Despite storms, snowfall, and days spent on the wall, the 33-year-old American climber became the first woman to free climb the Platinum Wall, the longest free route on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Of the 39 pitches, 23 are graded 7b and six are graded 8a+, making the route one of the most challenging big-wall projects in the world.
Sasha DiGiulian
She believed she could do it, and she did…!!!!!
Only the fourth free ascent of the challenging line
The Platinum Wall – also known as the "Direct Line" – measures an impressive 914 vertical meters and runs through a seemingly featureless wall zone. It was three years in the making. DiGiulian She prepared for this adventure. Together with Elliot Faber, who had freed the route along with Rob Miller, she planned key sequences, worked on team efficiency, and optimized the logistics for her long stay on the wall before her attempt. The professional athlete started the ambitious project on November 2nd.
Sasha DiGiulian
For the past few years, I've been attempting this line on El Capitan – one of those big, scary, daring goals that intimidates me just thinking about it.
Enormous perseverance – despite storms, snowfall and torrential rain.
DiGiulian had originally expected to spend about two weeks on the wall. But after 32 pitches, massive snowstorms stopped the team about 240 meters below the summit. She spent nine full days in her portaledge. Although condensation collected every morning in her small shelter on the wall and torrents raged around her, the American remained positive. During the days of waiting, she stayed in contact with Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell, who had climbed the line earlier in the season. “Super cool that we’re still here!” she wrote to the two, and continued, “It’s COLD and super wet up here…I hope we’ve got the worst behind us […] The sun gives us hope.”
Sasha DiGiulian
Each rope length taught me something new.
Even after the storms subsided and the sun returned, water continued to flow down from the summit, soaking the remaining pitches and, consequently, the remaining crux sections. Despite these conditions, DiGiulian persevered and led all the key passages. With sections up to grade 8, the "Direct Line" is considered arguably the most demanding route on the legendary [climbing site name]. El Capitan“Every time I’ve climbed El Cap, I remember how it gets steeper near the summit and you have to give so much more – you have to sacrifice a lot to El Cap to pay the final tribute for the descent,” said Rob Miller, the route’s developer and first ascensionist, about his line. “I always encouraged it and wanted it to succeed,” he continued.
On November 26th, her perseverance finally paid off and she stood with sore fingers, but overjoyed, on the summit of El Cap.
The first free ascents of the Platinum Wall
The Platinum Wall was established between 2009 and 2017 by Rob Miller and several climbing partners as the longest free-climbing line on El Capitan. Between 2013 and 2015, DiGiulian's climbing partner, Elliot Faber, also worked on the project. Miller and Faber attempted the first ascent of the route in 2015 but were unsuccessful. In 2017, Miller and the Swiss climber Roby Rudolf achieved the first free ascent of the Platinum Wall. The Germans Tobias Wolf and Thomas Hering made the second free ascent in 2018, and Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell climbed the route in 2025, shortly before DiGiulian's attempt.
Miller describes the line as "unlike anything I've ever climbed in the Valley." While other free routes on El Cap mainly follow crack systems, the Platinum Wall runs mostly through seemingly empty sections of wall.
Big Wall Queen DiGiulian
Sasha DiGiulian, 33, has been one of the most influential athletes in sport climbing for years. As overall world champion and undefeated winner of the Pan American Championships for ten years, she has long been a top contender. In 2011, she became the first woman to climb a 9a in the Red River Gorge. Since then, she has mastered over 50 routes in the upper 8th grade and set another benchmark with the Canadian Big Wall Trilogy – War Hammer on Castle Mountain, The Shining Uncut on Mount Louis, and Blue Jeans Direct on Mount Yamnuska.
Despite undergoing several hip surgeries in 2021, the top athlete repeatedly fought her way back to the top. Now she proves that even the toughest big wall lines are not safe from her. "It's the proudest line of my career," DiGiulian said of her latest achievement.
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Credits: Cover photo: Pablo Durana / Red Bull Content Pool