Original subtitles

(calm music)

(upbeat music)

(helicopter rotors chopping)

- We're committed up here, so,

we gotta go up, dude.

I mean, hopefully he can keep it,

he can keep his mental strength up for a few more days.

(upbeat music)

- A California man with cerebral palsy

is trying to be the first person with his condition

to climb Yosemite.

- The 42 year old is making the trek

along with a group of other climbers

who are helping guide him using a system of ropes

to haul himself up.

Wampler, who has spent most of his life in a wheel chair,

trained for the height for more than a year

using weights and practicing in his harness.

- Relying solely on upper body strength,

he will be the first person with cerebral palsy

to make the climb.

- This isn't the safest thing to do in the world.

And going back to his heart,

Wampler's doing all this for his charity.

The Wamplers have a foundation that raises money

to help disabled children go to camp

and experience the outdoors,

just like Stephen Wampler.

(calm music)

- Part of the appeal that is Stephen

is that he was just born with a good attitude.

Secondly, I think that, since his parents didn't allow him

to have any sort of negative attitude

about his disability, he didn't.

They had an attitude that suggested

that it wasn't gonna change for him.

His disability is permanent.

And oh well, go play, go play.

Go have a big life.

My husband has waited his whole life.

He didn't know that he was going to be able

to do anything like this.

This came to him.

This epiphany came to him,

and he realized he could do something athletic.

But not only was it athletic,

it was as big as it gets.

In the climbing world,

Steve is as green as they come, for sure.

I didn't realize that Steve Wampler couldn't use a fork,

to do simple things, as eating.

And so, I totally feel the burden of responsibility.

It's kind of like we're gonna be sailing on a ship

and I'm the captain.

And I probably wouldn't be taking on this endeavor

if Dave wouldn't have taken it on with me.

- Is this them right here?

Every time I see a van, a mini van,

with a California tag,

I'm gonna be like, is that Steve?

Is that Steve?

(upbeat music)

(Steve laughing)

- Okay, you guys,

when I go through the tunnel, should I honk?

- No. - Yeah!

- No. - I think I should.

- I don't think so. - Do dun-dun-da-dun-dun.

Dun dun.

Do that. - I do that honk?

Okay. - Yeah.

(horn honks)

(Elizabeth laughing) (kids shouting)

- Steve is aiming to become the first person

with cerebral palsy to climb the famed El Capitan

in Yosemite National Park.

He trained for more than a year.

But it is a towering challenge.

El Capitan is not just one Empire State Building, but two.

- Once upon a time there was a great kid

who was born with a pretty severe form of cerebral palsy.

His name was Steve Wampler.

But despite the great challenges he faced,

Steve grew up to be a happy, sweet kid,

who was loved by everyone.

But he didn't do it alone.

When Steve was nine years old,

his parents sent him to a week long summer camp

for physically challenged kids, near Lake Tahoe.

For ten years, Steve attended this camp,

and it quickly became his favorite place on earth.

That's why it was devastating news

when he heard that the camp that meant so much to him

had closed down.

Today, Steve's a grown man.

He's a husband and a father of two great kids.

And he and his wife, Elizabeth,

have realized his lifelong dream,

to reopen the camp he attended as a child

so that other children

could have the same unique experience.

Now, Steve recognizes how expensive it is to raise a child

with physical challenges,

so he raises money to send every kid to camp

at no cost to their family.

- Hey Steve.

How's it going?

I heard about your upcoming climb,

and I am so excited for you.

I think it's amazing that you're challenging yourself

in such a significant way.

I can't even imagine trying something like that.

I get a little woozy on step ladders.

You know, they're, any--

- I did some research.

And I just wanna show you,

'cause I wanna make sure you have all the information.

It turns out climbing El Capitan mountain in a wheelchair

is, where is it?

Here it is.

Very hard, that's very hard.

I was gonna do it with ya, but,

thank you.

I, when I heard that, I said, you know what?

I'm gonna let Steve go. - Hey Steve,

heard what you're doing.

It is pretty amazing.

And the best of luck to you, Buddy.

- Good luck on your climb on El Capitan.

I have absolute faith you'll make it to the top.

And I wanna hear all about it,

once you're back at the bottom.

(calm music)

- Here we go!

(Elizabeth groans) - Oh my!

- You're kidding me.

Are you kidding me?

Oh my gosh, look at that.

Look what your dad is gonna do.

- He's crazy.

- He is brave.

- Yee haw.

What's up guys?

- Good.

Hey honey, can you let me out?

(calm music)

- El Cap, to the normal climber,

is probably the pinnacle

in a lot of people's climbing career.

People come from all around the world

because it's kind of the proving grounds.

So, I'd say it's not a bigger undertaking.

- The best climbers in the world

know that it's merely an attempt

until you stand on top.

Can go from Disneyland to the morgue (laughs) real quick.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have doubts

throughout this thing.

Feel like he's ready?

- I think he's beyond ready.

He's just ready to do it.

You know, he's good. - Cool.

- He's good.

- He's getting about anywhere from two to six inches

of pull per pull up.

And, if you do the math, yeah.

- I hadn't met Steve before,

but I was pretty well briefed on his condition.

And, personally, we just sort of,

who was this guy?

What's he doing?

It doesn't look good.

I put him at 10% success rate.

Probably 90% failure.

- Make sure he sleeps good tonight,

and eats well. - I will.

I just think he'll have this

the rest of his life. - I'm excited, man.

We're going rock climbing. - So excited.

(both laugh) Yay!

Oh, it's so fabulous. - Yeah, in the making.

Yeah.

- Yeah, it's gonna be great.

(calm music)

- How'd you sleep?

- I slept good. - Good.

- Yeah, I slept really good on the site.

- Hopefully I'll sleep really well tonight,

because-- - You couldn't

sleep good last night?

- He doesn't do well when he doesn't sleep.

- My mind was-- - Yeah, it happens.

My mind spins too, you know.

- My mind was racing and I just laid there

watching Man Versus Wild.

(everyone laughing)

- Let see how long it lasts, here.

(calm music)

(Steve chuckles)

Thank you Esap!

Appreciate it man.

(calm music)

(harness clicking)

- I don't know if we need to put his leg loops on.

Yeah, I think we just hang in there like that.

Yeah, he doesn't need to have those.

Here's where you should probably say goodbye to the fam

because I'm gonna load you up here in about two minutes,

and we're out.

So, if you guys wanna-- - Also isn't hooked.

(calm music)

(Steve crying)

- Good luck!

(Steve crying)

- Hey, can we have a little minute?

Just be okay.

Are you okay?

- Yep.

- Okay (sighs).

You're gonna do great.

You are. - I am.

- Or we wouldn't be doing this.

I'll miss you.

- Love you.

- I love you too.

- Let's roll, man.

You ready?

- I got one strap, right here, that needs to come forward.

(calm music)

- Go get 'em, sweety.

I love you. - All right, we're out.

- We love you, Steve. - All right.

- I love you guys.

- Oh God, what are we doing?

What have we done?

- He's Steve Wampler, so.

- He's Steve Wampler. - Just believe that.

(exhales hard)

- I just want it to be over.

(crying) Oh God.

He's with the experts.

- I told ya, we're just winging it, man.

(Tommy laughing)

- Best laid plans often go astray.

- When Stephen was nine,

his parents sent him to this camp in the Sierras.

It's so rugged; he pushed every limit.

And it's where the light bulb went on for him,

and where he realized he could do anything.

- Oh no, dogs are smart.

They're not gonna--

- He just didn't know,

because he hadn't yet had the experience

to realize that he could do anything.

It was at camp that he realized yeah, I can go to college,

and I can get married.

And it's where he got really excited about the possibilities

of who he was to become.

The camp, in the meantime, shut down.

And he approached me,

we had two babies at the time,

and he approached me

and said, "I really wanna start this camp again."

And we were able to open our first camp two summers later.

And that's how it all began.

- For about a week straight,

Wampler and two other men will eat, sleep,

and climb on the rock.

And he's doing it all for charity.

The Wamplers have created a foundation

to raise money to help disabled children go to camp

and live their own adventures just like Stephen Wampler.

- When I was a kid, my parents sent me to camp

for disabled kids.

What I didn't know was about a man,

a man named Senator John Nejedly,

who bought the land so he could open a camp

for kids like me to get out in the woods.

I was eight years old.

I had no idea where I was going,

but I was going away for a week.

And the camp, it absolutely changed my life.

- We take youth with physical disabilities

into the backwoods,

and we challenge them in ways

that they never get challenged.

I hope that they learn that,

just because there are mountains in the way,

does not mean that they have to stop,

that they can climb those mountains.

- Without going to camp,

sometimes you don't see that you're not a wheelchair kid.

You're a kid who just uses a wheelchair to get around.

When you go to camp, you learn that it's okay,

and you're gonna be fine if you're yourself in the world.

- You just kinda find yourself there.

- I wanna go to college, I wanna get married,

I wanna have kids.

I wanna be just like any other person in the world.

I have the same goals as any person would want.

- Because of what Senator Nejedly did,

and his son maintains today,

it is my hope that the kids in today's generation

will get the same benefit out of camp as I did.

- I come up every Friday night from work, and drive in,

and I do my best to get here while the last campfire goes.

And whether I'm in the jeep or on my motorcycle,

I stop at the top of the hill and turn the engine off,

and can hear the kids screaming, and yelling, and laughing,

and just making a racket.

And to me, that's the payday,

because you hear that and it's a true, true laughter

and fulfillment of being able to be here.

I can see why my dad did what he did,

and had his heartburn over keeping the place going.

This place just burns a hole in your heart.

- And now to be at a point

where I'm climbing a huge mountain

is something

that I think I never really dreamed about.

But here I am doing it.

- I didn't realize how much of a passion it was for him,

and how much, really, it did change his life,

until he told me, "I'm gonna climb El Cap."

- He wanted, very desperately, to pay it forward,

and to show other kids, through the camping experience,

and through the wilderness experience,

what they could do,

what they can really, really do.

And we've been at it for a long time now, and it works.

It's happened.

It's happened like that for those kids.

We just had seven kids that we aged out.

They turned 18 and they're all off to college.

They're all off to college.

They're leaving their family homes and they're doin' it.

- Oh my god, it's unbelievable.

Looked up at the rock

and it's breathtaking, unreal.

I can't even describe it.

(calm music)

- First day for Steve is to just get to the top of the rope

that we have fixed right now.

It's near 400 feet.

And Dave and I will push the rope further, hopefully,

tomorrow afternoon, so that,

when we wake up the following morning,

Steve's got a rope that he can get right to work on.

Our idea is to hopefully just always keep

a rope ahead of Steve.

- Pretty much have his next day ready.

- Yeah, in the morning, you know.

- End of the previous day.

- I mean that's the ideal.

We'll see what happens.

- I think I got 1800 feet to go (laughs), wow.

(calm music)

- When Tommy was first approached to help Steve

with his climb, he was really excited.

I know he was a little leery, had kind of mixed feelings.

But I think once he went up to his camp,

Tommy just saw what it's all about,

what the end project is working for.

- I've climbed plenty with able-bodied climbers

but it just seems like the disabled guy

has to overcome the same obstacles

as well as other, diverse ones.

They have to work that much harder at it.

It doesn't come as easy.

And so, that's just inspiring.

- Breakfast sandwich.

Breakfast of champions.

- Yeah, Marina made us. - I guess.

- Watch my fingers man.

- What?

- Watch my fingers (chuckles).

(metal clinking) - Gotta look the part, right?

How's that?

- Don't have to smell the part.

- Bear in a cave.

- Safety Sam says,

"safety first." - Gotta ditch my wedding ring.

- 400 feet today.

And knowing we have more four more days after this.

(footsteps)

- Try and just help slide you in here good.

Tie in is a secondary belay.

Pretty good?

- Yeah (laughs).

- It's all you dude!

- Sweet.

- Have fun and we'll see you up there.

All right man.

- Okay.

(dramatic music)

(harness creaking)

(dramatic music)

- All right Steve!

(dramatic music)

- Hey Steve,

how's it going?

- Looking good.

- Doin' all aright?

- It's good.

- Wall climbing's hard business, dude.

Welcome to the world of El Cap, buddy.

- Do you see what I see up there?

- That thing hanging?

- No, it looks like-- - You eyes are perfect.

- Is it?

Whoo.

(harness creaking)

(wind roaring)

- Shots dead, I'm gonna--

- I'm going down to check on the Wamp.

- All right.

Have fun down there.

We knew this was gonna be a long day,

but it's 4:30 now, I'm thinking it's gonna be a lot longer

than we had anticipated.

- So, you're six and a half hours at this point.

That's a good day, but we knew

that we were gonna be going for,

there were gonna be seven and eight hour days in this thing.

All right.

(harness creaking)

(dramatic music)

Okay, that's good.

- Good? - Yup.

(dramatic music)

- My leg,

my leg's stuck. - Oh, yeah, yeah.

All right, sorry.

Grab this strap.

One sec, give you a little slack here.

Welcome home brother.

Here's where you rest for now.

Here, let me get this rope underneath your arm here.

What'd you say?

- Oh my god.

Wow.

- Was it a hard day?

All right.

The Wamp has landed.

(calm music)

- Honey?

- Where are you guys?

- We're at the bridge, sweety.

How are you?

(Tommy laughing)

- Really tired.

- Today was a very good, productive killer day

in my opinion, over.

- Hey honey, they wanna yell up to you

and see if you can hear them tell you

that they love you.

Okay?

- Tell them go for it. - Yep, go.

- I didn't hear 'em.

Did you hear them?

(kids shouting)

There they are.

Now wave.

(Tommy laughing)

- Heard it loud and clear.

- Have a good night's sleep, babe.

We're thinking of you every second.

- Over and out (laughs).

You got some big days ahead of you, too, dude.

- I know.

(calm music)

Today, after seven hours, I'm sore, really sore.

And I signed up for this?

- You did. (Steve laughs)

- Hey y'all, we've got some,

my guess would be somewhere between 350 and 300 again.

Probably closer to 300.

(calm music)

- I'm here because my dad, Steve Wampler,

will be the first man with cerebral palsy

trying to climb El Capitan.

- I thought it was definitely bigger than the pictures,

(laughs) and it looked a lot bigger.

I didn't really think he was gonna look that,

as small as he does.

- I think of him as a normal dad.

Even though he's in a wheelchair,

he's a great dad.

- He's really good at math and science,

so he helps me with that.

- I pitch to him in baseball in our front yard.

He got me a new bat, so we play that a lot.

- He was still pretty strong,

and he was really brave.

But, after doing this, I think he'll be more

of both those things.

- Mm-mm, I am not into girls!

- Boys aren't that interesting (laughs).

And my dad's interesting.

- When I met Stephen, my husband of 15 years now,

the first time I saw him,

I remember, distinctly, saying to myself,

"oh god, don't let me cry.

"Don't let me cry, don't let me cry."

And I said that, I thought that,

because he's pretty severely disabled

and I had never known anybody with a disability.

And he broke my heart.

I thought that the poor guy was having a horrible life

and that people were mean to him every day.

I was ignorant.

And I really suffered for him.

I believe, and Stephen agrees,

that ignorance of the disabled

among people who don't have disabilities

is completely, 100%, understandable.

I think, that we are dealing

with an incredibly compassionate population

of American people, on the whole.

But people are scared.

People without disabilities are scared to do it wrong.

As fate would have it, I kept running into him.

I was brand new to town.

And I kept seeing him.

And I kept kind of watching him through the periphery

because we were invited to the same dinner parties,

three times in a row.

And so I could watch him.

And then all of a sudden I started learning,

it started clicking, and I'd think, (laughs),

"oh, wait a second, he's funny.

"He's super funny."

Still didn't wanna talk to him.

Then, as time went on and I did talk to him,

I realized he's bright, and he's fabulous,

and he's wonderful.

There was nothing I could do about it,

I was crazy about him.

It was that earth colliding love that exists today,

and is stronger today.

My life with him is a joy.

And I am not his nurse.

I am not his caregiver.

I am his wife.

And he takes care of me, and I take care of him.

Whatever he can't do physically, it's our deal, I do it.

But if he can, he does.

(metal clinking)

(calm music)

- Gonna make 300 feet today.

Mind over matter.

Mind over matter.

(calm music)

- Okay, Steve, start going for it, dude.

(harness creaking)

(calm music)

(wind rushing)

(calm music)

(wind rushing)

(calm music)

- So what's up, how do you think he's doing?

- He seems like he's doing okay, right now.

We don't wanna get-- - We don't wanna get

any higher than one more pitch with him, really.

- No, there's a serious different commitment level

at that point. - Absolutely.

(calm music)

(Elizabeth laughing)

- That didn't go well.

(girls laughing)

You okay honey?

(Joseph laughing) Get 'er. (laughing)

Now you gotta get her.

Oh, where'd she go?

- We're just in from Central England.

We've just come to Yosemite to go climbing.

We first learned about El Capitan a few years ago.

And, I think, for most climbers,

it's a place where they all want to come at some point.

That was what drove us to come.

We had plans to climb El Capitan,

but (laughs) it's massive.

- We booked the flights six months ago.

And here we are now.

- We arrived at the decision not to climb it.

- The reasons why the standards have gone up here on El Cap

is 'cause everybody comes and it's so easy to try.

At least to get to the base of the wall.

But once you're at the base of the wall,

it's a whole different story.

You're looking up at almost an unachievable

wall to surmount.

- This is a major undertaking

for the most fit climber in the world.

- No one with more physical challenges

has ever even attempted to climb it.

And so I was inspired that he was trying it

and at the same time I just didn't know

what was gonna happen.

- It's extremely rewarding.

I'm not like a scientist, or a lawyer, or anything.

I'm pretty much a career climber.

People come from around the world, every year,

to climb El Capitan

because it's just where people go to climb;

it's a rite of passage.

(calm music)

- Yeah, you know typically

he can sit himself up pretty easily,

and he wasn't able to do that this morning,

and last night.

I was having to help him to sit up.

That's not, he usually scoots himself around pretty good.

We need to monitor that.

If his seizures get any worse, dude,

it's the last thing we wanna do is deal with some--

- No way.

- He can't move, or whatever.

- And then it just becomes dangerous for everybody.

- Absolutely.

- We'll let him get a good day.

(calm music)

- Come on Tom Sawyer.

No more whipping, no, ah, no, no, stop please.

Here, let's get this.

(wind rushing)

(calm music)

- How you doing, Steve?"

- Good, I hate, over that rock.

- Sorry, dude, it's just part of the game.

- I know.

(Steve breathing hard)

- Did I just push up to high?

Sorry.

I figured everybody had the same reach I did.

- Almost, got it.

Come on.

- I put it up too high, I'm sorry, Steve.

- It's all right.

(Steve grunts)

(harness creaking) - Just leave it there.

Nice work, bro.

Nice work.

- Thank you. - You did good, dude.

I know that was a tough one.

- Nice job, dude.

(harness creaking)

(Steve grunts) - This is Tommy,

calling Elizabeth down on the bridge.

Do you copy Elizabeth?

- Hi Tommy.

- Wanna say hi to Steve?

- Oh, please, please, please, please.

- Say hi.

- Bye Tommy, thank you.

- Hi honey, how are you?

- Everything down here is fantastic.

Zillions and zillions of people

are following you on Facebook

and rooting for you like crazy.

Stephen, it is crazy.

- Wow.

- Hey, when you guys get invited

to the White House for dinner,

don't forget about me and Dave, eh?

- We love you Daddy, goodnight.

One, two. - Two.

- Three.

- We love you Daddy, goodnight!

- He heard that.

- I love you!

I think he heard that too.

(calm music)

- (sighs) Long day.

- A few more to go.

- Well, you know what, Steve?

One more pitch and you're gonna be at the halfway mark,

dude, as far as pitches go.

How's that?

- A lot, I love it.

- How do you feel about tomorrow?

- Good.

Should be easier than what I've been through.

No worse than the rock.

(calm music)

- I just asked Steve

how he thought his seizures were.

- How weird they are.

- Where are they on the scale of one to ten, again?

- Five.

- At the halfway point?

- They'll calm down once I start working out.

They almost go away.

(calm music)

I think it's nerves, and scared.

(bird squawking)

- How long have you been in that chair for, Steve?

- I've been in my chair my whole life.

- How many chairs have you worn out?

- Probably 20.

- Oh my god. - Really?

- Those things go quicker than cars.

- My dad was a dentist for 35 years in Brooklyn.

And he retired recently.

My mom stayed home and raised the kids.

They kind of took it in stride

and they got used to the fact that I wasn't able to walk

And they treated me just like they treated

the other four kids in the family.

I was raised as if I did not have a disability.

I was just brought up in such a normal childhood

that there was no real delineation, if you will,

between he's disabled and he's not.

I grew up with 18 kids on my block.

If they were playing baseball, I was the umpire.

Or, if they were playing football, I was referee.

- He's got such a positive attitude about everything

that I remember, when we were kids,

at one point me and some of the other guys

were running around.

And he almost had us convinced that it was funner

to be in a wheelchair than it was to not.

So, whenever he was not in his wheelchair,

one of us was in there.

He basically was convincing us how cool it was

to be in a wheelchair.

- A California man is on his way to becoming

the first person with cerebral palsy

to clime Yosemite's El Capitan.

- Hello, Steve?

Hey, it's David from New York.

How are you?

- Good, and you?

- I guess you're just kinda hangin' out.

- Kinda (laughs), if you wanna call it that.

It's been a lot of hard work,

and I'm really emotionally drained,

and mentally, and physically drained right now.

And what I'm trying to accomplish

is to raise awareness for kids with a disability.

Thank you, have a good day.

- Had a good interview with those ABC folks.

All I said was "hey, hold on, I'll give him the phone."

So I held the speakerphone for Steve.

But it was fully emotional, dude.

I was almost crying.

I was like, wow, dude, this is rad.

It's settling in all of a sudden, or something.

- He could write a good biography.

- Yeah. - In fact, a Coronado man

with cerebral palsy says he is attempting to climb

a 2,000 foot rock. - Father of two

plans on pushing his body

to its limit. - Stephen's been training

for a year and a half,

and he's doing it all for charity.

- Hey, Steve's doing really well.

He got some sleep last night.

- Oh, yay. - And yeah,

things are looking really good for him today.

And he's strong, he's feeling good,

so we're moving forward.

- Okay, was he kind of in rough shape yesterday,

would you say?

- Yeah, yesterday was a rough day in the morning,

just because he hadn't got any sleep.

And it raised concern for Dave and I.

And we kept a close eye on him.

But he's doing a lot better today.

And we've actually committed ourselves based on that,

we dropped our line that was fixed to the base.

We've pretty much committed ourselves to this route now.

So, here we go!

- Oh, that's incredible.

(upbeat music)

- Hey, Dave,

the Wamp's getting pretty cooked in the sun down here.

Are we almost ready to go?

- Yeah, just give me a couple more minutes.

(upbeat music) - Right on.

- Doing all right, Steve?

- Thank you.

- We're committed up here.

So, we gotta go up, dude.

Hopefully he can keep his mental strength up

for a few more days.

- Hey Dave, I'm getting ready to lower the Wamp out.

Can you reach your tune bar?

(wind rushing)

- It's okay, just take your arm out of the loop.

This, see this right here?

Yeah, very good.

You're good to go.

- I'm really.

- I'm not the greatest climber in the world,

but when I look up there, I see a man who's lying,

looking up into the sun.

It's a hot day.

And yet there's no shade.

He's been in the blazing sun on his face all day,

when it's the worst possible conditions

to climb for someone.

And the guys are doing some good climbing up there,

but gee, it just makes me wonder,

this guy's gotta be baking up there.

They're about halfway up.

And the heat's still on.

The climbing end of the day, yesterday,

when he climbed a lot.

I'm sure he's tired, and now it's just a drain.

He's not gaining energy up there.

He's not getting stronger every day,

he's getting weaker every day.

My concern is that he's going to run out of gas

about 500 feet from the top.

And then I don't know what they're gonna do.

- What's up Dave?

- Hey, I'm just wondering what you're thinking.

It's five after five right now.

Seems like, if we want to get into our bivvies early,

that we should probably just bivvy here tonight.

- 10-4.

I'll let the Wamp get up a little bit more

and I'll try lowering these bags out and see where we get.

- Right on.

(wind rushing)

- Elizabeth, this is Dave.

Are you there?

- Hi Dave, how you doing?

- Just calling to let you know how Steve was doing.

- Okay, and how are his spirits.

- They seem all right.

I think he's just really worn out, tired.

He's ready to be done.

But we're gonna keep on going, at this point.

He's had a rough day.

(calm music)

- I'm out.

- Yeah, will you pull up his rope?

You've got about 15 feet to go, partner,

then the day is over.

(calm music)

- There's no comparison between here and the climbing gym.

This is like ten times harder than a gym could ever be.

(calm music)

(Steve yawns)

The sun was absolutely relentless

and sucked the life out of me.

(calm music)

- Morning. - Morning.

- Hold on a second,

let me put my phone away, it's freestyle.

- Freestyle (laughs).

Dave, what exactly is freestyle?

- Like a climber, for example,

if they go climbing without ropes and stuff,

we call that freestyle.

- Ah, right, right, right.

- Right? - Yep.

They're not attached to the-- - I get it.

So what you're saying is this bag of coffee

I got in my lap is freestyle. - It's freestyle, dude.

(burner whooshing)

- You're looking at 400 plus,

400 feet today.

And another three-something tomorrow.

Something similar to what you did your first day.

And then something similar. - Like the second day.

- Yeah, I guess, the second day.

- Yesterday would've been your easiest day,

out of it.

What do you think about that?

- I've got to go up.

- Yeah, I mean we don't really have

another option anymore.

- We do have the option,

and that's if he gets in the state that he was in yesterday.

Then we're gonna stop and rest.

- Well, yeah, yeah, right.

But I mean, the option is going up, still.

- Yeah, yeah.

That option's gone.

(calm music)

- Good morning, Dave, how are you?

- I'm good.

Just getting ready, here, for another day at work.

- Dave, can he hear me?

- Yeah, he can hear you.

- Oh, okay.

Okay then, I'm gonna talk for a minute, okay?

- Go ahead.

- No, no. - No?

Hey Steve just said no, Elizabeth.

He'd prefer to not talk right now,

or to hear you right now.

I think he's pretty focused in saddling up.

It's just keeping that energy going.

You guys have a good day down there.

- Okay.

(calm music)

- I'm lowering out the Wamp right now, Tommy.

That's it, buddy.

That's where you're gonna be hanging.

- Daddy, can I see? - It's a, oh wow.

- I can't believe

how fast he's been. - Mommy can I see it.

Do you wanna go on the road?

- I can't even see

whatever is in back of it. - I know, I know.

- And if I were to start pulling back,

here to (static drowns out voice).

- Oh my god. - He's so high.

- That's where he's gonna be. - Yeah, if we yell

dad can hear us.

(calm music)

- Can you believe it?

- Oh, I can't believe it.

I'm so proud. - Oh my god.

Look at that.

- How do you feel, Steve?

- My anxiety level

is very annoying right now.

- Mm-mm, dad doesn't it today.

So we're gonna do exactly what he wants.

But you can pray.

- Got 120, 130 feet left in ya?

(calm music)

(dramatic music)

- I put him at 10% success rate, probably 90% failure.

It doesn't look good.

(dramatic music)

- Tom!

I can't even move my left arm.

It doesn't even,

isn't even controllable at this point.

(dramatic music)

I don't feel well.

I think I'm gonna pass out.

- Holy shit.

Steve you want help?

You might need help?

(dramatic music)

- You get about three

or four more of those,

you're gonna be where you gotta be.

- Wanna do his leg belt over here.

- Yeah, I will, just one second.

(dramatic music)

- You know where you are?

- No.

- Have a big decision tomorrow.

- We have to seriously monitor him tonight,

and hopefully he'll get some sleep,

because if the seizures are any worse,

then, dude, we have to seriously consider moving on, or.

When you're on a big wall, you go through every emotion

in the book.

It's like--

- Yeah.

- Know what?

I'm glad to see you talking again dude.

I don't like it when you go quiet (laughs).

- I have no liquid in my mouth.

- You're lips were just sticking to each other, huh?

- Yeah.

- I'm glad to see you're back with us.

Let's get a good night's rest.

(dramatic music)

- I can't wait to get off.

To get off.

- So what you're saying is, when we're done,

you're retiring? - Oh yeah.

- You're not gonna ask me to come back after?

- You can climb (laughs).

- No, no, no.

But you're not gonna ask me to come back up here with you?

- No (laughing).

It's not you, I'm enjoying it.

But-- - You don't have to lie,

it's all right. - It's nothing

that I would wanna do again.

No way. - It's a lot of work, man.

- Lot of work.

- It hurts.

(cheerful music)

- There you go.

(cheerful music)

- Now see this little crack right there?

Put your foot on that.

(cheerful music)

- Stand up on your leg.

Pull up, keep standing up.

There you go.

(cheerful music)

- I had no idea the depth

of how bad it got for him yesterday,

and I hate to think of that.

I just want him have the sense of accomplishment.

And I worry that he's not gonna get it.

- Steve, this is Todd O.,

I just wanted to say, man,

you're doing an awesome job down there.

And I think every single climber that's ever climbed

goes through what you're going through

with this second guessing what's going on, the anxiety.

Every time I've ever climbed El Cap,

there's been this massive anxiety that can come over you,

just and unnatural place to be.

Way to go overcoming that, man.

Really common, really typical.

I think you're doing it, man,

you're becoming a climber.

It's just a right of passage, brother.

(Tommy and Steve laughing) Good luck, buddy.

Have a great day!

(Steve laughing)

- Thank you, thank you.

(dramatic music)

- Beth down on the bridge,

do you copy Elizabeth?

- Morning Tommy, how are you?

- Wonderful, how are you today?

- I am great, thanks.

How did he sleep?

- I think he slept really well.

And we slept in this morning, if you guys hadn't noticed.

And, as we spoke last night,

we're gonna be a little bit smaller a portion today

and kind of conserve our energy for one big push tomorrow.

- Can he hear me too?

- Totally, in fact, he wants to say hi.

- Oh, yay!

Honey, it is everything we hoped for this whole time,

all nine years, it's happening right now.

- That's great.

- We love you and we're thinking about you

every single second.

And you're gonna power it out.

And I cannot wait to see you.

- We'll talk to you this evening.

(Tommy shouts)

(Kids and Elizabeth cheer)

- Since the beginning, they've been talking about

how Steve's gonna get off the top of El Capitan.

It was determined that it was gonna be

Rob Buzby and a group of Marines were gonna go up there.

Joseph will be at the summit of El Capitan

when his dad comes up.

It's gonna be really cool.

We haven't told Steve that he's coming up.

So, when Steve, when we bring Steve up

from where he summits, his son's there.

It's gonna be pretty cool.

It's gonna be kind of a Christmas morning

type of experience I think.

(calm music)

(wind rushing)

- Oh my god.

- Oh my god is right (laughing).

- Took like half of it.

- Dude, I had to pull my fingers back (laughing).

(Steve laughing)

That was epic (laughing).

Ah, it's gorgeous right now.

(Tommy howls)

(calm music)

- Morning.

- I wanna know how you feel about going up

and getting your dad with the Marines.

- Well, I'm kinda scared because, well,

I don't wanna look over the edge.

- The thing is, bud, if you do this,

if you can be super brave,

you will have this memory forever.

You'll never forget it, neither will dad.

And you'll have it together, you'll have it to share, right?

And it's a boy trip.

It's a male bonding thing.

Have you ever heard that phrase?

It's like when guys do guy things.

No chicks around.

It's super important to have a lot of those.

I want you to try really hard to take this opportunity

to be super brave.

Get it done.

Get it done.

Because, you know, fear won't last.

Fear will not last, it's temporary.

But being brave will allow you

this incredible enormous experience.

And I think you should do it.

What do you think?

- Yeah. - Okay.

Give me a squeeze.

I love you.

God bless you, baby.

Okay.

(calm music)

- Did you get one of these, Dave?

- No, I'm good.

- You want a chocolate covered coffee bean?

- No.

(Tommy sighs)

- Steve here, he's by far the most disabled person

that's climbed El Cap.

But we're on our last day and everything's worked so far.

- All the way up, up!

- Ease the lift off.

Two or three days into the trip,

he looked at Dave and I and said, "you know,

"this is the longest I've been out of my wheelchair ever.

(calm music)

- There he is, 300 feet from the top.

Day six?

So, it's amazing to me.

I've never seen the like of it,

and I've been, well, it's 42, 43 years in the valley.

We're all real tickled that it's going on.

The tourists, they come by.

Several hundred people a day come by to watch him.

And they're all excited too.

- I felt really privileged that Elizabeth

decided that she wanted to ask me

if I could accompany her son to rendezvous with his dad.

I feel really privileged to be a part of this whole thing.

(upbeat music)

(harness creaking)

(upbeat music)

- I was going pretty fast, wasn't I?

- You were going very fast.

- Okay, ready, Rock on Steve, on three.

Ready, one, two. - They can

see you waving, no problem.

Ha, ha, ha, you hear 'em?

- Yeah.

- Sounds good.

(upbeat music)

- Yee who!

I'm on top you guys.

Just give me a minute and I'll get things set up for you.

(Dave shouting)

- Yippee ki ay!

(upbeat music)

Bring it on, baby.

- He's so close.

(upbeat music)

- 89 more.

(upbeat music)

- They said half an hour.

I said 20 even.

- It is beyond.

(dramatic music)

He did it, God.

I've never loved him so much

as I do right this second.

I've never, never ever loved him as much.

- You have a disability.

That's not gonna change.

I don't care if you're mad about it.

I don't care if you're sad about it.

You're missing out on life.

You're only here for, if you're lucky, 80 years.

So make the most of what you have.

(dramatic music)

- You're going clockwise now.

Yeah!

(dramatic music swells)

- I did it.

- Yeah, good job man.

(Steve crying)

(Elizabeth laughing)

- I love you so much.

You did it. You did it.

(calm music)

- Steve, Steve, who's that dude?

(everyone laughing)

- Give him a hug.

- God.

(Steve crying)

(calm music)

- We got it.

- I know.

- You are, are you ready?

- Would you help me?

(calm music)

(crowd cheering and clapping)

(Elizabeth and Steve crying)

(dramatic music)

- You're safe.

Wow.

(dramatic music)

(crowd claps and cheers)

- Stephen, I love you.

- Sweetie, it's fabulous.

- Thank you. - You did a good thing.

(calm music)

- I think it's very inspiring,

and I wanna maybe climb El Capitan next.

- I'm not thinking of just climb El Cap,

but you have to have dreams,

whether you have a disability or not.

You can achieve anything you want.

Everybody can dream.

(calm music)