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The Latest: Climber: Scaling El Capitan is about mental prep

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) The Latest on the first climb up Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan without safety gear (all times local):

12:45 p.m.

An elite rock climber says the biggest hurdle to scaling Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan without safety gear was mentally preparing for it.

Alex Honnold said in a telephone interview Sunday with The Associated Press that he’d been dreaming about the feat since 2009 but started working on doing it two years ago.

The 31-year-old on Saturday became the first to climb the 3,000-foot (914-meter) granite wall alone without ropes to catch him if he fell.