Mayan Smith-Gobat climbing Salathe Wall, El Capitan

Absolute void, small overlaps, ever steepening terrain and a beautiful crack which begins with poor jams and peters down to fierce fingerlocks. Then a boulder problem, immediately after a mind-boggling no-hands rest, upside down, looking at Yosemite valley from high above...

Check out Mayan Smith-Gobat on the headwall, the crux section, of The Salathé Wall on El Capitan, Yosemite, USA which the climber from New Zealand repeated last October. Fantastic!


Mayan Smith-Gobat climbing the Salathe Headwall by Andy Bardon


The Salathé Wall
First ascent: Royal Robbins, Chuck Pratt, Tom Frost, 1961
Length: 870m (35 pitches)
Grade: 5.13b
First free ascent: Todd Skinner and Paul Piana swinging leads.
One of the all-time monuments to free climbing, the Salathé is perhaps the most logical big wall up El Capitan. Every pitch has its own story to tell and, as always in Yosemite, has its own name. Every pitch is legendary. And marked by good belays. Normally the route is climbed by ascending the first 10 pitches to the Mammoth Terraces to then abseil to the base via the Heart Ledge before continuing the ascent the next day.