Here to Climb (2024)

[bunniefuu]

[TV static drones]

[bright tone]

[crunching footsteps]

[feet scraping]

[suspenseful orchestral music]

Climbing's always

been my first love.

[hyperventilating and giggling]

Sasha showing some finesse.

[cheers and applause]

Since I was 16, I've been in

the limelight of climbing.

No question, the best female

climber in our country.

I love the winning.

First place, Sasha DiGiulian.

People were like,

Sasha DiGiulian,

this little kid that's

crushing everything.

Every time I climb, it's like

you fall, you fall, you fall.

Slam into the

wall, and it hurts.

Kinda frustrated.

I learned in order to capitalize

on your achievements,

you need to capture them.

[upbeat music]

Social media changed the game.

This is Sasha

DiGiulian tuning in.

It's like a level of intimacy

that never existed

in climbing before.

She changed the

face of climbing.

[camera shutter clicking]

The fact that I'm marketable...

Is my hair okay?

Kind of not, but.

Enables me to do what I do

and make a living off of it.

Once you share yourself

with the world,

people are going to

have a problem with you.

But if you have haters,

that's how you know you made it.

Her definition of success

is that she gets to the top.

You have such an

incredible career.

[cheers and applause]

She's so polarizing.

I don't know how much of Sasha

is a crafted public persona.

[Sasha groans]

She doesn't look like a climber.

Some people say, "Why are

you sexualizing the sport?"

People criticize her and

call her dumb and anorexic.

Sasha's story is amazing.

That's why it's so frustrating

when Sasha overhypes

some ascents.

If you omit certain details,

people are going

to be suspicious.

It's bullshit.

I just play the game.

Okay, don't mess this up.

You know what to do.

[cheers and applause]

Right, left, pull, foot up,

push, push, push.

Make it up there,

make it up there.

[suspenseful ambient music]

[birds singing]

Very good.

Whoo.

Yes, summit.

Our anchor.

- Yeah.

- Nice.

[both imitate expl*si*n]

And it's not dark.

It's not dark. Yeah.

Only almost.

- Almost.

No, we got time.

- Yeah.

All right, so I'm

going to tie you in.

Lynn started out as my idol,

the woman that I grew up

with a poster of on my wall

in my childhood bedroom.

Yes, with one direction.

Here's the X, see?

Then she became a friend...

That's how I'm going to tie in.

And a mentor.

- Tying to the end here.

- Yeah.

As long as we trust

that one sling.

We can have a backup, though.

- Yeah.

Lynn did this epic feat

of climbing the Nose on El Cap.

And the Nose had never been done

by a man or a woman before.

She did it over four days.

Then the next

year, she came back

and did it in a single day.

And then she made

this famous quip...

Good setup.

And I saw that as just...

I want to do something

like that one day.

- Hasta la vista.

- Whoo-hoo.

It's going to be

an exciting rappel.

Lynn comes from this

traditional climbing background,

grew up really in the

outdoor environment.

And I grew up climbing in a gym.

I started climbing when

I was six years old.

My brother had a birthday party

at a climbing gym

called Sportrock

in Alexandria, Virginia.

What I remember was walking in,

the gym smelling,

like, musty, dirty feet

and a slight tinge of pizza.

I really liked it.

I kept going back in line

to have another turn.

Sasha quickly

progressed from being

a child who liked to climb

to being a competitor.

What's your strategy today?

Two things: to win

and to climb as many races

I can so I get 1,000 bucks.

She loved the gym competitions.

She excelled in them.

It became obvious that

she wanted to be

serious about that.

[indistinct PA announcement]

[cheers and applause]

- I loved winning.

- Yeah!

Winning my first

continental championships,

winning my first nationals,

it was, like, the

greatest feeling.

I met Sasha when

she was, I think,

like 14 or 15 years old.

We both lived in D.C.

and were climbing in

the same climbing gym.

And she was the little squirt

that was warming

up on my projects.

[chuckles]

Yeah, she definitely stood out.

When Sasha was

building her career,

she was a young, attractive,

blonde, blue-eyed girl

doing some really cool things.

She loves climbing,

but she uses it

to make a living.

It's impressive.

- I want to see that logo.

- Oh, yeah.

It's just bunched on this side.

So maybe just pull your

jacket down and fold it.

Just curl it up or something.

- Oh, okay.

Since I had achieved

at that point

what I wanted to achieve

in indoor climbing

and I started using

my winter breaks

and summer breaks to

be outside on rock.

[suspenseful music]

I never kind of ventured into

this new world unknown before.

[energetic ambient music]

The following summer,

I did my first big wall

with Edu Marin, who is a

professional Spanish climber.

Bella Vista was classified

as the hardest big wall

achieved by a woman.

It was my first female

ascent of a big wall,

proving to myself that

anything was possible.

It's a serious endeavor

to climb a big wall,

and it requires a lot

of technical knowledge

and mental fortitude and

then, of course, the strength.

Sport climbing is a very

individualistic pursuit.

Big wall climbing

is about teamwork

and about partnership.

So it was a big

transition for Sasha

because you can't do it

all by yourself anymore.

And the list of things

that could go wrong...

[chuckling] Is

pretty much infinite.

[wind whistling]

My next climb was the Eiger.

The route that I

wanted to do was

one of the hardest

established routes

on the north face of the Eiger,

and it had never been

done by a woman before.

[tense music]

That was exciting to me.

I wanted to do something

that was record-breaking.

And I told my sponsors about it

and they were instantly

really excited

and put in the resources to

filming and making it happen.

I saw the climb

that I wanted to do

on the north face of the Eiger

as something that was

under the grade level

that I climbed.

I thought, like,

"What's the big deal?"

There's a lot to

big wall climbing

that you don't know

until you're out there.

And all of it I was learning

while literally there.

My climbing partner

was Carlo Traversi,

and we were going

through these pockets

of really bad weather,

running out of time,

so we changed routes

to something easier.

And it was still a

first female ascent.

I was like, adjust

course, secure a summit.

[suspenseful orchestral music]

So all of a sudden,

I come back home

and there's so much hype.

Sasha DiGiulian has just become

the first woman to free-climb

the north face of the Eiger.

The first woman ever to

scale the m*rder Wall.

Just days before

starting her senior year

at Columbia University,

DiGiulian reached the summit.

My proudest achievement

in my career yet.

It's the hardest route on

the 5,000-foot north face,

and DiGiulian has made

the first female ascent.

My main focus in climbing...

When you're trying to make

a living off your sport

and getting media attention,

you're not going to say no.

I've proven to myself that

something that I didn't know

was possible was possible.

Yes.

Whoo!

It makes your career grow.

But the climbing community

was basically like,

"What the f*ck?"

[suspenseful music]

I feel like every

big thing she's done,

there's always the

weird asterisk,

always weird rumors, and

maybe that's people hating.

Maybe that's people

being sexist.

The toughest thing for

me about the criticism

that I got from

the Eiger was that

it was actually more

grounded in fact.

It wasn't that big of a feat.

Carlo Traversi, my

climbing partner,

was never mentioned

in the press.

I was like this outsider

coming into this world

that was highly protected

and all of a sudden,

getting a lot of attention

for something that

felt overhyped.

So all of this critique

made me want to just keep

making a bigger splash.

I just saw the negative

as like, watch me.

I'll keep going.

[dramatic percussive music]

[camera shutter clicking]

[birds singing]

Hello.

How do you feel?

Not bad.

[wondrous ambient music]

I'm really competitive.

Little bit sandy.

And I also love

feeling in control.

What I love about

climbing is in many ways,

I've always been in

control of my own success.

Like, what I get out

of it is up to me.

I was racking up first ascents

and first female ascents

with male professional climbers.

And that's how

I've kind of grown

and expanded in my skill set.

[panting]

We would push each

other really hard,

pushing my comfort zone.

The spring of 2018, I set

out on this crazy objective

of climbing three of

Canada's hardest big walls.

But I broke up with

my climbing partner.

Ah.

And I ended up

doing it on my own

with the support of Blairs.

Whoo!

After that, I was like,

"Whoa, I feel limitless."

We did it!

Yeah!

I'd put to bed these whispers

of me needing a male

climbing partner

to help get up these walls.

Oh, my God.

Way to go, team!

- Whoo-hoo!

- Whoo!

It was very empowering

in the sense

that I knew I had the

skills and the capacity

to lead an all-female

team on an expedition.

[birds singing]

I guess, yeah.

It was really cool to see

Sash coming off of the trilogy,

and she really wanted

her next big expedition

to be an all-female team.

Tricams that Lynn gave me.

Sash wants to prove

that she's one of

the most successful

female climbers in the world

and one of the most successful

big wall female

climbers in the world,

which is an even more

rarefied group of individuals.

Okay.

This is the climb

that we're trying.

It's Leve Leve by

the Pou brothers.

[soft upbeat percussive music]

This is all

super-vegetated terrain.

And the rock, it's hard to tell

how it is since

it's so overgrown.

I decided to self-fund

the expedition.

[indistinct chatter]

The goal is to be

the first woman

to climb a route

up Pico Cao Grande,

which was the largest

volcanic plug in the world.

I just wanted to go there

with a climbing partner

that I felt comfortable

with and trusted.

Oh, man.

Holy epic-ness.

And you're literally

entrusting your lives

into each other's hands,

and you're all working

together towards this goal.

Oh, my God. Like, it's

like... it's there.

It's so crazy.

- It's there. We're here.

Like, we're looking at

this thing at a picture

in my house, and, like...

When I got the call from

Sasha to go to Africa,

I was over the moon.

When I first saw

Pico Cao Grande,

I was floored.

It was beautiful.

[ethereal ambient music]

I met Angela on the Upper

Peninsula of Michigan

on an ice climbing trip.

I was pretty green

to ice climbing,

and Angela really mentored me.

The rock.

Oh, I'm so pumped.

God.

And then... oh, dude!

There's the bolt. First bolt.

- Where?

After that crack system.

- Is that the face?

- Yeah.

That way.

[indistinct chatter]

My thoughts were that Angela

and I would swap leads,

and essentially I would lead

the harder-graded climbs,

and she would lead more

of the adventure terrain.

Oh, the rock.

Jungle.

I'm spider-webby.

- It's really gravelly.

I fought a lot of

spiders coming up.

You're a little dirty.

Sharp rock.

And it's pouring rain, and

I'm getting a little...

- Yeah, we're getting misted.

- Breeze.

Niagara Falls over here.

From the moment we touched

down on the ground,

it was just rain.

[suspenseful music]

[grunts]

When it rains,

the likelihood of

rockfall goes way up.

That's a whole

different level of risk

that I never accounted for.

Not normal protocol

to climb in the rain.

Oh.

My f*cking feet won't

even stay on the holds.

Like, this is like

such mossy bullshit.

I'm not sure how wet this

climb is going to be.

It feels like it's one

of the only options.

Right now.

[rain pattering]

You got that.

Oh, everything's so

wet. Holy smokes.

Sasha is one of the most

driven people I've ever met.

It helps her achieve the goals

that she sets for herself.

And I do believe that

she finds self-worth

and self-value in those

goals that she creates.

Oh, no! f*ck!

On the grasp!

No f*cking way!

Ah!

[stirring orchestral music]

[softly] Yes.

Yes.

Whoo!

Ow, ow, ow, ow!

[Sighs] First pitch.

But, man, that was a

fight through the mud.

I just don't know if we're

going to get a weather window.

Well, then I'm probably

not going to go to the top

if we don't get

a weather window.

Yeah, I mean, it is

shitty to be, like,

the only one trying

to, like, push our,

like, momentum forward.

Like I said, I'm super willing

to go up there with you.

I just, like, want

you to be doing it

for the right reasons, girl.

Like, I want you to...

I'm, like, perfectly aware of

my... my, like, risk-taking.

I just, like, if I feel

like something's sketchy,

I come down.

And my only point is that

we don't know until

we check it out.

[rain pattering]

[thunder rumbling softly]

[insects droning]

[tense ambient music]

Rock!

You guys okay?

[words echoing]

Angela!

[Sasha panting]

I'm okay.

A TV-sized block

coming off is, like,

not cool.

There was rockfall that almost

k*lled our photographer.

And that was a very

high point of tension

because Sasha didn't think

anything had gone wrong

because nobody was hurt.

My life partner of many years

went on an expedition

to Pakistan.

And he never came home.

That dramatically

changed the way

that I see the

world of climbing.

I was bold, and that's

how I got my name.

And now I'm very far from bold.

[somber music]

I just don't really

want anyone to die.

So no one dies on this route,

it's going to be a sweet summit.

Somebody dies, I'm going

to be super-bummed.

That's kind of where I'm at.

If you feel like

you going up there

is like you dying,

then of course,

I can't push you.

I just have confidence

that we can reach the top

and that we can

mitigate the risk.

I mean, I don't know

what you want me to say.

[insects droning]

At the end of that evening,

Sasha went into her tent

and uploaded the GoPro

footage to Instagram.

[tense music]

Rock!

You guys okay?

Angela!

Last night, my ego

was getting in the way

of making a clear decision.

I woke up this morning feeling

like this is against my ethic

and not the example

I want to set.

What hurts right

now is I feel like

all of the preparation I did,

and as much as I

wanted something,

it's just not possible.

And this is the first...

this is the first

mission of mine,

the first big wall

that I've gone on

on a trip that I

haven't succeeded on.

[engine chugging]

[metallic tapping]

[mechanical whirring]

I was at fault for

the failed expedition

because I was supposed to be

keeping everyone in good spirit.

I wasn't empathetic

to their feelings.

I wasn't the expedition leader

that they needed me to be.

All right!

We put six bolts in today.

All right, let's try.

Let's go down one more.

It was the first trip that

someone was telling me no,

and, like, I didn't like that.

All right, I'll come down.

Growing up, I wanted to

do everything by myself.

[dramatic energetic music]

I wasn't naturally that

much of a team player.

For instance, my mom

learned how to belay

so that I could maximize

my time climbing

and do laps.

I was just game to help

out in any way I could.

And that turned

into belaying Sasha

so that she didn't take time

belaying another climber.

She didn't really

climb with anyone else.

It was just her mom.

And so all she did was climb.

Usually when you're climbing,

you have your partner

and you take your breaks,

you know, and you rest.

But for Sasha, it was

just like up and down,

up and down, up and down.

Go, Sasha!

Elite athletes

have to have drive.

You have to be selfish.

Like, you have to be thinking

about how to elevate yourself.

My mom, she loved

being a part of it.

But my dad, he was busy working.

Didn't come to my

climbing competitions.

He didn't really

understand climbing.

He was scared that

I would go off

and become a dirtbag

and not go to college.

I wanted to prove to him

that climbing was

a legitimate sport

like tennis and hockey and

that I could make a living

off of this sport that I loved.

What my dad did connect

with was me winning.

I could say, "Here's

my gold medal."

And he would beam

with a sense of pride.

Our little tradition was

my dad would bring

me to the airport.

We'd talk about things

that have nothing

to do with climbing.

[soft upbeat music]

And whenever he dropped me off,

he'd say, "Have fun, be

safe, and do your best."

[audience exclaim]

[applause]

[wind whooshing]

It's such a beautiful formation.

For Sasha and I to

do a new route here

would be a great

achievement for us,

but also a gift to the climbers.

Once we've got it all

bolted, the fun part starts.

That's why I wanted Sasha

to be a part of this,

because we can do something

for the community of Boulder

and all the climbers that

are looking for new routes

about that level of difficulty.

Sasha is a young woman

who's still figuring it out.

My feet are actually still warm.

We share similar goals

when it comes to climbing.

- We're in climbing shoes.

- Yeah.

Once you decide to do something,

there's no backing down.

That's just part

of our character,

and it's part of what

makes us good climbers.

But we come from a

completely different culture.

The world is a lot

different today

than it was when I was her age.

[dreamy upbeat rock music]

Back in the days when I

was climbing the big walls

of Yosemite as, like,

an 18-, 19-year-old,

I met this group of climbers

that are now known

as the Stonemasters.

They were pushing the level

of free climbing in America

and finding the routes

that were harder

than what had already been done.

It was a very inclusive group,

people from different

walks of life.

And where we were bonded was

in our love for climbing.

My first female

climbing partner,

Mari Gingery, she and I were

pretty much the only women

in this group of men.

It took a while for

people to understand

that climbing is

actually a sport

and that women can do it.

We do what we think

we're capable of.

So we're telling

ourselves stories,

and the story you tell yourself

is the most important one.

I was just enjoying

being out there

and hanging out with these

people that like to have fun

and just do crazy things.

It was a really

beautiful time in my life

where I felt free and

on the edge of something

that nobody else really

cared, but we cared.

[rowdy rock music]

Then I was part of the

first generation of climbers

that got to experience

competition.

[audience cheering]

And that was very

controversial at first.

Some climbers on one

side that would say

climbing is not a

competitive sport

and how would we judge who's

the best climber anyway?

The only way I was really

making money was prize money.

When I asked the organizers

if the men and women

were getting paid the

same for prize money,

they just said, "Well,

women will get paid the same

if they climb without

their tops on."

When I retired

from competitions,

I decided to do

one last big climb,

the first free ascent

of the most famous route

in the middle of El

Capitan called the Nose.

People said it couldn't be done.

And when people say

it can't be done,

that's when I get

most motivated.

Oh, really? It can't be done?

Who would ever say that?

Why would you ever say

something can't be done?

It's just a matter of

finding the way to do it.

Lynn Hill is a legend

amongst climbers.

This morning, a woman

adventure writer Jon Krakauer

called, quote, "Not

just one of the best

female climbers, but one

of the all-time greats."

The first part says,

"Someday, some guy is

going to free the Nose."

Yeah

And at the bottom, it

says, "It goes, boys."

[laughs]

- That's amazing.

Yeah.

You know that's the poster

of you that I grew up with?

It was signed by you.

Yeah.

- Now, this is really funny.

This photo was taken

when I was probably 19.

So they came out to Joshua

Tree and they're like,

"Who wants to get

some free schwag

and take a few photos with us?"

And so I said, "Sure."

So they gave me those

stand up shorts.

I did get sponsored later,

but I wasn't making

enough money to survive

and be a mother.

I always had to

do a side hustle.

And it just got really tiring

to have to always be

answering to a sponsor,

have a side hustle,

and be a mom.

There's a young Sasha.

"Kids of Climbing."

- Yeah.

- How old were you then?

- 2007.

Because of people like Lynn

who really pioneered the sport,

my generation gets to actually

make a living doing

what you love.

Oh, my goodness, Little Sasha.

I want women to have

equal access to equity

and equality in sport.

It's not about the money.

Money enables you freedom,

and freedom enables you

to do what you want to do.

[upbeat music]

I took a very business-forward

approach to my career.

And even from a young age,

I had brand principles

and a mission

statement of who I was.

I remember writing out

the mission statement

of Sasha DiGiulian.

I always looked at

professional climbing

as basically similar

to dumpster diving.

Get in there and see

what you can find.

Sasha was just really good

at diving in the dumpster.

I don't... [laughs]

I said yes to everything.

Tires, makeup brands,

fitness trackers.

Did a deal with Seamless,

which was awesome

because I was in college

and it was like free

delivery for a year.

She's a businesswoman.

She's a self-marketer.

She's the OG millennial

influencer pro climber.

One of the first

people to really

be Insta-famous in

our climbing community

and have a huge following

and be able to

leverage and use that

in ways that were to her benefit

but also became

extremely isolating.

Agent Provocateur approached me

about being a part

of this new campaign,

embracing strength

as not mutually

exclusive from femininity.

It was a fun experience

and one of the most ridiculous

things that I've done.

But I'm, like, pretty

happy that I did it.

Sometimes she's

critiqued by, you know,

the trolls on the internet.

The culture that I came from,

people didn't boast

about themselves.

There was no social media.

They were very discreet,

and if anything,

understated and humble.

And if you see somebody who's

the opposite of that, you know,

the tendency is to

tear that person down.

I love to climb hard, and

I also love to wear pink.

I love to be outside,

but I also love

to stay in a five-star hotel.

Being true to myself and not

having to dampen my shine

is maybe why I cause friction,

but I'm human, so I'm

always going to be

affected by negative comments.

I have spent a lot of

time anguishing over what

other people think about me.

I went through a really

public cyberbullying incident

that came from a

long saga of someone

in our community mocking,

essentially, me being obese.

And I crafted a post about it.

What resulted in that was fury

towards me and towards him.

I have been dealing with

someone who has treated me

poorly through harassment,

online and offline,

over the last eight years.

And I exposed something

that was posted online.

And my opinion

about social media

is that what is posted

online is posted

to a public forum.

Whether from a public

account or a private account,

we all have to face the

accountability of our actions.

She fought back,

f*cking nuked him

on social media.

That person lost their

entire livelihood.

People had a hard

time with that fact,

because it was a

well-loved person

in the climbing community.

Something that Sasha will

always be associated with

and never escape,

but at the same time,

she was right to

stand up for herself.

I'm glad I stood up for myself.

But I felt like an outsider

within my own community.

[exhales]

The way that I deal

with things is trying

to compartmentalize what is

going on under the surface.

Because my job is to be

a professional climber.

And if I'm not climbing

something of significance

each year, like,

I feel inadequate

and not deserving of

the support that I have.

[exhales]

Seeing pressure as a reason

to hit the gas harder is...

has always been my mentality.

[indistinct chatter]

She has unbelievable goals

that are going to push her

mentally and physically

and push female climbing

and push climbing in general.

She also is very aware of the

fact that she's getting older,

and she's aware

of what transpires

and how brand relationships

transition as you get older

and maybe you become

slightly less relevant.

She is very much

grasping with like, well,

what does it mean if some

day I'm not as relevant?

And I think she's thinking

of all that emotionally,

and I think she's also

thinking about it financially.

I'm in the prime of my career,

and I want to take advantage

of that as much as possible.

And that's going after

these first female ascents.

When I see a woman

has done a climb,

it all of a sudden connects

the dots that it's like,

oh, wow, if she did

it, I can do it.

And so in a way,

it kind of opens

this floodgate of possibility.

[light music]

Sao Tome didn't work

out, and I came home

hungry to go and lead

another big wall,

all-female expedition.

And that came in the form

of Logical Progression,

the most badass sport

big wall in the world,

a 3,000-foot face

climb up a monolith

called El Gigante in Mexico.

The route hadn't

been free-climbed

by a woman before.

And all the men that had done it

were these big names

that I respected,

like Josh Wharton, Alex Honnold,

Sonnie Trotter, Hayden Kennedy.

I was dead set on going

there and trying it.

The Logical Progression

will suit you really well,

because it's, like,

techy vert fingery.

And it's like technical and

sort of meander back and forth.

But overall, I remember

the whole route basically

being small edges up the face.

- Okay, so like...

- You know, like... like,

miles of just creeping

up a vertical wall.

- Climb vertical...

- Yeah.

And then I remember

that the first pitches

is are more thought-provoking

than the rating would imply.

You know, you're like, "Oh,

11-A, that'll be fast."

And then you get up

there, you're like,

"Where are the holds?"

It's all confusing.

Yeah.

If someone's a

professional climber,

you can kind of tell by the

way they move on a rock.

That's how I judge a

professional climber

is if they can just show up

at the crag and climb well.

Boy.

Sasha definitely has that.

You watch her climb,

and you can tell

that she's really good at it.

[breathing heavily]

I think I'm dying, because my

right hip is really throbbing.

Like, last night, like, I had

to take three Advil at night.

I kind of, like, went cold.

"I was like, " I can't

go to Mexico with this.

I need to get a

cortisone shot."

Finally went in, and

it turned out I needed

a total hip reconstruction.

Because my femur

head was essentially

popping out of the socket.

It would be a series of five

surgeries over the course

of about a year.

And the surgeon didn't know if I

would be able to

return to the level

of climbing that I was at.

[somber music]

But since I already had done

all of the damage to my hips,

two weeks wasn't going to make

it necessarily much worse.

So I could go to Mexico,

complete the climb,

and then return for surgery.

I was in a state

of total disarray

and trying to process the

news that I had just gotten

about the potential

career-ending set of surgeries

that I'd have to go through.

So that's... yeah.

And then I got the

call about Nolan.

Nolan was a really

beloved member

of the community in climbing

and in base jumping.

He had gone ahead to hang

static lines for my team.

He was climbing the route,

and a major ledge

that he was on broke.

He fell from over 1,000 feet.

[helicopter blades whirring]

We had left Mexico

the next morning.

Nolan's whole family flew down.

After we recovered Nolan's body,

we shut the expedition

down, and we all flew home.

I felt extremely lost

and confused and broken.

[birds chirping]

I had hardly gotten

home from Mexico,

and I went in for my

first hip surgery.

[machine beeping]

[machine beeping]

[saw whirring]

[hammer clacking]

[light music]

Sasha's tagline was,

you're not the boss of me.

She said it all the time.

My husband would say something

that she didn't want to do.

She'd say, well, "I'm

going to get a new family."

Such a very tiny little girl.

Sasha?

Oh, she's waking up.

Sasha?

Hey, good morning.

Can you wiggle your toes?

Oh, there we go. Lift them up.

Push down with the

arms all the way.

No weight on that leg.

Sasha doesn't like to

not do something well.

And she doesn't like

to be imperfect.

So she'll just do it

and do it and do it.

Surgery number two, here we go.

Here I had this little

kid going off on weekends

climbing up these mountains.

She gave up her senior prom

to go on a climbing trip.

Like, there was no choice.

Like, "I'm not going to prom."

- Yay.

- Yay.

[exhales]

Watch this, Mom.

Press into this.

I allowed her to

do what she wanted.

I allowed her to go to Europe

with her boyfriend

when she was just 16.

She came back with

another boyfriend too.

It was, like, a Norwegian.

I trusted myself,

and I trusted her.

And I really didn't care

about what anybody else said.

Here we go again.

Love you.

When she told me

she was planning

on doing Logical Progression,

I wasn't so sure I

really wanted her to,

but Sasha just sets her goals.

And who am I to

say you can't do it

when that's what

she wants to do?

Good. [laughs]

I could lay on a

whole lot of guilt,

but I'm going to save that

for when I really need it.

I was really in

an emotional state

after the surgeries and

not really knowing, like,

what life would look like.

I started thinking about

what I could control,

so I started thinking more

about what impact my nutrition

could have on my

body accelerating

through the recovery process.

The deep, dark

undercurrent of climbing

that's the elephant in the room

to a lot of climbers

and myself included,

is the conversation

about weight.

For group A with

Sasha DiGiulian,

[indistinct].

2010, I was, like, at

the top of my podiums,

and I was 94 pounds.

Being skinny on the wall

meant less weight to pull up

the wall, but it also meant a

future of just health issues

that were unavoidable

if I kept on that track,

what I'm going to eat, how

much food I'm going to eat,

thinking that I needed

to keep losing weight.

[speaking in native language]

The people who are

winning the world cups

were way thinner than I was.

[cheers and applause]

I think there was

maybe, like, a period

where I hadn't seen her

in, like, a year or two,

and I bumped into her.

And I almost didn't

recognize her.

And, you know, my heart

just kind of dropped,

because she just looked

so skinny and not healthy.

As I progressed in my 20s, I

wanted to build my strength

instead of lose weight.

My experience with malnutrition

led me to really want to learn

a lot more about nutrition.

And it's only really been

over the last few years

that I've felt, like,

really confident in my own skin.

I love waking up,

moving my body,

taking part in everyday life.

And when you're injured,

you don't get to do that.

And so it makes you

feel super vulnerable.

I can't really explain very well

why I'm so inspired to

climb Logical Progression.

It's just a climb

that represents a lot.

It represents this

entire journey

of what I've gone through.

And it represented this

driving force for me

before my injury.

And it represented something

that I wanted to do,

that I was committed to,

that I was training for.

And it's almost like the climb

itself is what separates me

before all of this and me now.

Just by being on

Logical Progression,

I get to confront

my fears head on.

It's totally insane

for her to be

pursuing a goal like this

on the heels of five surgeries.

It's beyond dark comedy.

It's kind of like,

"What are we doing here?

"Like, your hips aren't ready.

"You don't have a partner.

Like, give it a

couple months."

- [chuckles]

- Okay.

To have one surgery

where they break her hip

and reconstruct it,

putting in four big screws,

recovered from that,

second hip, same thing,

those are pretty

major operations.

She's an elite athlete,

and I think she probably,

like me, recovers

faster than most people.

Hopefully, I'll be ready

to go to Mexico in April.

You'll see how it goes.

I think it's not bad

to go and look at it

and suss it out and

check it out and,

you know, do a survey and, like,

maybe climb some pitches.

But I don't expect

you to complete it.

[breathing heavily]

You know, I went to Boulder,

and I spent time with her,

like, watching her

recovery, and, like,

she was a long ways away

from getting to the point where

she could do

Logical Progression.

For the last year,

she's been sitting still

and waiting and trying to heal.

Like, I know she needs this.

She needs a challenge that's

not just a small challenge.

She needs something that, like,

is just on the ragged

edge of insanity.

It's binary for her.

Like, this is it.

Like, she's either going

to do this and pull it off

and she's back, or she's

not going to do it,

and these hip surgeries

were the end of her

professional climbing.

Like, it almost feels like

she's that fixated on it.

Getting on challenging climbs

is good for me,

because then I just get

that fitness and power back.

It's, like, a humbling

experience, I think.

I mean, I'm just so

happy to be back on rock,

but I don't feel my most in

shape or anything like that.

And remembering that I did

go through five surgeries

and a lot of time off climbing,

like, it's important

for me to remember that.

Returning to Logical

Progression for me

is how I could get

back and through

this really trying

time in my own life.

Me, I would have delayed

Mexico a couple of months.

I've never made her decisions.

She knows when she's ready.

If she says she's

ready, she's ready.

Sasha called me to ask me to

be a part of this expedition

to Logical Progression.

The problem was, I

wasn't really thinking

about climbing at that level.

It could have been

a great adventure

but just wasn't the time for me.

Nice.

I knew Sasha was disappointed,

but I had to follow

my instincts.

I feel like we've got

everything in place.

And yeah, if you have a

last-minute change of heart...

Okay, I'm going.

Yeah, you're like,

"Guys, wait."

[laughter]

[light music]

[indistinct chatter]

Dude, less than two weeks out.

We can find another spot, right?

So, Vian, you want to go first?

No, you can go

first if you want.

You're tying in. You go.

I know, but you want to go?

Vian's a badass climber.

And I've known her

for over ten years.

And we met when she stole

my Swedish Fish at the crag.

You just have to

tell everybody that,

like I'm a Swedish Fish

thief or something.

It was one time.

I never did it again.

[laughs]

11, including...

Vian said she could

maybe make Mexico work.

You're actually, like, the

first person that when I said,

like, anything about

Mexico that's actually

expressed enthusiasm

around going.

But I'm down.

[laughs]

We'll be safe. Okay,

I got to get going.

- Okay.

- You clipping this?

You want a stick clip?

But I have one too.

We're talking about,

like, weeks away

from this expedition.

And I come back from

work, and she's like,

"Vian wants to go."

And I'm like, "Who is Vian?"

I've never even heard of Vian.

I mean, as I

understand it, like,

Vian hasn't done

a big wall before.

The first time I met

anybody, like, "famous,"

it was actually Sasha.

And I just, like, went

up and introduced myself.

I was like, "Hi, I'm Vian."

And, like, we hit

it off really well,

and we were both climbing

in the Pipe Dream a lot,

and we were just, like,

good friends after that.

But yeah, I don't know

what really inspires me.

I can't say for sure,

like, why I climb, like,

there's some grand

thing behind it.

I'm just kind of compelled.

I never had the ambition to

be a professional climber,

and I would never

want to be famous.

I would not be able

to put on a happy face

if I had to go to a crag and

there were ten people there

who knew who I was and

expected me to climb

really hard and take

photos with them.

I think Sasha's handled fame

with a lot of grace and class.

She's a really public

figure, and so a lot of shade

gets thrown her way.

I told Sasha, heavy is the

head that wears the crown.

[gentle music]

I was stubborn, independent.

I guess it's just

the way that I am.

I think I got a lot of

my ability to not see no

as an option from my dad.

"Was always, " See the light

at the end of the tunnel,

and that's the option that

you're going to arrive at."

There's going to be

roadblocks along the way,

but it's always going to be

leading towards this goal.

And then it's, by any

means possible, achieve it.

When I was 22, my dad

took me to the airport

to fly to Wyoming,

our little tradition.

I was climbing in Wyoming,

and my mom called me to tell me

that my dad had had a stroke.

I flew back immediately,

was there in the hospital.

And we were asking all these

questions about what his state

would be when he woke up,

and the surgeon was like,

"You're not asking

the right questions."

He never woke up.

I mean, I felt the most gutted

that I have felt in my life.

My response was just to

suppress all my feelings

and just keep going, because

that's what I knew how to do.

The first time I met Sasha,

she had just lost her father,

and she gave a presentation

that was so, like, together.

Like, she didn't

cry or anything.

And it just made me think,

"Wow, she's really good

"at compartmentalizing

her emotions

and setting that

off to the side,"

which you do have to do on

a scary route sometimes.

You have to just say,

"Okay, I'm really scared,

but I can't focus on that."

[birds chirping]

- What's up, dude?

- What's up?

Dude, we're going

to Mexico today.

Yeah.

Okay, I'm going to...

I'll be in...

I'll go get the bars too.

- Okay.

Feel free to come

inside whenever.

Come on, Moose.

Wednesday, we

arrive to Chihuahua.

Thursday, we drive from

Chihuahua to Basaseachi.

Friday, we drive to the top of

the wall and rapp down to here.

Down to the bottom.

I was really excited

to do a big wall.

I had never been on

a big wall before.

I thought 300 bolts,

portaledge, no problem.

I'd known Vian for

about a decade.

She climbs super hard, and

she's been an incredibly

supportive and loyal friend.

And so I was excited by the idea

of getting to know her better

and going on this big

adventure with her.

Oh, she's got

something equivalent.

Sasha's never been

in this much pain.

She's never been in a situation

where she's this out of

shape before a climb.

And seeing this audacious goal

that she's thrown on herself,

it's just scary.

And I think everyone that

loves her is terrified.

[tense music]

She needs to go prove to

herself that she's still

a professional climber,

that this injury hasn't

ripped away her identity.

I don't know where you click

into that drive and that fire,

but she has it, and

she clicks into it.

It's why she is who she is.

Why I do what I do?

That's a big question.

I think that proving a

goal, that's what drives me.

I'm nervous for the

rappel more than the climb

right now, because that's

what's the first thing to do,

and it's a lot of weight.

It's, like, maybe more weight

than I'm used to rapping with.

You got this.

Thanks, Vian.

Mm-hmm.

Achieving something

eats away at me.

Like, that's the way

that I approach my life.

Yeah.

The death of my hips.

Ohh.

Ow, my fingers.

I hate this bag.

We've officially started

the descent down.

We all have pretty

heavy haul bags.

And yeah, it's pretty

phenomenal being here.

[light music]

The hips are so sore.

That's pretty.

- Yeah.

- Do you copy?

After a night of no sleep,

we're racking up to rapp down

these first eight pitches.

Made it to the bottom.

We're at the bottom.

Do you want to go

first, or should I?

Whatever. Want to

Roshambo for it?

Yeah.

Rock, paper, scissors, sh**t.

I go first.

Top of the second,

pulling Vian up.

There she is.

This is what's ahead of us.

We'll see how it goes.

We are here sitting

forever in the sun.

There's the sun.

Ow.

That hurt your eyes, didn't

it? You weren't expecting that.

You two would have been

like fried chicken.

It was definitely really hot.

The sun is just baking,

and the rock temperature

just goes way up.

And it's just a lot harder

when the rock temperature

is a lot higher.

And it's so hot right now.

[tense music]

Come on, work that

right foot in.

Come on, Digi, come on.

Ahh!

Oh, sh*t.

f*ck.

- All right.

Right foot high.

[exhales]

[groans]

I see the next draw.

[exhales]

[breathing heavily]

Okay. All right.

[exhales]

Okay.

[indistinct].

Whoo!

I'm at the anchor.

Nice job.

Oh, my God.

I'm, like, shaking.

That's probably as hard

as I've ever seen her try.

And it just showed

to me how, like,

how fragile she was or how

much she just wanted this,

how badly she wanted

this, you know,

and for some people,

it's just, like,

it's just a climb, you know.

It's okay to say...

to stop, you know?

You know, you just... you just

had surgery not that long ago.

It's, like, maybe it was too...

too early.

You know, but for Sasha,

she just really needed this.

What made you keep going?

I think I just...

I literally just could

think right foot,

right hand, left

foot, left hand.

Like, I couldn't think

of anything else.

And then I was like, you

made it through the crux.

Like, just keep it together.

It'll be one less

pitch for tomorrow.

[birds chirping]

Day three, we don't know

whose spoon this is.

That's all.

I wasn't trying to, like...

Day three, I don't know

whose spoon this is.

I wasn't trying to make

you feel bad or anything.

That'd be my spoon,

but we can share.

Sharing is caring.

Man, I'm, like, triple-fisting.

I got my dirty

Chai with collagen,

my trail mix, and my Red Bull.

Mm-hmm.

And Kevin's over

there taking a sh*t.

Kevin?

We're just one

big, happy family.

[light music]

After my surgeries, I

lost touch with who I was.

And I lost touch with what it

even feels like to succeed.

During the whole time

of being injured,

I didn't have any

feeling of success.

You got it.

Left hand up.

I put my right foot high.

Yeah.

[indistinct].

Two finger, get

your right foot up.

We got into a situation

where we had to climb

a little bit at night.

And we went into the area

where Nolan had his accident.

And I know Sasha

didn't want to climb

that pitch in the dark.

It was pretty scary.

I just passed Nolan's rock

scar where the rock broke.

It's pretty visible,

but I couldn't see

what happened with the bolt.

My guess would be

that really big rock

picked off and cut his rope.

It was really scary, because

as I was passing that,

my headlamp flashed

that it was dying.

Nolan didn't make any mistakes,

yet he died climbing.

It affected me in

a really heavy way,

because everything

was done right.

So many nights of not

sleeping is k*lling me.

I think I was in the

harness for 20 hours.

We've got three more

really long 5.12 pitches

that we need to do

tomorrow to then kind of

be back in the running to feel

like the rest of this route

is possible on free.

I went left foot pocket.

Yeah.

Augh! God!

That's a really hard transition.

It's hard.

Nice.

[grunts]

Good job.

f*ck, yeah.

Hell, yeah.

Good job.

- Pitch 13.

- Done.

[chuckles]

[laughs]

Strenuous 45 minutes.

Holy guacamole.

Ohh.

Another pitch bites the dust.

So we've officially

crossed this side.

Now we're coming up to

finger to fist, route 17.

Going to...

[grunting]

Oh, yeah, we're going

to do the Spread Eagle.

Augh!

[laughs]

Ahh!

Augh.

That was a serious crag.

Augh!

[laughs]

Yeah, girl.

Augh!

Yes, sun.

Whoo.

Yeah. Okay.

That's it.

- Whoo!

Whoo!

Pow!

You're a good lead.

Thanks.

Move.

Am I in your face with my butt?

Oh!

Jesus.

That thing did look good.

Sure wasn't, though.

[tense music]

Just a little choss left.

I'm trying, Mom.

[laughs]

Got your spot.

I actually just did.

I think it saved you.

Stay with it.

You got it.

[breathing heavily]

Nice, Sasha.

Come on.

Ahh! f*ck.

Nothing broke.

Nothing.

So much stuff broke.

It's so hard there.

Try that again.

Okay.

Ahh!

Such a big move.

Yeah.

Holy sh*t.

Yeah.

Man, I thought I could

get that last pitch.

Such a bummer.

If it sticks once,

it won't be as good.

So start in the back and

then end in the back.

I'm just like your

personal assistant here.

[laughs]

No, I said, you're

my best friend.

- Okay.

- Short of Moose.

You tell that to all

your climbing partners.

I don't have climbing partners.

When I met her in

2011 when she was 16,

she was very much

a protected kid.

But now Sasha is so strong,

and she's capable of anything.

And I'll just climb over here.

After my dad died,

I recognized that you're

mourning this space

that they left behind.

And that space that

they leave behind is...

it's really painful

to think about, like,

it never being filled again.

That space is what I

keep trying to fill.

[inspirational music]

We did it.

It's kind of crazy.

I didn't even know if

I'd be climbing again

when I went in for

all those surgeries.

I really didn't.

I didn't know what to expect.

[chuckles]

[sobbing]

[light music]

Climbing's opened a

lot of doors for me

to go down this journey...

But also to realize that

a lot of satisfaction

and joy that I get out of life

doesn't need to always come

from the physical

sense of sending.

And my path forward

doesn't necessarily center

around climbing.

A million little knives

Carve out your name

[all shouting]

In the small of my back

I needed to learn

purpose beyond a wall.

And I think that that does

come with a sense of security.

And I would argue that

it comes with a sense

of career and sense of home.

I didn't want to tell

the City of Boulder

that we're done,

because I just want

to be complete with

the whole project.

- Yeah.

- And at that point,

we can address this issue of

possibly changing the name,

because they have it

registered as Vamos Chicas.

And Queen Line might

be a better name

just because it's on the maiden.

And it is the best

line, I think,

on that whole formation.

And you always hear King Line.

- Yeah.

- Why not Queen Line?

Or, like, the queen.

The queen, the queens.

The queens.

Yeah, I like it, Queen Line.

I think it's a perfect name.

[light music]

This is the day.

We're going to do it.

Let's go. The

queen on the line.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the first pitch.

Here we go.

Lynn's shown to me

how to age gracefully

within the sport and

still be involved

and still be a steward

of the community

and be out there

pushing new lines

and supporting climbers.

Sasha has a chance to

really look at periods

of life and what her

actual goals are..

What she wants to do, not

what's expected of her,

but what she wants to

do, what makes her happy.

She's young and still ambitious

and wanting to do more and more.

At 30, she's still

got a lot of time

to do a lot of really

amazing things.

We each have that

thing that drives us.

And that thing that drives us,

that passion is what I

feel really strongly about

harnessing and

embracing and nurturing.

And that's more important

than any summit,

than any achievement.

[Weval's "Days"]

No, no, no, no, no

And I will never be

And I will never see

And every choice I make

Consequences negative

Battle zone is known to me

And you to me

Most important feel, feel

No, no, no, no, no,

No no, no, no,

no no, no, no, no

[bright tone]