Free climbers succeed in reaching top of El Capitan

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- A pair of Americans on Wednesday completed what had long been considered the world's most difficult rock climb, using only their hands and feet to ascend a 3,000-foot vertical wall on El Capitan, the forbidding granite pedestal in Yosemite National Park that has beckoned adventurers for more than half a century.

It took 19 days of grit and perseverance. Santa Rosa's Kevin Jorgeson and Colorado resident Tommy Caldwell have become the first free climbers to scale El Capitan's Dawn Wall, using only ropes as safety devices.

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ABC7 News reporter Wayne Freedman contributed to this story.