After a fantastic autumn of climbing, where she redpointed her first 9a, Pure imagination, Sasha Digiulian took a well earned vacation and went up north to Canada for some skiing. Enough is enough however and just before New year's, she escaped the cold and headed south to Hueco Tanks in Texas, close to the Mexican border and the idyllic city of Juárez. The plan was to to some bouldering and get back in shape.

I had a chat with Sasha last week. At that time she had done three 7C+'s, one of which flash, and a bunch of 7C's, which I found rather impressive considering she just came back from a break, but as she put it she had...not gotten on anything too challenging yet, I'd like to!

That was entirely true though as she mentioned she had been trying Nagual a bit.

I tried Nagual, an 8B boulder but i split my fingers on it because it was so sharp and i wish I had a bit more time here! I'd love to do it but it's not fun to try...

Nagual is a notoriously sharp and crimpy top end 8B that is famous for being flashed by Paul Robinson a few years ago. At the time, it was the hardest flash in the world.

Sasha stayed in Hueco a few more days after we talked, but as it turned out, she never succeeded on Nagual. Don't know if she tried it or not. She did manage to do an 8A, Sunshine, though.

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Sasha DiGiulian is sponsored by adidas, Mad Rock and Native and Petzl