Climbing
What we learned from Sasha DiGiulian's "Here to Climb" documentary
How long did it take Sasha DiGiulian to climb Logical Progression?
World-class rock climber Sasha DiGiulian's incredible journey from child prodigy to champion can be seen in her new HBO documentary, "Here to Climb."
After watching how she made her mark by being the first woman to scale some of the planet's biggest walls, one might have questions to how she was able to accomplish what she did. What mountains did she climb in the documentary, how long did it take her (hint: it was a lot longer than she hoped) and what does her training schedule look like? Read on to learn what Sasha had to say.
2 min
Here to Climb official trailer
An HBO Original Documentary from Red Bull Media House following professional rock climber Sasha DiGiulian as she faces obstacles in her ascent to the top and redefines success on her own terms.
01
What is Sasha’s training routine?
"I don’t have a classic routine because it really depends my schedule," DiGiulian said, "but typically if I am in my ‘training’ season versus on a trip, it looks like this."
She starts her day with walking her dog on the mountain. After that, "Return home, make a smoothie, and dive into some work meetings for Send Bars and catch up on emails. I’ll have a Send Bar at this point (actually, not just a plug, haha!); then I’ll begin my first of typically two training sessions. This will normally involve hangboarding, hip mobility work (I still do my PT about 5 times a week), system-board climbing in my garage (the DiGi Dojo), which I built out into a climbing training center, then some strength-oriented work, like weighted pull ups. Then, I’ll have a late lunch and return to my home office for more work to finish out — whether meetings or emails, or coordinating on scheduling or plans for an expedition that is coming into place. Then, I’ll finish my day with about an hour long form of cardio - either bike, swim, or run typically. I love to trail run outside, or road bike outside (I have a Canyon bike that I really love); and if there’s time, swimming is really therapeutic for me. I’ll typically end my day around 7:30 or so with dinner."
02
How long did it take Sasha to climb Logical Progression?
"An absolutely hilariously long time comparative to what I hoped, in all honesty," DiGiulian shared. "Initially, pre hip surgeries, I planned to do the climb in 3 days; broken up by 1/3 of the route per day. However, coming off of my final hip surgeries and going to Mexico just 5 weeks out from it, I was not in the best shape. The climb was much more challenging than it would be for me now - having made a lot of strides in my recovery - but it ended up taking us 7 days on the wall; 5 days of climbing, 1 day of rappelling, and 1 day of rest. We didn’t go during the right season — it was horrendously hot (early May) and so we had to take big portions of the day off from climbing because we were in direct sun."
"Therefore, we progressed slowly during early morning hours and into the night. I didn’t want to wait until the next season because the climb had manifested in my mind as this huge mental block for me. I felt like my come back to climbing wouldn’t be complete until I went and faced the nucleus of where everything fell apart and my fear really was bundled up - head on. So — despite it being very late in the season, I wanted to still go. And we did — but it was a bit of a suffer fest all around!"
03
What mountains did Sasha climb in the "Here to Climb" documentary?
Boulder, Queen Line
© Red Bull
Sasha DiGiulian at El Gigante
© Pablo Durana / Red Bull Content Pool
Pedra Riscado
© Red Bull
Sao Tome
© Red Bull
- The North Face, Eiger
- Sao Tome
- El Gigante, Logical Progression
- Boulder, Queen Line
- Pedra Riscado