Screenshot: TEDx Talks
Would you kill to survive? Could you kill to survive? For many, this is merely a hypothetical question posed in philosophy classes and lectures. But for Tommy Caldwell, this perverse dilemma reared its head as a unconscionable reality.
There he was in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, resting with his girlfriend and three others at a campsite when they were abruptly awakened. Gun shots. Bullets ricocheted off walls. Hunters? No. War.
Soon, Tommy and his climbing partners were taken captive by the rebel insurgency, used as rebel shields. For days they traveled. Hunger came. Complacency next. After that, though, complacency turned to a primal urge to live and protect — a survival instinct. And it was then that the hypothetical question posed in philosophy classes and lectures reared its head as an unconscionable reality. Scrambling up a steep face to evade the enemy, there was an opportunity to separate themselves from their single remaining captor.
A thud was all Tommy heard.
“We are capable of so much more than we could ever imagine,” Tommy reflects. “But we only find that capacity when pushed against the limit — the unendurable and existential threat.”
While the moment was consequential for sure and influential at that, it wasn’t the defining moment of his grit and determination. His survival instinct was instilled years before, as explained in his TEDx Talk spanning from his childhood to the most recent ascent of the Dawn Wall.
“The greatest gift he gave me was that he reframed adversity as adventure,” Tommy says of his father.
It is through adversity that Tommy has thrived. From the lessons his father taught him to Kyrgyzstan to an instance with a table saw that cut off his left index finger, Tommy has experienced his fair share of adversity — but, in the end, he is grateful for all of it.
“Hardship is what makes us feel more deeply,” he elaborates. “And the ability to truly feel creates passion, and passion is what leads us to defy the odds.”
And defy the odds he has. Despite losing that aforementioned left index finger (a death sentence for most climbers), Tommy has gone on to push climbing further and higher than it has ever been pushed, a metaphorical peak being the first-ever free climb of the Dawn Wall at El Capitan, alongside Kevin Jorgeson.
Screenshot: TEDx Talks
Ultimately, it comes down to a simple acceptance of life: hardship is inevitable, so put your goggles on and face into the wind.
As for as Tommy is concerned, he has to — his son Fitz is counting on him.
Screenshot: TEDx Talks
