El Capitan in Yosemite is the greatest wall in the world, and a hugely formative place in my life. I first climbed it in 1998, aged 18, by a route called El Niño—an ascent that helped launch my career as a professional climber. Since then, I’ve climbed El Capitan dozens of times and led expeditions to some of the tallest and toughest walls in the world.

Fourteen years after my last visit, I’m returning with Jess, Freya and Jackson to attempt a family ascent of the Muir Wall on El Cap. For a week, we’ll live on the wall, sleeping on portaledges and hauling everything we need, while Freya and Jackson climb under their own power.

Big Walls and Bedtime Stories is episode one of Small People, Big Adventures—a three-part series following our family through a year of travel, expeditions and life outdoors. The series explores the reality of family adventure: preparation, uncertainty, setbacks, achievement and joy, alongside the disarming honesty children bring to it all.

Jess and I believe that fun adventure can give children the chance to embrace discomfort, face fear and experience managed risk—building confidence, judgement and resilience along the way. That is what this year is about for us, alongside sharing some fairly epic adventures.