Sasha DiGiulian has completed a free ascent of Platinum Wall (The Direct Line), a 39-pitch 5.13d next to The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite. It took her 23 days due to a storm that brought snow and rain. The route was established by Elliot Faber and Rob Miller between 2012 and 2016. It was then repeated by Germans Tobias Wolf and Thomas Hering in 2018, and by Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell this year.
DiGiulian explained that after climbing 32 pitches, she waited out a nine-day winter storm alongside Faber, who supported her attempt up until the final three pitches before leaving for a family emergency. She added that Ryan Sheridan belayed her to the top, while Pablo Durana documented the climb.
DiGiulian has been one of America’s most influential climbers for over a decade. Early in her climbing life, she sent Southern Smoke 5.14c, Lucifer 5.14c, and Pure Imagination 5.14c in Red River Gorge. She’s repeated the 21-pitch Magic Mushroom 5.13a with Carlo Traversi on the north face of the Eiger, and made a first free ascent of Yosemite’s 15-pitch 5.13 Misty Wall. She’s completed dozens of first female free ascents and over 50 5.14s. In Canada, she completed Sonnie Trotter’s Rockies 5.14 Trilogy.
After undergoing a series of hip reconstruction surgeries in 2021, she returned to high-level climbing, and in 2025 she and Marianna Ordóñez became the first women to free the 600-metre Bravo Les Filles 5.13d in Madagascar, read about it here. In 2023, she released her memoir Take the Lead, learn more about it here.
About the first free ascent of Miller wrote in the 2018 American Alpine Journal, “After several weeks of hiking 30 gallons of water and 15 days worth of food to the summit and distributing it to two caches at Gold Ledge and Triple Direct Ledge, as well as hauling food and gear to Rusty, we began climbing on October 10 and spent 14 days on the wall, swinging leads and freeing every pitch. A one-day free ascent of the Direct Line is something I hope to witness in the next few years.”
It’s been a busy month in Yosemite, as Amity Warme completed a send of PreMuir Wall, a 33-pitch 5.13c/d on El Capitan, and Pietro Vidi sent Meltdown, Beth Rodden’s famous 5.14c gear line, read about it here.
