As an eternal optimist and positive thinker, I never fail to be impressed by feats of human endeavour.

Following the progress of the two Americans who free climbed the surface of El- Capitan, the world’s toughest rock face, has had me fascinated.

Being as I am so afraid of heights, that jumping from an eight metre platform induced hyperventilation and the thought of a ride on the London Eye would see me run for the hills, the very thought of anyone attempting such a dangerous feat, defies my personal logic.

With only a short rope to catch them if they fell; which frankly looked like it wouldn’t even be strong enough to protect a mouse, those crazy Americans, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, slowly worked their way up a vertical rock face using their bare hands.

The logistics must have been a nightmare.

They slept on a suspended platform, and I assume ablutions must have been al fresco too. With fingers shredded to pieces by the rock face and the strength of Titan, they reached the top in 19 days.

Their hands were so wrecked, they used Superglue and tape to ease the pain, a level of determination that is beyond impressive.

Not long ago, I decided that rock climbing was going to be my new "thing".

I booked a lesson at Reading indoor climbing centre and arrived convinced that in 60 minutes I would have conquered my fears and be well on the way to planning an Everest expedition.

I’m not known for shirking a challenge but after only 10 minutes on the absolute beginner’s wall, where the plastic rocks are positioned so close together, it’s almost like climbing a ladder, I realised that rock climbing was maybe not a skill that was going to come naturally.

Despite the encouragement from the 21-year-old instructor with a physique similar to Bear Grylls, I got to the top in record slow time and took 20 minutes to recover from the shock of being a mere 20 feet up.

I’m sure my experience has increased my admiration for those American climbers.

Doubtless they had an extensive support crew but at the end of the day, they were the ones exposed on that rock face. I only hope the crew weren’t standing underneath when nature called…

With the chaos of day to day life, it’s hard to imagine being so utterly focused on a single task, that everything else becomes unimportant.

For 19 days, their only goal was to get to the top of the rock face. Nothing else mattered: literally a case of life or death.

That in itself must have been mentally exhausting, let alone the toll it was taking on their bodies.

In life, we all face our own personal rocks that may not require quite the same level of determination and danger, but nevertheless, can be pretty challenging.

Perhaps the challenge in life is to stay focused on the end goal and not get distracted by the small stuff?

Impressive stuff Tommy and Kevin.

But I wonder if you could manage a job and getting three kids though the week with the same level of focus.

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