Sasha DiGiulian endures stormy weather to free-climb El Capitan’s longest route, becoming first woman to do so
American climber Sasha DiGiulian has become the first woman to free-climb El Capitan’s longest route — a journey she said ended up being the “most formative and challenging climb” of her career.
“When we got to the top, after 23 days of this climb, I took a step and I just started laughing cause I was like, I haven’t walked in so long,” DiGuilian told CBS News in a phone interview Monday.
DiGiulian free-climbed the roughly 3,000-foot sheer granite wall in Yosemite National Park over the course of more than three weeks, nine days of which were spent waiting out bad weather on a wall ledge. Having eyed El Cap for years, DiGiulian is one of the few to summit via the long and difficult Platinum route.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
“For the last few years I’ve been so committed to this specific line … This climb kind of consumed me,” she said.
DiGiulian, 33, and her climbing partner Elliot Faber were periodically accompanied by support personnel and a videographer.
Made famous by the Oscar-winning documentary “Free Solo,” which captured climber Alex Honnold‘s famed ascent in June 2017, El Capitan is more than twice the height of the Empire State Building in the northern valley of Yosemite National Park in California.
The rock formation has 17 different free-climbing routes, according to DiGulian. Free-climbing is when climbers ascend with their hands and feet, using equipment and ropes only to protect against falling, which they set up in between pitches, or anchor points. In longer climbs like on El Capitan, climbers divide up the terrain into pieces.
DiGiulian holds a World Champion title in rock climbing and is based in Boulder, Colorado. She confirmed to CBS News that the climbing emoji is based on her image.
DiGiulian said she and Faber arrived in Yosemite on Oct. 8 and began preparations to spend 14-16 days climbing the Platinum route, also known as the Direct Line, which has 39 pitches. They established rope points and hiked with more than 30 gallons of water to the top of the rock wall to be accessed later on.
Faber helped establish the route years ago, mapping out credit card-sized protrusions on rock, but he had not actually climbed it. That changed on Nov. 3, when DiGiulian and Faber began their ascent.
Although they incorporated weather windows into their planning, an unforeseen storm brought everything to an abrupt halt on day nine. The duo set up camp on the 32nd pitch known as the mountain’s Golden Edge to wait out wind, rain, cold and snow.
Sasha DiGiulian
“This is my portaledge,” DiGiulian says in an Instagram video on Nov. 14.
The pair used a Jetboil to cook, ate freeze-dried food for dinner, consumed Send bars (a line of green protein bars DiGiulian invented herself), rationed Kindle battery to read, and went back and forth on airplane mode to communicate with the world below. DiGiulian also said the tent door flapping in the wind made it difficult to sleep. Despite battling fatigue, boredom and the elements, she said they enjoyed incredible mountain views, glorious sunrises and days on end to contemplate their mission.
“The storm was kind of this mental but also physical challenge because you’re just stripped of any sense of normal,” DiGiulian said.
Finally, after several days of being unable to climb, the weather started to let up. Despite the wet and slippery rock — very difficult climbing conditions — the pair resumed their ascent after 18 days on the wall, nine of which were spent waiting out the storm.
The remaining terrain was some of the most difficult, and not made easier by the slick surfaces, DiGiulian said. She put on a helmet due to the ice chunks falling from the 400 feet above.
Paul Morigi
“I don’t know what it is that enabled me to like to climb this route and get through it beyond just sheer drive to push myself,” she told CBS News.
Just short of the summit, Faber had to leave El Cap due to a family emergency. DiGiulian waited on the wall for two days, hoping they could finish together. When Faber was ultimately not able to return, he gave his partner his blessing to summit alone.
“He was just kind, I guess, between a rock and a hard place,” DiGiulian said.
Accompanied by some friends and a camera crew, DiGiulian summited El Capitan on Wednesday, Nov. 26, after a grueling 23 days – the first woman to free-climb the ascent on the Platinum route.
It usually takes climbers multiple days to reach the summit, depending on the route’s difficulty. El Capitan draws tens of thousands of climbers each year, according to Yosemite National Park, most taking 5-7 days to summit (on the easier routes, weather conditions permitting) and 60% of climbers typically succeed. Emily Harrington became the first woman to summit the rock formation in under 24 hours via the Golden Gate route in 2021.
DiGiulian has been adventuring since childhood. “Climbing is this space for me where I get to be really locked in and focused on what my physical and mental self is capable of,” she said. “I love puzzle solving.”
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