Climber clears key hurdle in bid to scale El Capitan in California

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - One of two climbers trying become the first to scale a 3,000-foot (900-metre) face of the El Capitan rock formation in California's Yosemite National Park without bolts or other climbing tools has cleared a key stretch and believes he will make it to the top, representatives said on Friday. Tommy Caldwell completed pitches 19 and 20 of the near-vertical granite face of El Capitan's so-called dawn wall using only his hands and feet on Thursday night, spokeswoman Jess Clayton said. After nearly two weeks of climbing, Caldwell is now two-thirds of the way up the wall at a spot known as Wino Tower, where Warren Harding, leader of the first team to climb El Capitan, rested during his ascent in 1970, using climbing tools. "This section was the last big question mark in Tommy's mind and mentally represented a huge turning point for him," Clayton said. "He now has full confidence that he can make it to the top. The remaining 1,000 feet (300 meters) of climbing, while still intimidating and challenging, are technically easier," she said. Caldwell had "tears of elation" in his eyes when he reached Wino Tower after a difficult climb through pitch 20, she said. Caldwell's climbing partner, Kevin Jorgeson, has been struggling for much of the last week on pitch 15, writing on Instagram about how razor sharp rock ledges had ripped the skin off his fingers. "Kevin has rested for the last two days, hoping to regrow enough skin on his fingers to be able to complete pitch 15 today," Clayton said. "At this moment he is mobilizing to try it. The last few days of attempts he's waited until dark, but today is cloudy and cooler so he may try earlier than normal," she said. Because the warmth of the day can cause their hands and feet to perspire, Jorgeson and Caldwell often start climbing at dusk. Jorgeson and Caldwell first tried to scale the near-vertical rock face in 2010 and 2011 before returning for this attempt on Dec. 27. The pair are using safety ropes in case of falls, and using ropes and other tools to move back and forth from their campsite perched high on the rock. Each day, they try to climb one of the 32 "pitches," varying lengths of rock that they try to master with only their hands and feet, until eventually they have climbed the whole wall. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric Beech)