Sasha DiGiulian repeats The Direct Line, aka Platinum on El Capitan

American climber Sasha DiGiulian has made a rare free ascent of Platinum on El Capitan in Yosemite, USA. Also known as The Direct Line, the route was first ascended in October 2017 by Rob Miller with various partners, including Elliot Faber and Jay Selvidge between 2009 and 2017, and freed by Miller and Roby Rudolph over 14 days in 2017. Stacked with 39 continuously difficult pitches, almost all in the region of 5.12 - 5.13d, it is considered the longest free climb on El Cap.

DiGiulian worked the route, in particular the upper sections, over three seasons, before starting her push on the 2nd November with Faber. The pair made steady progress, both climbing the hardest pitches and swinging leads on the easier ones, until a massive winter storm pinned them down on pitch 32. Instead of bailing, the two decided to try their luck and sit it out and what ensued was a long game of waiting for the weather to improve. Nine days later the storms finally lifted and, after waiting for the dripping wet pitches to dry out, they sent another 4 before Elliot had to to leave unexpectedly for a family emergency. At this point Ryan Sheridan stepped in to belay DiGiulian up final 3 pitches. The 33-year-old topped out on the 26th of November after 23 tenacious days on the wall, and after having led all the hardest pitches (27 in total). She is now the first woman to have repeated this demanding big wall, and hers is only the 4th free ascent after Tobias Wolf and Thomas Hering from Germany made the second ascent in 2018, and Tommy Caldwell and Alex Honnold made the third this autumn.

DiGiulian, who earlier this season stated that the climb was "one of those big, scary, audacious goals that still intimidates me just to think about" explained after her successful redpoint "I have a lot to process. I have so much to be grateful for. This most certainly felt like the most formative and challenging climb of my career."