Climbers finish 9th day of attempt to scale Yosemite's El Capitan

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Kevin Jorgeson, in yellow, and Tommy Caldwell, in green hug at the summit after completing their free climb of the Dawn Wall at El Capitan in Yosemite National Park on Jan. 14. (Ted Distel / Adidas Outdoor)

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Tommy Caldwell, left, and Kevin Jorgeson discuss on Thursday their ascent of El Capitan’s Dawn Wall in Yosemite. (Ben Margot / Associated Press)

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Kevin Jorgeson, wearing green, and Tommy Caldwell, wearing blue lower right, climb near the summit of El Capitan on Jan. 14. (Ben Margot / Associated Press)

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People watch as two climbers vying to become the first to use only their hands and feet to scale a sheer slab of granite on El Capitan make their way to the summit on Jan. 14. (Ben Margot / Associated Press)

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Kevin Jorgeson, wearing green, and Tommy Caldwell, wearing blue, near the summit of El Capitan on Jan. 14. (Ben Margot / Associated Press)

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Tommy Caldwell, left, and Kevin Jorgeson near the summit of El Capitan on Jan. 14, as seen from the valley floor in Yosemite National Park. (Ben Margot / Associated Press)

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Kevin Jorgeson stands at the beginning of Pitch 18 on Jan. 12. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Climber Tommy Caldwell (in yellow) and a cameraman (in black) prepare for the day at base camp on Jan. 12. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson, center, climbs on Pitch 18 as two cameramen shoot the action on Jan. 12. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson, top, climbs the top of Pitch 17 as Tommy Caldwell belays below on Jan. 12. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson (in green) climbs Pitch 16 on Jan. 10. Tommy Caldwell (in yellow) is below. Two cameramen are also shooting the action. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Crowds watch and wait anxiously in El Capitan Meadow in Yosemite National Park on Jan. 10. Eric Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson could be within days of free climbing the 3,000-foot Dawn Wall, on the southeast side of Yosemite’s famed El Capitan. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson climbs Pitch 15 on El Capitan on Jan. 9 in Yosemite National Park. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson climbs Pitch 15 Jan. 7. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Tommy Caldwell works what is known as pitch 15 as he and Kevin Jorgeson, not shown, attempt to scale El Capitan. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson grips the surface of the Razor Edge on Jan. 5. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson ascends Pitch 8 on Dec. 28 as two men attempt to free climb El Capitan. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Tommy Caldwell eats dinner in a cliff-side tent on Dec. 29. (Kevin Jorgeson / www.elcapreport.com)

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Tommy Caldwell, 36, of Estes Park, Colo., with Kevin Jorgeson, 30, of Santa Rosa, not seen, set up camp on Dec. 28. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Tommy Caldwell ascends what is known as Pitch 10 on Dec. 28. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson, in the green shirt at the center of this photo, on the 15th of 32 pitches, or sections, of his attempted climb with Tommy Caldwell up Yosemite’s El Capitan. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Tommy Caldwell does some stretching exercises after coming out of his tent Jan. 4. to get ready for the days climbing. Since Dec. 27, he and Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell have been climbing El Capitan’s steep and barren Dawn Wall in Yosemite National Park. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson on the 15th of 32 pitches, or sections, of his attempted climb with Tommy Caldwell up Yosemite’s El Capitan. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell began to climb El Capitan’s steep and barren Dawn Wall in Yosemite National Park on Dec. 27. Their camp on Jan. 4 appears as a speck above the trees. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

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Kevin Jorgeson, 30, of Santa Rosa, left, and Tommy Caldwell, 36, of Estes Park, Colo., prepare their climbing gear on Dec. 27. (Tom Evans / www.elcapreport.com)

By Matt HamiltonStaff Writer

Jan. 5, 2015 12:44 AM PT

Two climbers ended their ninth consecutive day on Sunday of a quest to scale one of the most difficult routes in the world: a half-mile section of exposed granite in California’s Yosemite National Park.

Since Dec. 27, Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell have been free climbing -- using only their hands and feet -- while sleeping in sling-like tents suspended to El Capitan’s Dawn Wall, a steep and barren section of the mountain. The expanse has also been called the Wall of the Early Morning Light.

El Capitan, which stands more than 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor, is the largest monolith of granite in the world, according to the National Park Service.

For more than 27 days in 1970, Warren Harding and Dean Caldwell climbed Dawn Wall using ropes. Jorgeson and Caldwell would be the first since then to climb the section using ropes only as a safeguard against a fall.

“If they get it completed, it will be the hardest completed rock climb in the world,” Tom Evans, a climber and photographer, told the New York Times. Evans is documenting the pair’s summit on his blog.

Jorgeson, 30, of Santa Rosa, and Caldwell, 36, of Estes Park, Colo., prepared for about five years for the climb, according to their personal websites. They have chronicled both their preparation and current progress toward the summit of El Capitan on Facebook and Twitter.

“One step closer! I sent pitch 15 last night,” Caldwell wrote Sunday morning on his Facebook page, locating himself about halfway through the mountain’s 32 pitches, or sections.

Caldwell plans to attempt the 16th section on Tuesday after taking a rest day on Monday, according to his wife Becca’s blog.

Jorgeson, meanwhile, tweeted late Saturday about his difficulty scaling the same section: “Battling. #dawnwall.”

The pair hope to reach the top of ‘El Cap,’ as climbers call the mountain, on Friday, according to Jorgeson’s “best case scenario” agenda, which he posted online.

For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno on Twitter. He can be reached at matt.hamilton@latimes.com.