Meet the two men attempting 'toughest' rock climb in the world

Melbourne: Two men are halfway through the world's "toughest" rock climb in the world, as they try to free climb 900m up smooth wall of El Capitan, it has been reported.

Kevin Jorgeson , of Santa Rosa, California, and Tommy Caldwell, of Estes Park, Colorado, have been scaling their way up at the section of exposed granite in California's Yosemite National Park the past seven days using only their hands and feet, News.com.au.

El Capitan, the largest monolith of granite in the world, rises more than 900 metres above the Yosemite Valley floor. The first climber reached its summit in 1958, and there are roughly 100 routes up to the top. Of those, the hardest and steepest is called the Dawn Wall, which faces east toward the rising sun.

Many have climbed Dawn Wall, which has been described "as smooth as alabaster, as steep as the bedroom wall," but the pair would be the first to free climb it using ropes only as a safeguard against falls.