mountain photography.

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• Everest’s Mountain Workers: The Sherpa’s Story
• Winter Climbing in Scotland with Ines Papert

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