Tommy Caldwell might as well have climbed plate glass

<p>(AP Photo/Ted Distel)</p>
<p>Kevin Jorgeson, left, and Tommy Caldwell embrace each other after reaching the top of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot sheer granite face in Yosemite National Park, Calif. </p>

In case you missed it, Coloradan Tommy Caldwell and his climbing partner Kevin Jorgensen recently wrapped up a stunning 19-day achievement: free-climbing the Dawn Wall face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. If you look at the photos from their feat, there are times the funger holds on their route had all the texture of plate glass.

Caldwell, of Estes Park, has been climbing since he was a kid, and he was on the air today with Colorado Matters, talking about everything from the state of his raggedy fingers to his experience being kidnapped by terrorists 15 years ago in Asia. Listen to the full conversation here, and check out images of Caldwell climbing as a tyke. And for a taste of the heights of Yosemite, click on the 360-degree image below.