Community Corner
1st Woman Free-Climbs Yosemite's Granite Wall In Under 24 Hours
Emily Harrington became the first woman and fourth person to free-climb Yosemite's 3,000 foot granite wall in under 24 hours.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA — While most of the country was preoccupied with the fate of the presidency on Election Day, California mountain climber Emily Harrison was making history in Yosemite National Park. Harrington became the fourth person and the first woman to free-climb Yosemete National Park's 3,000-foot granite wall in under 24 hours.
Early Wednesday morning, the 34-year-old began to scale El Capitan's Golden Gate route, according to the Associated Press. She was able to scrap her way to the top in 21 hours, 13 minutes and 51 seconds. Only three men have made the free climb in one day.
The peak is world famous and Yosemite National Park is considered by some to be the birthplace of modern rock climbing, the Associated Press reported.
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Harrington had previously climbed a particular route on the wall, called Golden Gate, but had never made it in a single day, the AP reported. Nearly a year ago, a treacherous fall resulted in multiple injuries and a trip to the hospital.
But nonetheless, she vowed to complete the free-climb and continued to train vigorously in her home gym in Tahoe City.
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Free climbers use ropes to catch them only if they fall, but not to help them scale.
On Election Day, her boyfriend Adrian Ballinger, a well known Mount Everest Guide, helped her ascend as they were tied to the same rope. Ballinger is reportedly famous for his free solo climb of El Capitan.
Upon reaching one of the wall's most challenging routes, Harrington slipped and fell sideways, smacking her head on the granite wall.
“Blood just started pouring down her face, dripping onto me at the belay,” Ballinger told the San Francisco Chronicle. “We immediately thought her day was done. It was a wild, scary flashback to last year’s fall.”
But Harrington persevered.
“There was a part of me that wanted to give up and quit,” she said, according to the AP. “But this other part of me was like, this is why you’re here. It’s supposed to be hard. You owe it to yourself to try again.”
Read more from the Associated Press: 1st woman free-climbs El Capitan’s Golden Gate route in day
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