BURSTEarlier this year, Tommy Caldwell repeated Empath in California and gave it a personal grade of 5.14b. It was first climbed by Carlo Traversi and given a possible grade of 5.15a. Prior to Caldwell, Empath was repeated by several climbers, including Jimmy Webb, Daniel Woods, Nathaniel Coleman, Keenan Takahashi, Connor Herson and Ethan Pringle. Herson later returned and climbed it on trad gear. Subsequent ascents
Caldwell, who’s one of America’s best big wall free climbers, with the first free ascent of the Dawn Wall to his name, has a long history of difficult redpoints. In 2003, he made the first ascent of Flex Luthor, which wasn’t repeated until 2021 when Matty Hong sent and graded it 5.15b – it’s since been graded 5.14d and 5.15a.
Patagonia just released a short video featuring Caldwell talking about his beta for Empath, watch it below. About the footage, Patagonia noted, “Tommy Caldwell chose to project the granite testpiece Empath 5.14d in Kirkwood, California, as part of the Gentlemen’s Race to 9a, a friendly competition between himself, fellow Patagonia Ambassador Sonnie Trotter and their good friend Alex Honnold to see who could repeat 9a (5.14d) first after a long hiatus from climbing at that level. But after sending Empath on May 17, 2025, Tommy’s not sure if it counts.”
Caldwell on Empath
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