This story is free to read.

Climbers expected to reach top of Yosemite peak Wednesday

In this Jan. 12, 2015 photo provided by Tom Evans, Kevin Jorgeson climbs what has been called the hardest rock climb in the world: a free climb of El Capitan, the largest monolith of granite in the world, a half-mile section of exposed granite in California's Yosemite National Park. El Capitan rises more than 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor. The first climber reached its summit in 1958, and there are roughly 100 routes up to the top. (AP Photo/Tom Evans, elcapreport) In this Jan. 12, 2015 photo provided by Tom Evans, Kevin Jorgeson climbs what has been called the hardest rock climb in the world: a free climb of El Capitan, the largest monolith of granite in the world, a half-mile section of exposed granite in California's Yosemite National Park. El Capitan rises more than 3,000 feet above the Yosemite Valley floor. The first climber reached its summit in 1958, and there are roughly 100 routes up to the top. (AP Photo/Tom Evans, elcapreport)

By Associated Press January 14, 2015 1 min read

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Two climbers vying to become the first in the world to use only their hands and feet to scale a sheer slab of granite in California’s Yosemite National Park are closing in on the top of the 3,000-foot peak.

If all goes as planned, 30-year-old Kevin Jorgeson of Santa Rosa, California, and 36-year-old Tommy Caldwell of Estes Park, Colorado, should reach the summit of El Capitan early Wednesday afternoon.

The world has been watching the pair’s grueling half-mile journey up the peak’s Dawn Wall route. But spokeswoman Jess Clayton says the men won’t give media interviews at the top. They plan to discuss the climb Thursday.

They started Dec. 27 and have been “free-climbing,” a technique that shuns climbing aids other than harnesses and ropes to prevent deadly falls.