UKC

Earlier this year, US climber Emily Harrington boldly listed her goals and ambitions for 2015: to reach the finals of the US Sport Climbing Nationals, complete an 8b+ sport project, free climb Golden Gate (5.13b) on El Capitan and summit Makalu (8463m) without oxygen.

This stunning video by Jon Glassberg and Louder Than Eleven Productions follows her journey to success on Golden Gate, featuring plenty of emotion and blood, sweat and tears.

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In reply to UKC News:

Great video. The filming and the amount of effort she puts in make the whole thing stand out for me. Intonation ascending at the end of EVERY sentence does annoy me (just a little) though.

In reply to UKC News:

Great vid - tough route and tough cookie!


Chris

In reply to jon:


Do you know, I was listening to an American radio programme earlier where they were discussing young women who up-speak, amongst other issues http://www.npr.org/2015/07/07/420627143/filmmaker-and-speech-pathologist-we... and I didn't notice Emily doing it at all. But it's how many young women do speak so get over it!

I thought it was an excellent film, I think Emily always comes over as a really interesting person in her films, as well as obviously a brilliant climber. Does anyone know how hard the offwidth pitches are on Golden Gate.

In reply to TobyA:

Yes, I should have said, it was her boyfriend, not her.

In reply to TobyA:
< Does anyone know how hard the offwidth pitches are on Golden Gate.>

The first one shown is the "Monster Offwidth" variation on the Salathé; it's actually part of the 1984 route "Bermuda Dunes" which was adopted by Alex Huber as a more do-able alternative to the adjacent original Salathé pitch (which itself goes free at 5.13b, I believe) and seems to have become the normal free route thereabouts. The 1993 Don Reid topo has the offwidth at 5.10d, while a more recent SuperTopo offers 5.11a - with the traverse from the belay atop The Ear to actually get to it rating 5.11d. The Chickenwing Chimney, higher up on the Heart section of the route, seems to get 5.11a; not sure whether this is the pitch marked "5.9" on an old Heart topo, or whether it actually involves the old A3 section above it.

In reply to UKC News:

That was excellent. Effort!

In reply to UKC News:

What an engaging video. Really impressive.
Good to see someone who seems normal in some ways, overcoming something which is on the edge of her abilities, through many extremely difficult stages.
I liked the fact that she does not get over things in an incomprehensibly easy way, such as is the case with some top climbers. She does the route in a way that shows that it is real and that she deserves high praise for her perseverance and tenacity.
Well done Emily H.(I am not being patronising, but truly impressed)

In reply to UKC News:

Fantastic video! Captures the whole spirit of rock climbing exceptionally well.

In reply to UKC News:

Really enjoyed that. Can't imagine how intense an experience something like that must me. Very impressive.

In reply to UKC News:
Impressive. I find one mark of a good film is when my own hands start sweating and my pulse goes up.

Those offwidths look scary! there seemed to be reasonable gear and bolts on the other pitches but I couldn't see any in the offwidths. Anyone know what the gear's like?

In reply to UKC News:

That was a great vid very impressive and inspiring.

In reply to UKC News:

Great video - gets you involved and conveys the emotion really well.

Well done on the vid and the send! Really impressive stuff!

In reply to becauseitsthere:

no 4, 5 & 6 camalots in the monster

In reply to UKC News:

f*ck i want to free climb el cap!!!

That monster offwidth feels harder than 13a. so hard.

In reply to markalmack:

The monster is basically Friend 6 size for the whole thing (except a few wider bits) which makes it all a bit gruelling. Hard work and painful once you've been in it for a while. The true grade if it wasn't such an amusing sandbag would be a hard earned E6 6b (for the effort and endurance) if you had it in Wales, Lakes etc. The Vedauwoo 5.11b to 5.12b are a piece of piss to compared to the Monster. It's also way harder than the Harding Slot on Astroman which might get around 5.11 on the topos?

In reply to UKC News:
Those off widths look scary... Truly awesome effort

In reply to dale1968:

I need more of this type of film, great stuff