Over the edge

In the summer of 2000, Tommy Caldwell, Beth Rodden, Jason Smith, and John Dickey went rock climbing in Kyrgyzstan. The oldest was 25. Asleep in their portaledges high on the Yellow Wall in the Pamir-Alai Mountains, they awoke at daybreak to gunfire. Kidnapped by fanatical Islamic militants linked to Al Qaeda, they were used as human shields for ransom. The fanatical Islamic militants hid the climbers by day and marched them by night through freezing, treacherous mountain terrain, with little food and no clean water, and under the constant threat of execution. Their will to survive was their most important asset and led to the climatic decision that gained their freedom.