BREAKING NEWS | 2 men reach top of Yosemite's El Capitan in historic climb

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — A pair of Americans on today completed what had long been considered the world's most difficult rock climb, using only their hands and feet to ascend a 3,000-foot vertical wall on El Capitan, the forbidding granite pedestal in Yosemite National Park that has beckoned adventurers for more than a half-century.

Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson became the first to free-climb the rock formation's Dawn Wall, a feat that many had considered impossible. They used ropes and safety harnesses to catch them in case of a fall, but relied entirely on their own strength and dexterity to ascend by grasping cracks as thin as razor blades and as small as dimes.

The effort took 19 days, as the two dealt with constant falls and injuries. But their success completes a yearslong dream that bordered on obsession for the men.

Caldwell finished the climb first this afternoon. Jorgeson caught up minutes later. The two embraced before Jorgeson pumped his arms in the air and clapped his hands above his head. They then sat down for a few minutes, gathered their gear, changed their clothes and hiked to the summit.

The trek up the world's largest granite monolith began Dec. 27. Caldwell and Jorgeson lived on the wall itself. They ate and slept in tents fastened to the rock thousands of feet above the ground and battled painful cuts to their fingertips much of the way.